October 26, 2007

Ortiz Set To Play The Field

The Red Sox have not made any official announcements, but David Ortiz could play first base for all three games in Colorado. Terry Francona acknowledged that was a possible scenario: "His bat is so important [and] there will be rest time pretty soon. But if we need to [rest him], we will."

Kevin Youkilis would be the odd man out in that case as Yerry said moving Yook across the diamond to third would be "playing two guys out-of-play position, which isn't real good." Youkilis would likely come into the games in the later innings (PH/double switch) and replace Flo at first.

The last time the Red Sox won six straight World Series games? 1915 (Games 2-3-4-5) and 1916 (Games 1-2). All six of those games were decided by one run.

Dustin Pedroia became the third Red Sock to lead off a World Series game with a home run, joining Johnny Damon (2004 Game 4) and Patsy Dougherty (1903 Game 2). Only Damon was the actual first batter in the top of the first, however. The other two were batting at home.

Hideki Okajima became the first Japanese pitcher to appear in a World Series. ... Misters October. ... Teams have taken a 2-to-0 lead in the World Series 34 times -- and won the series 27 of those times, including the last 10 in a row.

Francona, on his early hook of Curt Schilling: The bottom of the fifth
was a long inning. Because of the length of time in between innings and then with the pitching chances [by the Rockies], he was down in the tunnel, trying to stay loose. I've been around him so long, I know his body language so well. He was fighting it that last inning and what we didn't want to do is have somebody give up a run because they were getting stiff or they can't execute a pitch when they need to. So it was time to get him out of there.
Schilling:
This was just the Papa-Jima Show tonight. That was just phenomenal to watch - Okajima was just absolutely perfect every single pitch.
Tony Massarotti, Herald:
So this is what the Red Sox had in mind when they were being swept in Toronto during the middle of last month, when they ... temporarily pulled the plug on Hideki Okajima. ...

The recharged Okajima faced seven batters and retired them all - four on strikeouts ... Okajima has pitched 11.2 scoreless innings since the Sox invoked Operation Shutdown in the middle of September, and in the postseason, he effectively has spun his own shutout (9.2 innings).
Josh Beckett is now the all-time postseason leader in opponents batting average (minimum 40 innings): .159. That tops the list ahead of George Earnshaw (.174), Mariano Rivera (.176) and Sandy Koufax (.180). Beckett's .209 opponents OBP is also the lowest all-time, better than Rivera's .211 and Koufax's .223.

Theo Epstein called resigning Mike Lowell "a priority for the offseason, and I'm sure we'll be able to get something done. We have a desire to keep him here a long time. He's a core member of the organization. It's just not the time to talk about that."

Matt Holliday, on the pickoff:
I was going on the pitch, yeah. I knew he was slow to the plate and I was just trying to be aggressive and get in scoring position. ... He did a good job of holding and coming over. I wanted to cry. ... They defended their home field. Now we'll have to defend ours.
Joe McDonald, Providence Journal:
Ortiz was at his locker following Thursday night's 2-1 victory over the Rockies, spraying on his cologne and packing his back for the trip to Colorado for Games Three and Four of the World Series.

He was just about to turn around and talk with the horde of reporters when he reached back into his stall, grabbed his celebratory protective goggles. "Can't forget these," he said, and he tossed them into his bag.

14 comments:

Jere said...

"Only Damon was the actual first batter in the top of the first, however. The other two were batting at home."

But Dustin does get credit for being the one who was the first batter (for the Sox) of the entire series.

Also, we have gone six WS games in a row *without losing* another time: 1903, games 5, 6, 7, and 8, and 1912, game 1 and game 2--which was a tie.

s1c said...

Would the people who are calling into WEEI quit suggesting that Youkilis play RF. Get a clue people, the outfield in that park is huge!!!

I expect Papi to start both games in Coors, with Youk coming into the game as a ph/defensive replacement.

Question of the weekend is this -

  Can the Sox actually win 6 games in a row?

tim said...

Heh, love that by Papi (the goggles).

I think they can win 6 in a row, its just two more. Then we can all go home until March. I don't see Yook playing RF - they had him out in LF towards the end of last season and it was a disaster if I can recall. Drew has his shit together, so I think that's fine. I personally would've said start Yook at 3B for one of the two games (there's only going to BE two!), have Flo at 1B obviously. Can move Yook over later in the game and bring in Lowell as well for the one game that Yook starts at 3B. He used to be a third baseman, so I don't foresee any issues if he ended up over there.

tim said...

But I think if they are up 3-0, Yook should get the start at 1B and they sit Flo until later in the game.

s1c said...

Oh, I think that they can win two more in a row, its just that they haven't won six in a row all year.

I just hope the Papi comment doesn't end up on the bulletin board!

Oh, frag that, I hope it does and they complete the sweep anyway!!!

Jere said...

We only need one more to make it 6 in a row.

laura k said...

He was just about to turn around and talk with the horde of reporters when he reached back into his stall, grabbed his celebratory protective goggles. "Can't forget these," he said, and he tossed them into his bag.

Love that man!

laura k said...

Josh Beckett is now the all-time postseason leader in opponents batting average (minimum 40 innings): .159.

Wow. He's in some serious company there, too.

To the person with the goggles holding up that sign: technically yes, but we're putting champagne in the fridge right now.

tim said...

I just hope the Papi comment doesn't end up on the bulletin board!

Fuck it, that's what I say. Yeah, one more to make it six....my bad.

To the person with the goggles holding up that sign: technically yes, but we're putting champagne in the fridge right now.

Heh, go back to game 1 thread to read my champagne story...mine's plenty chilled now!

tim said...

Tim's positives of the off day:
-exam tomorrow so I can study
-liver has time to recover before it's given a run for it's money
-don't have to hear that piece of shit song "do-do-do-doooooooooooo!"

Tim's negative of the off day:
-one more day to wait before the trophy is hoisted/river is danced/goggles are worn

nixon33 said...

"i wanted to cry"

ha, what a tosser.

Larry said...

That's good news that the Sox are going to make an effort to resign Lowell-He's a smart ballplayer and a real gamer.

9casey said...

tim said...
Tim's positives of the off day:
-exam tomorrow so I can study


Tim , when don't you have an exam??

tim said...

No exams on weekdays...Ever since the last weekend in September, theres something every Friday and/or Saturday for another 3 weeks. They don't schedule classes Fridays so they can put midterms on that day. Also have them saturdays... Shitty enough as it is, I think I prefer it as opposed to writing a midterm during class. They also make them longer since their out of the way of class time.