Arms abandon Red Sox in ALCS
Boston has flopped after Matsuzaka’s opener
BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox got a good start in the American League Championship Series – then the rest of their rotation fell apart.
Right-hander, left-hander, knuckleballer – every pitcher Boston has started against the Tampa Bay Rays since Daisuke Matsuzaka’s brilliant performance in the ALCS opener has failed.
It was Tim Wakefield’s turn Tuesday night and Tampa Bay responded with a 13-4 win, crushing Boston for the second straight day to move within one win of its first World Series.
“It was tough,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “Sitting through that wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”
The balls flew out faster than Wakefield’s knuckler twirled toward home plate. He gave up homers to Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Willy Aybar and five runs total before leaving after just 22/3 innings.
“It hurts, obviously,” Wakefield said. “Down 2-1 you want to even the series up as best as possible and not put us in too deep of a hole.”
Wakefield’s shaky outing was just the latest in a series of poor performances by Boston starters.
Righty Josh Beckett was rocked for eight runs over 41/3 innings in a 9-8 loss in Game 2, and lefty Jon Lester gave up five runs in 52/3 innings in a 9-1 loss in Game 3.
“We certainly need to figure it out,” Francona said. “The quicker we get to our bullpen, we’re making it harder on ourselves.”
Now it’s up to Matsuzaka to shut down the Rays. The right-hander will face James Shields on Thursday night at Fenway Park with Boston trailing 3-1 in the best-of-7 series. Matsuzaka was spectacular in a 2-0 victory in Game 1, allowing just four hits in seven innings.
Francona, loyal to players who have been with the team a long time, showed no inclination to start Paul Byrd instead of Wakefield, who pitched for the first time in 16 days.
“I’m not going to stand here and make excuses,” Wakefield said. “I prepared myself as best as I know how.”
Byrd is 3-1 in seven postseason games and got the win in Cleveland’s 7-3 victory over Boston last year that gave the Indians a 3-1 lead in the ALCS. The Red Sox rallied to eliminate Cleveland and swept Colorado in the World Series.
But Byrd, who pitched 31/3 innings in relief of Lester on Monday, has a 10.80 ERA this postseason.
The failures of Beckett, one of baseball’s best postseason pitchers, and Lester, who allowed no earned runs in 14 innings this postseason before Monday, were more shocking than Wakefield’s.
“It’s very deflating, frustrating,” said Kevin Cash, who caught Wakefield. “We need our starters to come up big for us these next couple of ballgames.”