Sale: Business as usual
Ace in a zone prior to postseason debut
HOUSTON — Same old, same old with Chris Sale.
This bodes well for the Red Sox.
On the eve of throwing the first playoff pitch of his pro career, Sale could not
RED SOX BEAT Michael Silverman
have looked and sounded more, well, normal yesterday. True, he was a bit sniffly with a froggy voice because of a cold he and some teammates are battling, but other than that, you’d recognize him.
He was the same no-nonsense, true-grit, do-what-it-takes Chris Sale that we’ve become accustomed to since the first day he arrived in Boston from the White Sox last December.
Sure, said Sale, he’d pitch on short rest in these playoffs. After all, “This is what I live for. I’m throwing until my arm falls off.”
Yeah, Chris Sale is here in Houston.
He’s the same guy who showed up in Fort Myers without the Twitter account and he’s the same guy who under the supposed white-hot spotlight of media that shines 24/7 on the Red Sox and thrived to put together a Cy Young-caliber season.
This makes a ton of sense and is completely reassuring.
Had he shown up with stars in his eyes and a catch in his throat, it would be time to sound the alarm bells.
“I think this somewhat compares to the way he came into Boston following the trade. He has handled it without distraction, he’s handled it with, I think, a consistency to his routine and being true to himself, who he is as a performer, as a pitcher,” said manager John Farrell. “I would venture to say, knowing Chris the person, that the same approach will be applied (today). And I think the beauty inside of Chris Sale is that he focuses solely on the things that he can control, something as simple as command in the count, strike one. Keeping it pretty much to the basics. He’s done such an excellent job of that coming in with all the expectations and the highlight from the trade. He’s handled it beautifully and I would suspect at this stage, this next set of games in which he’s going to experience for the first time will be handled the same way.”
Sale said that as far as he can tell, his current surroundings are identical to where he’s been all along. Which is in the zone. “I don’t want to put any more emphasis on this than there already is,” Sale said. “This is obviously playoff baseball, so it comes with a lot more attention. But for me, I’m going to pitch the same game, I’m going to go out there and do the same things I’ve always done. I’m not going to reach for another avenue that I haven’t reached for in my entire career. So I don’t think now would be the time to start doing that.”
If the Indians were the first-round foe for the Red Sox, the sameness in Sale’s approach might be tested. He gave up 13 earned runs over only eight combined innings in his two regularseason starts against them. The Astros are different. He did not face them here in June or the final week at Fenway. The only thing familiar will be a pitching duel with Astros’ Game 1 starter Justin Verlander, a frequent opponent from their AL Central White Sox-Tigers days.
Verlander knows who he’ll see.
“You know what type of matchup it’s going to be,” he said. “It’s going to be a grind. It’s kind of like the first person to blink, you know. As a starting pitcher, you love those battles, but in the regular season kind of see who you’re going up against, it’s kind of like, all right, let’s strap it on and go, because you know it’s going to be that type of battle. He’s a fierce competitor, I always enjoyed watching him pitch.”
Another constant working in favor of Sale showing up is that his presence comes as no surprise to him.
“There was never a doubt that I thought we would not get here,” Sale said about how he viewed his chances when he joined the team. “Obviously from the outside looking in before I was with this team I always thought that they were a powerhouse. Going into spring training, seeing the guys in the clubhouse, seeing the culture, seeing the drive, that kind of just amplified it.
“I don’t want to say it was a matter of time, but we are a playoff team, obviously, and I think we all knew that from Day 1.”
From Day 1, everybody could see what kind of pitcher Chris Sale was.
Why would today be any different?