Prez: Sox more prepared now
Dave Dombrowski still does not know what the “secret sauce” is to winning in the playoffs.
And he doesn’t think any other general manager or person on the street or media pundit knows the recipe, either.
So while he would like to think that this year’s Red Sox team is better, wiser, more prepared and more experienced than the 2017 and 2016 teams which went a combined 1-6 and were eliminated in the first round, he’s been around too long to make any kind of guarantees when it comes to winning in October.
“Realistically, when you talk about the five clubs (in the American League), and it will be four by the time we start playing, if you told me any of them won, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Dombrowski said earlier this week. “I think we have as good a chance as everybody. There’s no sense in making any predictions . . . it really doesn’t make much difference in what you say. You just have to go out there and perform.”
It certainly was not Dombrowski’s fault that Chris Sale went out in Game 1 of the Division Series against Houston last year and got hammered.
Or that the Red Sox lineup got thoroughly outslugged by the Astros hitters.
That the Astros went on to win the whole thing last year caught Dombrowski a bit by surprise.
“They played better than us last year, they were better,” said Dombrowski. “But I didn’t think necessarily they would be going in — I don’t think we played very well in the postseason last year for whatever reason. We didn’t seem to have that mentality … we won Game 3 and if we won Game 4, who knows what would have happened. They had a good club, but going into that most people picked us. But it was no shame to lose to the Astros — they had a great team.”
So, what’s it going to take for the Red Sox to become a great team and play deep — like, really deep — into October?
Dombrowski has a few ideas. They’re not radical. They’re common sense, really.
Like he said, the Red Sox have as good a chance as any of the other four teams in the AL playoffs. Hitting good pitching, playing fundamentally sound baseball. And, of course, pitching well.
“Ideally, you want to have good pitching — now it’s switched to more bullpens than starters — but if you have good starting pitching you’ll still take it to shut people down,” said Dombrowski.
He brought up a good starting pitcher.
“Shoot, one of the best guys in postseason, Justin Verlander, when he first got in the postseason, he wasn’t really very good in the beginning (5.57 ERA in first eight starts),” said Dombrowski. “Then all of a sudden he was a different guy in the postseason, he was tremendous, he was outstanding, it took him a little while — I think what happened is he threw rather than pitched. It’s a combination of ability but you’ve also got to keep it on an even keel and get caught up in emotion. I don’t know what the magic is. Barry Bonds didn’t hit in the beginning, then he hit very well. They tell me Roger Clemens didn’t pitch well in the beginning, then he pitched well. “Sometimes it takes time.”
Will this October be the right time for the Red Sox?
Again, he won’t predict that. But Dombrowski has reasons to believe.
“I think we’re more prepared,” he said. “Now, we’ve won our division for a while, we’ve been focused, we’ve had players’ health issues and rest periods really primed toward the postseason since the beginning of spring training in many cases. That’s good. Also people forget how young our overall team was in many ways, they’re now a little more experienced — they’re still young — but a little more experienced.”
Pitching-wise, Dombrowski sees hope there, too.
“I think our pitching — knock on wood — we’ve got Sale at a point where he’s coming to a good point,” said Dombrowski. “Last year was his first year in the postseason. David Price is throwing the ball well at this point. There’s more experience here now.”
With the presence of J.D. Martinez in the improved lineup and Alex Cora and the new coaches on board for the best regular-season Red Sox team ever, Dombrowski sees a readiness that is different from a year ago.
“They seem like they’re more prepared mentally, but we’ll find out when we get there is what ends up happening,” said Dombrowski. “I do think the playoffs — there are good teams, you need people to step up and have good series, and do good things for you. Sometimes I’ve had good players that have had great series and I’ve had good players who haven’t had great series. So, you just never know.”