Price in better place
Winless drought in past
When it comes to keeping his emotions both in check and out of view, David Price is as good as it gets in the big leagues.
When he is lights-out or getting kicked around, when he’s at his locker doing his daily crossword puzzle, when he’s addressing the media after a win or a loss, it’s the same Price, with the same serious expression, doleful eyes, inhaling deeply in between pitches and occasionally breaking out a sly grin.
Yet when the starter for tonight’s Game 2 of the World Series stepped to the podium yesterday, there was a palpable sense of relief, a gust of clean, fresh air surrounding Price and everyone else in the room. The spell is broken. The narrative has shifted. Price is getting a brandnew start.
He’s now a winner in the postseason as a starter. And even though nobody needed to hear him say it to know it for themselves, he still was asked his reaction to coming out on top in the clinching Game 5 of the ALCS against the Astros.
Price’s expression softened. “I guess ‘lighter’ is a good word, yeah,” Price said. “Yesterday we had media day . ... I got to look forward to it for the first time in a long time. Today it’s definitely a weight lifted off of me for sure. Not like food tastes better or anything like that, but it was time. And I’m definitely glad that the time came and we moved past it. And I look forward to doing the same thing tomorrow.”
It figures that Price’s manager, Alex Cora, sees no defining difference in how Price has sounded and acted since the monkey was taken off his back. Cora has a good poker face himself ... he’s always the same after a victory or a loss.
And while he’s seen up close how Price failed earlier this month, he never wavered in the face of considerable public pressure to send the lefty to the bullpen or skip him in the rotation.
“No, I see the same guy, I see a teammate taking care of a lot of stuff in the clubhouse, getting ready for his next start,” Cora said. “Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. He talked about it obviously after the clincher, that he doesn’t have to answer questions, but he knows that his next start is a big start. (Tonight) is going to be a big one. So we count on him. His stuff was electric in Houston. His changeup actually played like a split, and I’m looking forward to seeing him perform tomorrow.”
Nobody yet knows how this final stage of the postseason will play out, but all the narrative elements are in place for Price to re-write his legacy.
There was nothing unfair or untrue about his postseason history. Beginning with his first playoff start in 2010 and through his next 10, including two in this postseason, he could not win a game and much more often than not, he pitched poorly.
Then came the ALCS clinching opportunity in Houston. There was no use in describing the stakes as any higher than other postseason starts. They were plenty high enough.
And this time he came through: six sizzling, scoreless innings, with only three hits and no walks with nine strikeouts. And a win, both for the team and himself.
Success in October as a starter is brand new to Price.
Kind of like smiling more on the outside.
“I always enjoy doing this – just because I failed in October for about nine straight years, it didn’t take away my passion from baseball,” Price said. “This is something I fell in love with whenever I was 2 years old. So the ups and the downs, I knew they were going to happen. I’ve definitely had many more downs than ups in October, but I’ve got a lot of baseball left. Hopefully I have a whole lot of October baseball left. This is why I came to Boston. I knew we would be in this position, year in and year out. So I’m happy that we have made it to point and everybody in our clubhouse, we all want four more wins.”
To that end, no matter the outcome of Game 1 Tuesday night, all eyes will be on him being able to replicate what led him to success.
For Price, he will be eyeing the reaction of Dodgers hitters to his pitches, hopefully glancing over his shoulder not to trace rockets off of their bats but to check and see the velocity of his offspeed pitches, make sure he’s not throwing his cutter or changeup too hard.
He’s not that interested in matching the mid-90s fastball he had in his last start.
If it’s there, great. If not, he’ll try and find a way to make the magical night he had in Houston happen again – and win again.