Eck: Pressure’s all on Sox
DENNIS Eckersley has been on both sides in Boston. A Hall of Famer, he was a pitcher and now is part of the media, as a Red Sox game analyst. So, if anyone knows what stirs in Boston’s players’ minds, it should be Eckersley.
According to Eckersely, the 108-win Red Sox have a similar mental task as the 2007 Patriots.
“They may not admit [it], but deep down inside they have to know that they have to finish this off,” Eckersley said. “This is like the Patriots’ 16-0 or something.”
Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy has been in the middle of his town’s sports scene for nearly four decades and has a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame to show for it.
While there are only a few opinion columnists who still make a huge impact in their cities, Shaughnessy is one of them. He knows the Green Monster-sized weight that sits atop this Red Sox team.
Not only did they run away from the 100-win Yankees team, the Red Sox have fizzled out the last two postseasons, losers of six of seven games. You add the Boston factor, and the Red Sox come in with a burden.
The Red Sox clubhouse is loose, according to anyone who is in it regularly. Their manager, Alex Cora, has had the best rookie season at Fenway since Fred Lynn.
While the Yankees are the bigger franchise, worth more and with their cap worn around the world, the Red Sox are probably covered more aggressively.
“It is because we are smaller,” Shaughnessy said of Boston. “In your town, there is so much else. In L.A., nobody cares about sports. Here, it is very small and tribal and personal.”
In New York, there are eight outlets that follow the Yankees full-time, but only The Post routinely staffs two people on the road in the regular season.
By contrast, in the Boston area, there are 10 newspapers, radio stations and websites that travel with the Red Sox in the regular season, and often half of them double-up.
Shaughnessy said, in his experience, players find Boston harder to play in than New York, citing Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs and Johnny Damon as examples.
The two sports radio stations in Boston not only lead the ratings in their market, but they get far more personal than either WFAN or 98.7 ESPN New York do in talking about their players.
Last year, Shaughnessy broke the story of the then-struggling David Price cursing and mocking Eckersely, telling him to “Get the [expletive] out of here” on a charter flight.
Eckersley said that the two have not spoken since and he has moved on. Eckersley, who worked the Yankees’ wild-card game, will be on TBS’ coverage of the Astros-Indians.
While there are questions about Game 1 starter Chris Sale’s health, there is concern about Price’s postseason record. In nine tries, he has never started and won a game.
This year, he was 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA, and Eckersley said Price transformed as a pitcher, dotting corners with a plan instead of just trying to overpower hitters. He still has to do it in the playoffs.
“That is what is left for him,” Eckersley said. “If he wants to have this fantastic career, you’ve got to get that done. He’s on a mission.”
Price is not a bad guy, Shaughnessy said, just a bit misunderstood at times, because his humor sometimes fails him.
But Price, like all the Red Sox, will take the field with a little extra weight because of their amazing regular season and their recent disappointing postseasons.
“These guys are human beings,” Shaughnessy said. “For four decades, I’ve been hearing guys say, ‘ The past doesn’t matter.’ I think it is hard not to wear that.’”
They will do it with the glare of the Boston media upon them. It might be a factor in this best-of-five.
Quick Click: The announcers for the Yanks-Sox on TBS will be Brian Anderson, Ron Darling and dugout reporter Lauren Shehadi.