The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Title for Red Sox starting to look as if it’s inevitable
BOSTON — If the relentless Boston Red Sox can do what they’ve been doing the past two days in the frigid temps of lateOctober New England, then switching to the sunny Southern California climate for the middle games of this World Series shouldn’t do much to slow them down. In fact, it may accelerate the Los Angeles Dodgers’ demise back at Chavez Ravine.
There’s some small consolation for the Dodgers. They’re in good company. The New York Yankees and Houston Astros couldn’t do it, either, and with the Red Sox now up, 2-0, in this Series after Wednesday’s 4-2 victory in Game 2, a Boston title is looking inevitable.
All this time we’ve been oohing and aahing over triple-digit exit velocities and launch angles, the shiny baubles of the analytics set. Here in the Statcast Era,
it’s become a different way to keep score.
In the midst of all this, we tend to lose sight of the most crucial element of winning baseball: timely hits, especially of the twoout variety, a feat these 2018 Red Sox have mastered. They are the most demoralizing for an opponent. One minute, you’re a pitch away from safety. The next, the roof is caving in.
In 11 postseason games, the Red Sox have scored 36 of their 68 runs with two outs, or 53 percent. How extraordinary is that? During the regular reason, the MLB average was 37 percent, so for it to spike so dramatically this month, against supposedly the sport’s best competition, doesn’t make any sense.
Not only that, but the Red Sox have 33 hits with two outs, and were batting .452 (19-for-42) in two-out situations with runners in scoring position.
The Red Sox also were 7-0 at Fenway Park when scoring first this postseason, so it had to be considered a favorable sign when they jumped ahead 1-0, in Wednesday’s Game 2 in the second inning. Xander Bogaerts started the rally with a one-out double and Ian Kinsler followed with a line-drive single to left - his coming with two outs, of course.
That was just the beginning, however. When it looked as if the Dodgers finally were defrosting from the chilly 43-degree temperature, or at least long enough to rally for a 2-1 lead off David Price in the fourth, the Red Sox once again rose up to rip their hearts out.
Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu never saw it coming, either. The fifth inning began innocently when Kinsler grounded out to first base and Jackie Bradley Jr. popped up to short. But as we’ve learned, that’s when the Red Sox are at their most dangerous. Christian Vazquez, the No. 9 hitter, punched a single to right and Mookie Betts lined a base hit to center.
By then, the momentum was turning rapidly. With the Fenway crowd fully engaged in “Ben-ny!” chants, Ryu walked Andrew Benintendi to load the bases and end his night. In came Ryan Madson, but he walked Steve Pearce to force in the tying run, and that brought up the one person he didn’t want to face: J.D. Martinez.
“It’s never a comfortable at-bat for sure,” Madson said before the game. “You know you’re in a pit with a rattlesnake, and one bad move, and you’ll get bit if you’re not paying attention.” We’ll assume that Madson was paying attention this time, but it didn’t matter. Martinez attacked a 1-and-0 fastball, and drove it into rightfield for a tworun single that put the Red Sox up, 4-2.
Seeing as that turned out to be the final score, and the Dodgers didn’t mount much of a threat the rest of the way, they were probably wondering, what was the point? Every time the Red Sox get backed into a corner, pinned against the ropes, they only seem to get more motivated.
How can the Dodgers stop a team that refuses to even slow down? Now trailing 0-2 in this World Series, it could be over before they come up with an answer.