Red Sox hope to prove pitching isn’t the key
It’s difficult to recall the last majorleague team that slugged its way to a World Series championship. The pitching- poor firstplace Red Sox will be trying it. The New Englanders demonstrated last night the team they have become, blowing a pair of leads to the Jays, then riding the home-run bat of MVP candidate David Ortiz in the eighth, who had his second game- winner of the series in late innings.
“ It’s unbelievable, his ability to do what he does and the timing of it,” Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He’s an awesome hitter all the time, but his ability to do what he does just continues to help us win games that sometimes we may not win.”
If the Sox fail to return to the Fall Classic, Ortiz will be blameless. One excuse, however, might be the Sox replacing Derek Lowe, their best post- season starter, and Pedro Martinez with lefty David Wells and righty Matt Clement. But then, they’ll always have Ortiz. The MVP controversy is beginning to rage. Despite all his heroics, there are those who are saying you cannot name a designated hitter as AL MVP.
“ It’s time to break the rules — that a DH can’t be MVP,” Ortiz said, half in jest. “ I haven’t seen a guy win the MVP because he’s got a Gold Glove and hits .230.”
Papi has a point. Because without Ortiz and with Francona relying on a second- rate rotation and a tattered bullpen, these guys would trail the Jays.
“ I stay away from talking about MVPs because of how I feel about our ballclub,” Francona said. “ It goes against the grain. But saying that, when it’s time to vote, this guy is as valuable as anyone that we’ve seen.” Francona shudders at the pitching and knows what horses he must ride into October. Despite last night’s shutout innings, middle relief has fallen apart, with Mike Timlin the closer.
“You’ll always be judged by your bullpen,” Francona said. “ That will never change. It’s unfair, good and bad. Lou Piniella went from being a good manager to being brilliant ( in Seattle). He’s the same guy, but had a hell of a lot better pitchers.”
If Francona’s starters don’t work into the seventh, the Sox are usually in trouble. Sox relievers have a 5.38 ERA, allowing 571 baserunners in 3742⁄ innings. The manager held his breath, but at least for one night they got it done.
“ When you lose games where you have the lead, it is hard,” Francona emphasized. “We’ve been able to give up some leads, but we’ve come back and won a lot of those games. I think it’s a really good attribute of ours.”
That style of serve- and- volley baseball usually doesn’t work in the post- season. Of all the contending clubs in the AL, the Sox, Yankees, Indians, White Sox, Angels and A’s, Boston clearly has the worst bullpen corps. The hitting balances it out. But when it comes time to dance with the big boys at Oktoberfest, it might be the effectiveness of Wells and Clement, or lack of it, making the difference.
Wells is an aging mercenary with no loyalties. When Boomer was jobless ( again) in the winter, he saw a clubhouse full of “ idiots,’’ loose, funny and relaxed. He thought that he would fit in. He was wrong. He fits in like Shecky Green opening for Dave Chappelle on BET. It’s a different generation of idiot. Boomer has never been a fit. Even in his prime, with the Yankees, he was always butting heads with management.
“ Boomer’s just being Boomer,” combined with a shrug, became both an excuse and rallying cry. That may be why he has changed uniforms 10 times in the last 14 years. When Boomer played in Toronto, for two years he sucked up the adulation — until it was clear he was leaving. Later, when he was a Yankee, his memories of Toronto got nasty.
In the early version of his ’ 03 autobiography, he referred to SkyDome fans as “ mouth breathers” and “ wool- hat wankers” and to the city’s sportswriters as “ ignorant” and “ relentlessly negative.’’ Thanks. The revenge for Jays fans is that he has just two wins in Canada in six years since leaving.