OK, get back to work
A lot left for Sox to focus on
NEW YORK — By the time the Red Sox punched in for work yesterday at Yankee Stadium, the protective plastic covering over the players’ lockers had been removed.
The goggles had been put away, and the crush of media that had crowded into the clubhouse one night earlier was now reduced to the usual suspects who cover the Red Sox and assorted New Yorkers.
No speeches, no chants, no live interviews with Gary Striewski and Dan Roche.
About all that remained from the Sox’ AL Eastclinching celebration was the smell of dried champagne.
And the Red Sox would just as soon get rid of that as well.
Party time, after all, is over. Not only do the Red Sox need to focus on the upcoming postseason, but there’s this: Home-field advantage. And don’t think for one second the Red Sox are oblivious to this, even though they took a 46-34 away-from-Fenway record into last night’s 2016 road finale against the Yankees.
Sure, manager John Farrell rested right fielder Mookie Betts, catcher Sandy Leon, first baseman Hanley Ramirez and second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Sure, the starting pitcher was lefty Henry Owens, who has made several trips this season on the Lou Merloni Highway between Boston and Triple-A Pawtucket. Hey, it was the day after prom night.
“But the importance of winning and maintaining our daily approach is priority No. 1,” said Farrell. “How that might affect how deep a starter goes in the upcoming games might be looked at a little bit more closely, but, still, we feel it’s imperative to secure as much home-field advantage as we can.”
The AL West champion Texas Rangers, who were off last night, are 94-65. The Red Sox, beasts of the AL East, were 92-66 entering last night’s game. The AL Central champion Cleveland Indians, whose game against the Tigers yesterday was rained out, are 9167. If it stays that way, the Red Sox get the Indians in the Division Series — and home-field advantage. Savvy Sox fans know it’ll mean a crazy day on the shores of Lake Erie on Sunday, Oct. 9, with Tom Brady making his long-awaited return in the Patriots-Browns game at 1 p.m. at First Energy Stadium, with Game 3 of the Sox-Indians series presumably later in the day at Progressive Field. That’d be fun for us — fans, media — but the Sox will be happy for no other reason than that it’ll mean they have home-field advantage (Games 1, 2 and 5 at Fenway).
The Red Sox will have yet more things on their minds during this weekend’s regular-season-ending Fenway series against the Toronto Blue Jays — and I’m not even talking about the much-anticipated David Ortiz Love Fest.
There’s this: David Price will pitch the regular-season finale on Sunday in advance of an expected Game 2 start in the Division Series. The tall lefty is coming off a rough outing in his last start — six runs on 12 hits (three home runs) in innings 3 against the Yankees Tuesday night — and his career postseason record is 2-7 with a 5.12 ERA. Though he’s pitched some games, he remains winless in eight postseason starts. It’s not being unfair to point that out. It’s numbers. Anyway, a solid outing on Sunday will go a long way toward alleviating any fears Sox fans might have as the postseason approaches.
There’s also the matter of closer Craig Kimbrel, who gave up a hit and three walks in a disaster of a relief outing Wednesday night. Kimbrel’s rocky pitching made it necessary for Farrell to summon Joe Kelly, who gave up the walkoff grand slam to Mark Teixeira, and, OK, it was all quickly forgotten because the Sox clinched the AL East anyway. But geez . . .
“The power was there, the command was not,” said Farrell, who noted that Kimbrel would be on the mound in closing swituations this weekend.
“Depending on how those games turn out, I think it’s important to get
all our relievers at least one more time out,” said the manager. “How often, how high-stress, the games will dictate that.”
The real high stress doesn’t arrive until next Thursday when the Red Sox begin the quest to end their long, tortuous World Series drought, now at three years and counting. Nothing that happens this weekend could possibly meet the true definition of “high stress,” unless some local potentate fumbles his Big Papi speech.
But as phenomenal as this season is turning out — and it’s been all of that and then some — the Sox still have some work to do.