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Twas The Night Before The Playoffs
September 30, 2008
9.30.
08, 6:37 PM
Twas The Night Before The Playoffs
And All Through The Nation...
By: Jared Carrabis
‘Twas the night before the playoffs and all through the Nation, Sox fans were wondering what’s going on with our rotation. Well, I’m not going to finish this poem, but I will tell you the latest on our playoff rotation. Although there is no chance of Josh Beckett starting game one of the division series, manager Terry Francona has told the Boston Herald on Monday that Beckett’s strained oblique “does feel better” which is a good sign to those who were skeptical if Beckett would take the ball at all for game three, never mind be able to perform well.
In his press conference held on Tuesday in Anaheim, Tito spoke highly of Beckett’s progress “Beckett started at sixty feet and made thirty throws, moved back to ninety, made twenty throws then came back to sixty. The ball came out of his hand real well. Everything was very encouraging.” Beckett will throw a bullpen session on Thursday in preparation for his start in game three on Sunday at Fenway Park. “He’ll long toss tomorrow, side day Thursday. Everything was real positive.” Music to Red Sox fans ears.
I suppose it’s ironic that last season the Red Sox entered the postseason geared up for the Angels with no major injuries to key players (barring the knee of David Ortiz) and the final result of the series were imminent to fans before a pitch was even thrown. In 2008 the Red Sox enter the postseason pretty banged up but at this point in the season, who isn’t to some degree? It’s a long season and every team that is in the postseason has fought hard to get to where they are at and have each made sacrifices along the way, most with their bodies. So to say that your team is at full health entering the playoffs for any team is a bit of a stretch, everyone’s aching at least a little bit.
No one is aching more on the Red Sox roster than the World Series MVP of a year ago, Mike Lowell. The torn labrum in his hip has been pestering the Sox third baseman for quite some time and has kept Lowell out of action. Mike Lowell took batting practice at Fenway Park on Monday but with the field conditions being poor due to the rain, he was not able to take infield. Mike Lowell told manager Terry Francona that his injured hip wouldn’t affect his offensive production, just his mobility when on defense.
Terry Francona spoke to the Boston Globe and told reporters "Hitting is not really the problem, in fact, I think he said that's really the easy part. It's some of the lateral movement and I don't know if it's start or stopping -- somewhat stopping, change of direction, things like that while he's rotating -- but he did have a pretty good day." The Red Sox are scheduled to have a full team workout today and Mike Lowell will in fact be partaking in both infield and batting practice. Tuesday in Anaheim will determine if Mike Lowell feels healthy enough to be included on the playoff roster.
Lowell was quoted earlier in the season following a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay saying, “If he [Francona] feels like I’m hurting the team then I don’t want to be hurting the team. I feel like I can get to balls even though it may not be pretty.” Also to be filed under the “banged up but still could possibly play in ALDS” would be that of JD Drew. The ailing back of JD Drew has limited him to playing in just 28 games since the All Star Break, this of course slicing his chances of a considerable amount of MVP considerations in the first half.
If the Red Sox are forced to do battle without the likes of Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis has the versatility to play third base with either Mark Kotsay or Sean Casey taking over at first. If neither are ready for game action then Youk will get the start at third with Casey at first and Kotsay in right.
All signs point towards both Drew and Lowell being on the roster as Terry Francona held a press conference today in Anaheim and spoke with optimism about the two. “JD looked real good and I actually thought Mikey Lowell looked pretty good [too].” Francona went on to inform the media that the two players were not done with their workouts and also that the Red Sox would not make a decision on who is to be included on the roster until later tonight but said about Lowell, “I thought it was very encouraging the way he moved around. The movement he did do didn’t grab at him so that was encouraging.
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For those fans that are still concerned that the Angels “had our number this season”, remember, this is a whole new season. The Red Sox lost eight out of nine games to the Angels this season but just so that the Red Sox 1-8 record against the Angels doesn’t misguide you, let me break it down for you. Clay Buchholz (who will not be on the playoff roster) lost two of those games. Another loss was a result of Craig Hansen (no longer a pitcher for the Red Sox) giving up a home run to earn a loss to the Angels. The Angels edged the Sox 7-5 on April 24, but that was also the Major League debut of Justin Masterson as a starter. Tim Wakefield was handed a loss on July 20 by the Angels but will not be featured in Boston’s three-man rotation.
The Angels remaining three victories against the Red Sox during the regular season came against Daisuke Matsuzaka once and Josh Beckett twice. These two teams have not seen action against each other since July 30 and Josh Beckett has been a pitcher reborn since coming off of the disabled list. So in other words, forget the regular season. This is October, this is what the Red Sox have been looking forward to since Fort Myers, all through that miserable trip to Japan and all through a grueling 162 game season.
This is the postseason in Boston, are you ready?
-Jared Carrabis
-Jared Carrabis
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