With Shilling Out, Red Sox Face Tough Questions
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BOSTON – Is it too late? Has it really come to this already?
Can the Red Sox remember how to hit? Can Fenway Park revive them? Can Curt Schilling pitch again? If not, can the team hang its fleeting hopes on the righty with a beanstalk frame and bleach-blond corn-rows – Bronson Arroyo – and the knuckleballer who gave up the back-breaking home run to Aaron Boone – Tim Wakefield – last year?
Can you explain, Mr. President, how you – oh, sorry for that last one. After spending a night in Yankee Stadium, where the leather-lunged throng shouted “Who’s your daddy?” at Pedro Martinez for four hours straight, it was impossible for a Red Sox observer not to wake up yesterday morning in a questioning state of mind.
The Yankees went up 2-0 in this ALCS in stunning fashion this week. Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber held the Red Sox to a combined one hit and no runs in their respective first six innings. Mariano Rivera returned from a family funeral in Panama to close out the first game, then shut the door again in Game 2. And, worst of all for the Red Sox, the Bronx Bombers beat both Boston aces, Schilling and Martinez. As the focus shifts to Fenway Park tonight, plenty of New England hearts and minds are desperately seeking answers as they continue their stale search for salvation.
Red Sox fans could do worse at this point than to pray for a deluge. The Sox surprised few yesterday by announcing that Schilling would be a scratch for Game 5 on Sunday because of an injured ankle that was too sore to test yesterday. The team is still holding out hope that the pain will subside enough to fit Schilling’s ankle into a brace, and manager Terry Francona yesterday refused to rule him out for a later start. But as it stands now, the team has pegged Derek Lowe as Schilling’s replacement.
The possibility of rain tonight, however, might give Francona some wiggle room. A washout would push Game 5 (if necessary) to Monday, Martinez’s normal day to throw. The team would be all too glad to have him pitch what could be a critical game.
The next best thing the Red Sox have going over the next three games is home-field advantage for their hitters. It was only last season when Yankees manager Joe Torre joined the chorus of visiting managers who felt the Red Sox must be resorting to CIA-level techniques of sign-stealing to aid their hitters, who do hit incredibly well here. But their methods are legit.
Fenway Park favors the Red Sox’ balanced attack primarily because of this team’s up-and-down ability to hit line drives to the gap in right-center or off the wall in left for doubles. The Red Sox had 218 doubles at Fenway, 155 on the road this season, which helps explain the team’s home vs. road superiority in slugging average (.504/.441), on-base average (.378/.342) and batting average (.304/.260). The Red Sox, who won their season series against the Yanks, 11-8, won seven of 10 games at Fenway Park, where they outscored the Yanks, 73-54.
Of course, none of these numbers mean anything unless the Red Sox find some discipline at the plate. Jason Varitek’s brow was more furrowed than usual after the Game 2 loss. He castigated himself and teammates for having “terrible” at-bats, against Lieber and for being “over-aggressive” in their first two games.
Varitek had a point, but there’s a reason the mantra about good pitching beating good hitting is still chanted. On the other hand, Kevin Brown and Orlando Hernandez, who are scheduled to pitch Games 3 and 4 for the Yankees, have more than their share of questions regarding their readiness for battle. Unless Brown and Hernandez can duplicate the wizardry of Mussina and Lieber, the Red Sox lineup is way overdue to wake up.
As for how Arroyo and Wakefield will fare in Games 3 and 4, that’s another good question. While one can’t foresee a Mussina or Lieber-like effort, the duo should be a whole lot better than a gimpy Schilling was in Game 1. A Game 2 Martinez-like three-run effort in six innings should be enough to let the offense win a game for a change.
Arroyo was the Red Sox’ third-best starter this season and is coming off a splendid Division Series Game 3 outing against the Angels in which he held the Angels to two runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings. Arroyo rose to the occasion at Fenway Park, where his regular-season splits were clearly inferior to the road: 3-5,5.35 ERA,.291 batting average against at home; 7-4, 3.06 ERA, .214 AVG elsewhere. Arroyo’s home road splits held true to form in four starts against the Yankees this season.
“It’s going to be a lot more pressure-packed than the Anaheim game but I just have to go out and pitch the same way I would if we were up 2-0,”Arroyo said at yesterday’s workout.
Wakefield did not have a memorable season (12-10, 4.87), at home or on the road. He got hit consistently wherever he was but did well in three starts against the Yankees (1-0, 1.83 ERA, .179 AVG). His last start of the season came on September 25 at Fenway against the Yankees, when he lasted 6 1/3 innings, giving up five runs, three earned, on just five hits.
Maybe because of their self-proclaimed idiocy, the Red Sox remain blissfully ignorant of the steep odds they face in trying to win four of their next five games against the Yankees.
“They don’t need to watch the games,” said chief idiot Johnny Damon of those Sox fans who have already lost the faith. “We have a game to play and it’s unfortunate if they feel that way. They’ve seen it in the past. This team is different.”
Winning two of three here would mean the Red Sox would return to the Bronx on the brink, needing to win two games there. Again, that raises a question in Red Sox Nation: Do they believe in miracles?
Mr. Silverman covers the Red Sox for the Boston Herald.