Red Sox have extra off-time to seek solutions
"I'm sure his arm is sore today from the whiplash he got," Pedroia said of Cabrera. "It was a great play, I just wish he was shorter."
And as Pedroia noted, he "almost took C.C.'s head off" with a Game 1 smash up the middle against Sabathia. The point: He's hit the ball hard several times without much to show for it.
Still, he's batting only .188 in this series, and .172 for the postseason. Most alarming, he's fanned in five of 23 plate appearances in the ALCS, an average of once every 4.6. During the regular season, he whiffed just once every 13.8, ranking second in the AL to Detroit's Placido Polanco.
"When you get to this point, you're facing good pitching every night, and he wants to do well," Magadan said. "He's hit some balls hard. ... This time of the year, if one of two balls fall in, you gain confidence. When guys make good plays, you tend to try to get two hits every at-bat."
Pedroia needs to find some holes. Quickly.
Disappointing pitching: The good news is Boston has ace Josh Beckett prepared to start Game 5. Bad news is Beckett is unavailable to start every game.
Let's put the cart in front of the horse and suppose that Beckett wins Game 5 and Curt Schilling rebounds from his weak 4 2/3-inning effort the other day and forces a Game 7. Currently slotted for the game to salvage Boston's season: One Daisuke Matsuzaka.
If they get there, no way can the Red Sox give Matsuzaka the ball in Game 7. Doesn't matter how humiliating they would view that in Japan. Don't care about Matsuzaka's personal feelings. Don't care what kind of no-faith signal it would send. Manager Terry Francona must re-arrange. Right now, Jon Lester is a better choice than Matsuzaka, who has hit the wall and lacks both command of and confidence in his fastball.
The bottom of the order: Coco Crisp (.188) and J.D. Drew (.267) are invisible. Drew almost certainly will find his overrated posterior on the bench against the lefty Sabathia in Game 5 in favor of Bobby Kielty, as was the case in Game 1. Nice. What the Red Sox got for five years and $70 million with Drew is a soft player whom Francona deemed better suited for the bench than the lineup in Game 1.
Catcher Jason Varitek, meanwhile, is 3-for-15 (.200) in the ALCS, but he's at least popped one homer and does more defensively than Crisp and Drew combined (and yes, I know Crisp is a Gold Glove-caliber outfielder, save your tips on that).
It's time for a change. It's time to give Jacoby Ellsbury a start. He bats lefty, so don't expect to see him against Sabathia in Game 5, but if Crisp and Drew continue their Casper the Friendly Ghost impressions and Ellsbury isn't in the lineup if the Sox extend this to Game 6, something is seriously wrong.
Francona would not be specific on Wednesday, but admitted he and bench coach Brad Mills are dreaming up alternative concoctions for a too-silent lineup.
"We stayed here last night and talked about a lot of things," Francona said. "But I think we tried so hard to get ourselves in a position where we could run this lineup out there, and then in Games 1 and 2 it really did such a great job. So in short doses, things certainly get magnified. I think what we need to do is get ourselves in position where we do manufacture runs and not just lean on solo home runs."
Said Magadan of the Crisp and Drew no-hit tandem: "That's certainly something we're going to have to address."
They look flat: Not just flat, but sleepwalking-flat. The zip and verve Boston had in Fenway Park must have gotten lost with the luggage handlers at Logan International Airport.
"We're not getting a lot of hits, and they're pitching well," Magadan said. "You tend to think you're flat in those cases, with no energy. But baserunners create energy. We just need to get some baserunners."
Preferably, earlier in the game to at least, as Magadan said, "create the appearance that, 'Hey, we've got some energy.'" And as the leadoff man, Pedroia gets first crack at that.
But don't ask him if the Red Sox need a spark.
"You need that, take a Red Bull or something," Pedroia snapped. "We don't need that crap. If you do, stay home."
A couple of base knocks in a row might be nice, though.
Manny Ramirez: OK, this isn't a problem, being that Manny's .462 batting average tops the lineup and his seven RBI lead the team. What it is is an open space in need of fencing. Manny's home run end zone dances have reached the point of the absurd. He stood at home plate for several seconds admiring his Game 4 blast and then walked roughly one-third of the way toward first base before breaking into his home run trot and finishing it with a flamboyant leap into the arms of Ortiz at the edge of the dugout.
Oh, by the way, the Red Sox still trailed 7-3 at the time, and they were on the verge of falling behind in the ALCS 3-1. Time to celebrate? Or a time to maybe remain just a wee bit calm?
Manny Being Manny aside, it warrants a fastball in the ribs. Not now -- Cleveland is playing this just right, keeping the pedal to the metal and refusing to become distracted by peripheral stuff. But you wonder whether the Indians are filing it away for perhaps a regular-season game, say, next May or June.
"Man, I'm just happy to do something special," Ramirez said. "I'm not trying to show up anybody. If somebody strikes me out and shows me up, that's part of the game.
"I love it. I love to compete."
His happy-go-lucky stance in the face of elimination aside, the guess here is that he'd sure like to compete beyond Thursday, too.
