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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 2:37:49 GMT -5
J.D. doing OK, but ALDS status uncertain October 6th, 2021 Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
ST. PETERSBURG – The Red Sox are facing a more complex roster decision with ailing slugger J.D. Martinez for the start of their American League Division Series against the Rays than they did for the Wild Card Game on Tuesday.
In that instance, with Martinez’s sprained left ankle still significantly swollen and his mobility and balance significantly impacted, it was a no-brainer to keep him inactive.
By 10 a.m. Thursday, the Sox must decide if Martinez should be active for a best-of-five series. What will make that decision particularly difficult is if Martinez is deemed “not ready” for the first game or two, but potentially available for games later in the series.
This best-of-five series starts with Game 1 on Thursday night at Tropicana Field, followed by Game 2 on Friday. After an off-day on Saturday, the series moves to Fenway Park for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 (if necessary) on Monday.
“He is doing OK,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Martinez. “He is moving around. We'll see what he can do today. The goal is for him to do a few things today physically and, you know, we'll make a decision obviously tomorrow morning.”
Martinez suffered the injury in the most accidental way possible, tripping over the second-base bag while going out to play defense for the bottom of the fifth inning during Sunday’s final game of the regular season, which the Red Sox needed to win to punch their ticket to the postseason.
They downed the Yankees, 6-2, in the Wild Card Game without Martinez’s big bat. But it would be significantly more challenging for the Red Sox to beat the Rays three times without one of their most important hitters.
In 148 games this season, the 34-year-old Martinez slashed .286/.349/.518 with 28 homers and 99 RBIs.
If Martinez can’t go, Cora will likely stick with a similar alignment as in the Wild Card Game, when he had Kyle Schwarber at DH, Bobby Dalbec at first base, Christian Arroyo at second, Alex Verdugo in left and Kiké Hernández in center.
Facing a lefty in Shane McClanahan in Game 1, Martinez’s presence would allow the Sox to sit Verdugo, who hasn’t produced against lefties (.554 OPS) this season.
With Martinez in the lineup, Schwarber could play left field. But that seems like a big if at this stage.
Will the Red Sox activate Martinez even if he is unavailable for the start of the series?
“You know, we haven't even talked about that one. We are just waiting to see what happens today and then we'll decide what we do,” said Cora.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 2:51:09 GMT -5
ALDS scouting report: How the Red Sox and Rays match up By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated October 6, 2021, 2:59 p.m.
The Red Sox defeated the Yankees, 6-2, in front of an electric crowd at Fenway on Tuesday evening and jetted south for their American League Division Series matchup against the Rays, which begins Thursday.
It’s a quick turnaround, but one the Red Sox invite. They were 8-11 against Tampa Bay this year, but the postseason is a different beast, and in a five-game series anything can happen.
Here is how these two teams match up: Pitching matchups
Game 1: Eduardo Rodriguez was named the Red Sox starter vs. the Rays’ Shane McClanahan on Thursday. The numbers in Rodriguez’s first year back after missing all of 2020 because of COVID-19/myocarditis weren’t easy on the eyes of Red Sox fans. The lefthander registered a 4.74 ERA in 32 games (31 starts).
Within those struggles came some misfortune. Rodriguez induced a lot of weak contact earlier in the year that ultimately turned into hits. Nevertheless, he still wasn’t the Rodriguez who became the linchpin to a 2019 rotation that had injury woes and underperformed. Yet there were times when you saw glimpses of Rodriguez from two seasons ago, and his last start at Tropicana Field at the end of August was arguably his best of the season. With the season, in some fashion, hanging in the balance, Rodriguez delivered six scoreless innings.
He’s drawn his highest whiff rate ever on his four-seam fastball this year, at 31.9 percent. Yet opponents also have a career-high .297 batting average against it, which tells you just how inconsistent — and, frankly, odd — this season has been for him. He’s struggled to locate down the stretch, yielding eight walks his last five games.
Rodriguez’s changeup, a pitch that was a plus for him, has been average at best, generating a .263 batting average. He’s worked on slowing it down.
The Red Sox have seen McClanahan three times this season and got the best of him Sept. 2, tagging the lefthander for four earned runs over five innings despite McClanahan racking up eight strikeouts. Like all the Rays pitchers, McClanahan features an upper-90s four-seam fastball, but hitters can get to that as indicated by its .301 opponent batting average.
Where he separates himself is with his dominant slider (.198, 39.9 pct. whiff rate) and curveball (.202, 41.9). It’s helped him put together a 2.81 ERA in those three outings against the Sox.
Game 2: The Red Sox could go Nick Pivetta or Chris Sale on Friday, but they should lean toward Sale. Pivetta has a 5.87 ERA over his last eight games (seven starts), and didn’t pitch well during his last outing at Tropicana Field on Aug. 30, yielding four runs over five innings. Sale, though, delivered six innings of two-run ball two nights later in a must-win game.
Sale has 52 strikeouts in his 42⅔ innings pitched this year. He’s accepted he has to be a different pitcher since returning from Tommy John surgery, relying more on finesse than power at times. An uncharacteristic start against the Nationals last week, in which he lasted just 2⅓ innings before Alex Cora went to his bullpen, suggested maybe Sale is beginning to reach his threshold for the year. Yet the Sox have been prudent in bringing Sale back gradually, for moments like this. Now is when they would likely unleash him.
The Sox will likely face the Rays’ top-tier prospect and rookie, Shane Baz, for the first time Friday. Baz made three starts after debuting in late September. He struck out 18 batters in 13⅓ innings, to the tune of a 2.03 ERA. He features a four-seamer which averaged 97 miles per hour, in addition to a slider, curveball, and changeup. Opponents batted just .077 against his slider. Offensive approaches
The status and health of J.D. Martinez is still up in the air, and high-octane flamethrowers coupled with playing on turf could be an issue for Martinez’s bad ankle. Cora said that in Martinez’s absence he would be the best assistant hitting coach on the team, and the Sox should be prepared.
Certainly the Rays have quality starters, but what makes them special is their stable of relievers, all of whom seem to throw 95-plus. The Rays rely on them heavily, too. Their relievers threw 703 innings this year, the most in baseball. Is that heavy use sustainable during a series? The Rays did it last year, but that was over a 60-game season. The wear and tear is different.
The Sox hunt fastballs early and often in the count, and have guys such as Kyle Schwarber who have proved they can handle velocity. It’ll be a puzzle for the Sox to solve this bunch, but theyhave a well-balanced approach at the plate when they are on.
Consider Tuesday’s Wild Card Game. Xander Bogaerts belted a two-run homer off Gerrit Cole in the first. Then, Schwarber hit a tape-measure shot off Cole in the third. The next three runs came from Alex Verdugo, who delivered an RBI double and two-run single. When the Red Sox control the strike zone, they, too, are a tough group to beat.
The Rays’ offense strikes out a lot, their 24.8-percent strikeout rate tied for the fourth highest in baseball, but will wear an opponent down with their seventh-ranked (9.4 percent) walk rate. At the deadline they added a seasoned hitter and veteran to their lineup in Nelson Cruz, who has helped to stabilize that lineup and contribute 13 home runs to Tampa’s 222 for the season, which ranked sixth in the majors. Defense
The Sox made 108 errors this year, the second most in baseball. The Rays made just 80. If the Red Sox want to hang with the Rays, they’ll have to limit the mistakes on both defense and the bases.
The Rays pay close attention to detail, something Cora preached to his bunch in the beginning of the year. They’ll need to take heed to those details in this series.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 2:54:33 GMT -5
Sizing up the the mystery of the mound at Tropicana Field By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated October 6, 2021, 6:04 p.m.
As a COVID-19 outbreak swept the Red Sox in early September, members of the Red Sox arrived at Tropicana Field for the conclusion of their four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sept. 2 with considerable concern about . . . the mound?
Marc Topkin, who covers the Rays for the Tampa Bay Times, noted the Red Sox twice appeared to measure the mound using a string tied to bats. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe and designated hitter J.D. Martinez were among those engaged in the project.
Why?
After outings, pitchers review data about their physical, mechanical, and performance details. Among the factors they’ll examine: Velocity, spin, release point, pitch movement, and extension toward the plate.
Statcast data — collected using the Hawk-Eye system, which employs 12 high-speed cameras around the park, including five that are focused on tracking pitches — has made such information easily accessible. And after Chris Sale’s start Sept. 1, the normal postgame review left several Red Sox with raised eyebrows.
On average, Sale’s extension on his four-seam fastball — meaning how far in front of the rubber toward the plate he released the ball — from that start in Tampa Bay was calculated at nearly 6 feet, 10 inches toward the plate, roughly a half-foot more than his average release point in all but one start he’d made to that point in his Sox career.
Sudden growth spurt?
“Don’t think I grew,” a puzzled Sale said.
To some degree, Sale saw the improved extension as a sign of health following Tommy John surgery.
“I was repeating my mechanics better than I have in a very long time,” he said in the days following that start. “I can straighten my elbow out . . . When I wasn’t pitching well, it was because that extra little pop, I was kind of reserved a little bit because my arm was broken.”
Still, Sale recognized his extension in that start in Tampa Bay had considerably exceeded that of any other start in a way that his teammates found curious.
“I don’t know what it is. I’ve heard some rumblings about stuff going on with Hawk-Eye and maybe some other scenarios,” Sale said. “I don’t know if there are any conspiracies out there regarding that as well.”
Sale isn’t alone in experiencing a major uptick in extension at Tropicana Field this year. Fourteen Sox pitchers threw at least 10 four-seamers both in and away from the Trop this year. Every one of those pitchers measured as having significantly more extension at the Trop, ranging from 2 extra inches (Yacksel Ríos) to more than 5 inches (Sale). Rays pitchers, meanwhile, have measured about 2½ inches more extension toward the plate at home than on the road — the largest home/road split in MLB.
Adding to the intrigue: The Rays had a 2.93 ERA at home — best in the majors — and a middle-of-the-pack 4.43 road mark. The 1.50 run gap was the largest in MLB.
Of course, it’s not unusual for Tampa Bay to pitch better at home than on the road. In their 24 seasons, the Rays have had a better home ERA than road ERA 21 times. This is the 18th year in which the Rays have had an ERA that is at least a half-run better at home, and the seventh in which they’ve been at least a full run better.
Pitchers have described feeling different on the Trop mound while identifying only a certain je ne sais quoi about its distinctiveness. Some compare the Trop mound to standing atop a mountain. Hitters have complained of the difficulty of picking up the ball there.
But upon learning of the pitcher extension data, Sox hitters wondered whether anything about the mound might have been in play, particularly given that the home/road extension differences had only started to show up in 2020. As they took their measurements, there was particular curiosity about whether the rubber was sloped in a way that would increase leverage for pitchers to drive toward the plate, thus potentially increasing extension.
By rule, the rubber is a flat slab 10 inches above the plate both in the front and back. It’s not allowed to be tilted. The mound slope is required to decline 1 inch per foot from 6 inches in front of the rubber to 6 feet in front of it. The Sox wanted to make sure the Rays mound met specs.
MLB, according to multiple major league sources, has examined the issue, using a laser level to examine the height and slope of the mound, finding no evidence to suggest the mound in Tropicana Field doesn’t meet specifications.
On Wednesday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he was unfamiliar with the particulars of his team’s interest in the mound in September.
“I wasn’t part of that. I was inside dealing with [the team’s COVID-19 outbreak]. I heard about it because somebody tweeted and showed a picture,” Cora said. “I think MLB is going to measure [the mound], like they always do. They’ll measure the bases, like they always do before each game, and everything will be legal.”
Still, the curiosity remains: Why do pitchers feature so much more extension at the Trop than elsewhere — a development that became pronounced starting in 2020?
In the 2020 season, MLB switched its Statcast tracking from the radar-based TrackMan system to the optical Hawk-Eye system, better known from its longtime use for tennis reviews. Analysts with multiple teams said there had been calibration issues with Hawk-Eye that produced park variations in extension measurements — a conclusion the Rays themselves have reached.
“I’ve asked our analysts about it. It’s a park correction calibration. Not every place is the same,” Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder said. “We do have analysts that before the data is submitted make sure it’s reliable so I’m not out there holding up an extension cord trying to determine the height of the mound.
“I feel bad for Dan Moeller, our head of the groundskeeping crew. He’s fantastic at what he does,” Snyder added, noting that in a dome, the mound never has to be rebuilt. “I just felt bad for him about the publicity about the mound potentially being off. It wasn’t. It was just a park correction that needed to be taken into account.”
So why do Tampa’s pitchers have such pronounced home/road splits?
It’s not uncommon for teams that play indoors (or with retractable roofs) to pitch drastically better at home. It could be a product of worse lighting indoors, more forgiving home dimensions (the Trop features both larger dimensions and more foul territory than other AL East park), teams (especially defenses) constructed to cover the home real estate, cooler summer temperatures thanks to air-conditioning, and more.
Perhaps it is a credit to the Rays — who went 52-29 at home — that their success has created questions the factors underlying their success. Regardless, both Red Sox ALDS Game 1 starter Eduardo Rodriguez and Rays counterpart Shane McClanahan will stand on the same hill Thursday night with a shared goal of excellence.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 2:57:05 GMT -5
Eduardo Rodriguez gets the start in Game 1, and the chance to make his mark in the postseason spotlight By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated October 6, 2021, 8:01 p.m.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Eduardo Rodriguez was a 21-year-old prospect with a good arm and a reputation for not being a particularly hard worker when the Red Sox acquired him from the Baltimore Orioles in 2014.
Seven and a half years later, Rodriguez has a World Series ring, a wife and two kids, and the third-most strikeouts by a lefthander in franchise history.
“Everything changes,” he said. “I’m at a better place.”
What Rodriguez does not have is a postseason moment he can call his own.
That could change Thursday night when he faces Tampa Bay in Game 1 of the AL Division Series at Tropicana Field.
After lengthy internal discussions, the Sox decided to go with Rodriguez and use Nick Pivetta out of the bullpen. Chris Sale is lined up for Game 2.
“[Rodriguez] has been throwing the ball well. We think it’s a good matchup,” manager Alex Cora said Wednesday.
Counting a perfect inning of relief Sunday against the Nationals, Rodriguez has a 2.11 earned run average in his last five appearances and held opponents to a .638 OPS.
Rodriguez had made only one prior start in the postseason, Game 4 of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium. He took a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning and allowed an unearned run before Yasiel Puig belted a three-run homer.
Rodriguez watched the ball sail over the fence in left field, then fired his glove into the mound in disgust.
That the Red Sox rallied for 9-6 victory didn’t change manager Alex Cora regretting his decision not to bring Matt Barnes in to face the righthanded-hitting Puig.
“That was three years ago, so it’s just a different year,” Rodriguez said Wednesday. “I feel like I have a lot of experience to be on the mound tomorrow, so I’m just going to get ready and go out there and do my job.”
There are several subplots to this story. Rodriguez missed all of last season recovering from a case of COVID-19 that left him bedridden and with a case of myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle.
It wasn’t until spring training that the Sox knew for certain Rodriguez would be able to continue his career.
“I’m very proud of him,” Cora said. “First thing is first, last year was a very difficult year for him not being able to play because of health issues. And the fact that he will be the starter tomorrow, I know it means a lot to him and his family.”
Rodriguez also will pitch knowing it could be his final game with the Sox. He is eligible for free agency and isn’t certain where that will take him.
A 28-year-old lefty who has proved he can succeed with a large-market team will not lack for opportunities. Rodriguez is 45-19 with a 4.11 ERA since 2018.
“We know his situation, right? This is a free agent year, and we’ll see where it takes us,” Cora said. “We’ll get there when we have to get there. But it’s a guy that represents everything that we ask for in a player.”
When Cora became manager in 2018, he challenged Rodriguez to live up to his talent and become more than an average starter.
There were times when it got tense. But Rodriguez responded to being pushed.
“Do we still jab each other? Yeah, of course,” Cora said. “That’s part of the relationship.”
Cora now sees Rodriguez mentoring young lefty Darwinzon Hernandez and taking more cues from Sale and Nate Eovaldi. At 6 feet 2 inches, 230 pounds, Rodriguez has always been big. But now he’s stronger.
“A more mature person,” Cora said. “He has a different body compared to a few years ago. The way he goes about his business, his preparation between starts, talking to other pitchers . . . just show up, work hard, and do your best out there, and he has done that since I got here.” Related: Sizing up the the mystery of the mound at Tropicana Field
Puig’s home run can’t be erased. But if Rodriguez pitches the Sox to a Game 1 victory against the 100-win Rays, he’ll have a postseason performance he can treasure.
“It means a lot because of everything that I went through last year,” Rodriguez said. “I have the opportunity to throw the first game in the ALDS. It feels really good, you know what I mean? It’s just special.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 2:59:44 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Alex Cora, Red Sox still mulling decisions for Division Series roster, and J.D. Martinez is a big one By Michael Silverman Globe Staff,Updated October 6, 2021, 10:08 p.m.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Red Sox team that surprised the Yankees has turned into a team of mystery, both to the Rays and even the themselves, before Thursday’s start of the AL Division Series.
With a 10 a.m. EST deadline looming to submit their 26-man roster for the best-of-five series, the Red Sox were expected to cram up until the last minute to create the right balance to best battle a 100-win Tampa Bay team with very few weak spots.
“As far as roster-wise, we’re not even close to finalizing it, you know?” manager Alex Cora said late Wednesday afternoon. “We have to go over a lot of things. Obviously it was a long night [Tuesday] night and we just got here but you know that’s what [the Rays] do. They put you in spots to try to maximize their lineup but we will maximize our pitching staff.”
Two major question marks — Games 1 and 2 starters — appear to have been settled, with Cora naming Eduardo Rodriguez to start Thursday night and saying there is “a good chance” of Chris Sale on Friday. Get 108 StitchesGet everything baseball from the Globe's Red Sox reporters every Monday-Friday during baseball season, and weekly in the off season.
The biggest unanswered question is the availability of designated hitter J.D. Martinez (sprained ankle), who, like Sale, was left off the AL Wild Card Game roster. Cora said Martinez would test his ankle during Wednesday’s workout and then report back on progress, or not, Thursday morning.
“He is doing OK, he is moving around,” Cora said of Martinez, whose Instagram account showed him able to at least hop around a bit during the champagne celebration at Fenway Park. “The goal is for him to do a few things today physically and you know we’ll make a decision.”
One solution could be that the team will utilize patience by carrying Martinez, knowing that he may miss the first couple of games but could be available for the end of the series.
“We haven’t even talked about that one,” Cora said.
The Red Sox carried a dozen pitchers for the Wild Card Game. It would not be a surprise to see that number grow by one in order to give them maximum flexibility to create the right matchups against the Rays.
As he did pretty masterfully during the 2018 World Series championship drive, Cora vowed to keep non-starting starters in the mix for every game.
“We’ll keep mixing and matching and we’ll use our starters, too, in this series, we will,” Cora said.
The makeup of the bullpen is murky. Sale’s return means potentially at least one pitcher from the Wild Card 12 is going. That could be Garrett Richards or Austin Davis, perhaps, and maybe both if Cora, the coaches, and the numbers-crunchers want to add Hirokazu Sawamura, too. Devers comes through
No questions surround third baseman Rafael Devers, who did not make a splash in the Wild Card Game but did produce one very valuable walk in the first inning, just before the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole surrendered the two-run home run by Xander Bogaerts.
Earlier in the at-bat, Devers had swung and missed badly at a high fastball, but down in the count 1 and 2, he did not bite again, watching Cole miss with three straight pitches.
With a proven track record of producing at key moments in big games throughout his young career, Devers, an acolyte of Martinez when it comes to deep-breathing exercises at the plate in between pitches, said he tries to keep calm amidst all the noise.
“I just try not to make things harder for myself when I’m at the plate — depending on what the situation is, like, I don’t try to force anything,” Devers said. “I still maintain my aggressive approach. But, when it comes to the at-bat, like, if yesterday when I had that walk and then Bogey hit the home run, just trying to just understand who is in front of me and who is behind me.” Bullpen questions
Cora did not commit to any roles in the bullpen, especially the closer’s role, which was filled quite successfully Tuesday night by Garrett Whitlock.
“Yesterday we used Hansel [Robles] in a situation that we knew he had a chance to face lefties, he did a good job,” Cora said. “Whit came in there with some matchups that we felt that were good. Tanner [Houck] the same thing.”
Cora praised both Robles and Davis, who did not pitch Tuesday.
“They settled down and they have been amazing,” Cora said. “I think Hansel, he is striking people out. He is throwing strikes. He is using a great mix of pitches, and with A.D., if you see the numbers against lefties (.149 batting average against), he has been solid.” Full capacity
The Rays have taken the tarps off the upper reaches of the seldom filled Tropicana Field in the hopes of drawing a sellout crowd for the first two games, and possibly Game 5. “Hopefully it’s a huge benefit,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve talked about repeatedly all year long that we’ve just missed fans. You can create a lot of energy through, you know, a team pulling for you and on the flip side we’ll be going to Boston, a team that’s not really pulling for you, booing you. Players appreciate that, and I know our fans — I’m confident our fans are going to show up.” . . . The Red Sox-Yankees Wild Card Game was the most-watched MLB game on ESPN platforms since 1998, per Nielsen Media Research. The broadcast averaged 7.7 million viewers on ESPN and ESPN2. It got a 19.2 rating in Boston and 11.2 in New York . . . The Red Sox announced they outrighted infielder José Iglesias to the Triple A Worcester roster. In addition, the Sox reinstated infielder/outfielder Yairo Muñoz from the COVID-19-related injured list and outrighted him to the Worcester roster. The two moves put the Red Sox’ 40-man roster at 39 . . . The Red Sox assigned eight players to the Arizona Fall League: first baseman Triston Casas, infielder Jeter Downs, catchers Cole Cottam and Connor Wong, and pitchers Brendan Cellucci, Andrew Politi, Connor Seabold, and Josh Winckowski. Casas, a first-round pick in 2018, hit .279 with an .844 OPS in 86 minor league games this season. He also helped Team USA to a silver medal in the Olympics. The Sox players will be with the Scottsdale Scorpions. Chris Mears, who is pitching performance coordinator for the Sox, will be Scottsdale’s pitching coach. The AFL starts its season Oct. 13 . . . Expect budding superstar Wander Franco to pose a particularly tough riddle for any Red Sox pitcher to solve. “Talent-wise, he might be the best player on the field, his talent is pretty undisputable, he can beat you so many ways,” Cash said. “He handles things remarkably well. We marvel at what he does on a daily basis, and as much as, you know, as anybody, there’s a lot of guys that really enjoy the bright lights. Wander seems to appreciate it really, really well.”
Chad Finn and Peter Abraham contributed to this report.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 3:01:43 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h #RedSox announce they've outrighted Jose Iglesias and Yairo Munoz to Triple-A Worcester.
Boston has one open 40-man spot.
Phillips Valdez and Danny Santana remain on the COVID IL. #RedSox can add one of them without making a 40-man move. Adding both will require a DFA or trade.
Boston currently has no players on the 60-day IL.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 3:07:04 GMT -5
Red Sox Notebook: Eduardo Rodriguez to start Game 1, Chris Sale likely for Game 2 of the Division Series vs. Rays
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: October 6, 2021 at 8:19 p.m. | UPDATED: October 6, 2021 at 8:44 p.m.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The last time Eduardo Rodriguez was on the mound in a playoff game, it ended with a moment that wasn’t funny at the time, but looking back is easy to chuckle at.
“That was the day when I threw my glove down,” said Rodriguez, who will start Game 1 of the American League Division Series for the Red Sox against the Rays on Thursday night. “So, I mean, that was three years ago, so it’s just a different year. I feel like I have a lot of experience to be on the mound now, so I’m just going to get ready and go out there and do my job.”
The game he’s referring to was Game 4 of the 2018 World Series, when Rodriguez was pitching a gem until he unraveled in the sixth inning, when he served up a home run to Yasiel Puig that prompted the pitcher to take off his glove and spike it on the mound.
What followed was the first full season of his career, as he led the league with 34 starts and won 19 games with a 3.81 ERA, finishing sixth in the A.L. Cy Young voting in 2019.
The 2020 season was a wash for him as he contracted COVID-19 over the summer and suffered myocarditis because of it. He was bedridden for months and wasn’t sure if he’d ever pitch again. But after making a full recovery and staying healthy throughout the 2021 season, Rodriguez was tapped to be the Game 1 starter against the Rays.
“It means a lot because of everything that I went through last year,” he said. “And I have the opportunity to throw the first inning in the ALDS Iit feels really good. It’s just special. I feel like it’s really special for me to have the opportunity to start a game like that.”
It’s been a roller coaster for the 28-year-old, who started his season strong but faded quickly and has struggled to find consistency. He finished 13-8 with a 4.74 ERA and a career-high strikeout rate of 10.6 batters per nine innings.
“I’m very proud of him,” manager Alex Cora said. “Last year was a very difficult year for him not being able to play because of health issues. And the fact that he will be the starter tomorrow, I know it means a lot to him and his family.”
He’s also a pending free agent, which means every time he pitches could be his last in a Red Sox uniform.
“We know his situation,” Cora said. “This is a free agent year, and we’ll see where it takes us. We’ll get there when we have to get there, but it’s a guy that represents everything that we ask for for a player. Just show up, work hard, and do your best out there, and he has done that since I got here. Do we still jab each other? Yeah, of course. That’s part of the relationship.” Sale fully rested
Cora said Chris Sale will likely start Game 2 on regular rest after he started the final game of the regular season on Sunday.
To go with two lefties against the Rays seems smart, given the Rays struggled against lefties during the first half, though they did get better with the mid-season addition of Nelson Cruz.
“We think it’s a good matchup,” Cora said of Rodriguez. “Obviously with them you have to mix and match. They’re going to look for an advantage and all that. We’ll have Nick Pivetta in the bullpen.” Rays the favorite
On paper, the Rays are the heavy betting favorites by almost a 2-to-1 margin.
The Red Sox went just 8-11 against the Rays this year. They won the first four games of the series, then finished 4-11 in their final 15 matchups, though Cora thought they played better than the results.
“I know they won the season series, but if you look at the games, you know, it’s a 1-0 game with a wild pitch in the ninth inning,” he said. “There was a sun ball at Fenway when we were up 7-1.”
Said shortstop Xander Bogaerts, “They are a very clean team, to be honest. They score a lot of runs. They might not have the names that some of the other teams have, but they don’t make a lot of mistakes. You see with the pitching staff or especially defensively, they don’t give any extra outs. That’s a team that plays their best.” J.D. questionable
J.D. Martinez will be an at-the-buzzer decision on Thursday when the Red Sox have to decide if he’ll be on the ALDS roster. He’s got a sprained left ankle that won’t require off-season surgery but was too swollen for him to run on. He was moving around on Wednesday but the Sox remained unsure. …
The Red Sox are 4-for-4 in advancing in the postseason under Cora, whose teams have gone 12-3 in 15 postseason games. …
There have been seven teams to win the World Series without winning their division, including the 2004 Red Sox and the 2019 Nationals.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 3:10:37 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox notebook: J.D. Martinez could be placed on ALDS roster even if he’s not ready for Game 1 Updated: Oct. 06, 2021, 9:56 p.m. | Published: Oct. 06, 2021, 9:48 p.m.
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Boston Red Sox remain unsure whether designated hitter J.D. Martinez will be on their ALDS roster. Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays is here Thursday.
Martinez suffered a left ankle sprain when he stepped on the second base bag on his way to play right field during Sunday’s game in Washington against the Nationals.
Martinez is not on crutches. Manager Alex Cora on Tuesday described the swelling in Martinez’s ankle as “humongous.”
“He is doing OK,” Cora said here at Tropicana Field on Wednesday. “He is moving around. We’ll see what he can do today. The goal is for him to do a few things today physically and we’ll make a decision obviously tomorrow morning.”
Martinez was not on Boston’s Wild Card game roster. The Red Sox still could place Martinez on the ALDS roster even if he’s not ready for Thursday but the team believes he might be available later in the five-game series.
“We haven’t even talked about that one,” Cora said. “We are just waiting to see what happens today and then we’ll decide what we do.”
Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers added, “We understand the importance that J.D. brings to not just our lineup but the entire team overall. ... Hopefully, we’ll be able to have him during the series. But if not, then obviously we’ll have our guys step up and we know what we have to do in order to win ballgames. But obviously, it would be great to have him because he is important.”
ALDS roster “not even close”
Cora said Wednesday evening the Red Sox are “not even close” to finalizing their ALDS roster.
“We have to go over a lot of things,” Cora said.
Chris Sale expected to start Game 2
Eduardo Rodriguez will start Game 1 on Thursday. Chris Sale is expected to start Game 2 on Friday.
“Yeah, there’s a good chance that Chris will start Game 2,” Cora said.
Red Sox to face McClanahan for fourth time
The Red Sox will face 24-year-old lefty Shane McClanahan who has gone 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA (16 innings, five earned runs) in three starts vs. them this year.
“They’re a selective team, but they’re aggressive when they need to be,” McClanahan said about Boston’s offense.
McClanahan began this season with Triple-A Durham.
“Considering I didn’t break with the team out of camp ... I think it’s pretty cool,” he said about being the Game 1 starter. “I think it’s a testament to the hard work and the effort that I’ve put and the entire team has put in this year.”
Red Sox measuring mound?
The Red Sox measured the mound the last time they were here Sept. 2.
As Tampa Bay Times reporter Marc Topkin tweeted Sept. 2 (with a photo), “Not sure exactly what #RedSox are doing, but this is second time this afternoon they seem to be measuring or checking something about mound at #Rays Trop.”
“To be honest with you, I wasn’t part of that,” Cora said when asked about it here Wednesday. “I was inside dealing with COVID. I heard about it because somebody tweeted and showed a picture. I think the players were doing that, but honestly, I found out after the fact. So I think MLB is going to measure it like they always do. They’ll measure the bases like they always do before each game and everything will be legal.”
Cruz, ERod are “good friends”
Eduardo Rodriguez first met Rays slugger Nelson Cruz when they were in Baltimore Orioles big league spring training camp together in 2014.
“Since then we’ve been good friends,” Rodriguez said. “This past offseason I had the opportunity to train with him for a couple of days back in Miami. I consider him a good friend. A really, really good friend.
“You know how it is, man,” Rodriguez added. “When you cross that line, you’re enemies. You play for a team, and I play for another one. After those lines, we’re back to being good friends. But when we cross those lines, he’s a hitter, I’m the pitcher. So I want to strike him out, and he wants to hit a homer.”
Devers: ‘No one believed in us’
Rafael Devers again mentioned Wednesday how nobody believed in the Red Sox this season. It’s something he first said May 9 in Baltimore when the Red Sox improved to an MLB-best 22-13.
He said it again Tuesday after Boston beat the Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game.
No one believed in us, and we knew we had a good team going into the spring training,” Devers said Wednesday. “We went out there and handled our business. We had a good ballclub from the start. We had a good pitching staff as well. Especially the bullpen, which a lot of people didn’t expect to be this good, so we’ve been able to just overcome challenges whenever there’s an injury or anything that we have to deal with. It was always a next-man-up approach.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 3:15:48 GMT -5
ALDS Game 1 Red Sox @ Rays Thursday 7th October 2021 8pm @ The Trop
E-rod 13-8/4.74
McClanahan 10-6/3.43
Familiar foes Red Sox, Rays duke it out in ALDS
The Tampa Bay Rays will seek to recapture last year's postseason buzz as they open their American League Division Series against the AL East rival Boston Red Sox on Thursday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Last season, the Rays secured their first AL pennant since 2008 to set up a World Series matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rays pushed the Dodgers to six games before ultimately falling short of their first title in franchise history.
One year later, Tampa Bay is again in good position to make a deep postseason run. With a 100-62 record, the Rays reached the century mark in victories for the first time ever while finishing eight games ahead of Boston atop the AL East standings.
Boston went 92-70 to claim the top AL wild-card spot before defeating the rival New York Yankees 6-2 in the wild-card game on Tuesday to set up their best-of-five ALDS matchup with Tampa Bay.
Despite posting their worst attendance figures in the franchise's 24-year history amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rays are expecting to get a big boost from their Tropicana Field crowd as they host postseason baseball for a third consecutive season.
"You feed off the crowd (in the playoffs). It's an amazing feeling," Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said Wednesday. "It's a huge advantage anytime you're at home, so for us to have the first two games at home is gonna be huge for us."
The Red Sox dropped 11 of their 19 meetings with the Rays in the regular season, with Tampa Bay winning four of the final series against Boston. However, the Red Sox averaged eight runs per game in their eight wins over the Rays.
"If you look at the games, it's a 1-0 game, a wild pitch in the ninth inning, there was the sun ball at Fenway when we were up 7-1," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "I know they're really good. ... But we feel we have a good team."
Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan (10-6, 3.43 ERA) will start the series opener opposite Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (13-8, 4.74 ERA).
McClanahan, 24, will be making his first playoff start after becoming the first pitcher ever to make his major league debut in the postseason last October for the Rays. He pitched to an 8.31 ERA in 4 1/3 innings over four relief appearances.
"We threw him into the fire last year in the postseason when he had never pitched a regular season game. At the time it didn't feel that great, but maybe that's helping him now," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
McClanahan went 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA in three starts versus the Red Sox this season.
Rodriguez is seeking his first playoff victory in his second postseason start after going 0-0 with an 8.10 ERA in eight prior appearances.
"My last postseason game was in the (2018) World Series. That was a day when I threw my glove down," Rodriguez said. "That was almost three years ago, so it's just a different year."
The 28-year-old posted a 1-1 record with a 4.71 ERA in four starts against the Rays this season. Overall, Rodriguez is 2-4 with a 5.21 ERA in 13 career starts versus Tampa Bay.
Cora said Boston slugger J.D. Martinez will be a game-day decision after being left off the team's wild-card game roster with a sprained left ankle.
--Field Level Media
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 6:31:53 GMT -5
Mastrodonato: Red Sox-Rays playoff series should include a revolving door of pitching changes
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald October 7, 2021 at 6:00 a.m.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays have a tendency to drive at least half the baseball world crazy with openers and pitching changes that slow the game down and never let other teams get into a rhythm.
This postseason, it could be the Red Sox, too.
As the Red Sox and Rays got to work at Tropicana Field on Wednesday in preparation of the American League Division Series that begins Thursday night, it was easy to envision a game in which a dozen pitchers, if not more, are shuffled in and out of the game between the two sides.
“I mean, we will keep mixing and matching and we’ll try to maximize our roster,” said manager Alex Cora. “Yesterday we used Hansel Robles in a situation that we knew he had a chance to face lefties. He did a good job. Garrett Whitlock came in there with some matchups that we felt that were good. Tanner Houck, the same thing. We’ll keep mixing and matching, and we’ll use our starters, too, in this series. We will. So, you know, let’s see where the games take us, and we go from there.”
The starting rotation tentatively looks like it’ll go to Eduardo Rodriguez in Game 1, Chris Sale in Game 2 and Nathan Eovaldi in Game 3.
If Eovaldi was as good as it gets on Tuesday night and was pulled after just 71 pitches — albeit in a single-elimination format — it’s hard to imagine Cora letting any of his guys go much deeper than that.
Meanwhile, the Rays will counter with lefty Shane McClanahan, who averaged 75 pitches an outing this year. That’s actually high for a Rays team that routinely pulls its starters after only a couple innings.
If the Red Sox’ attack plan against the Yankees carries over to their plan vs. the Rays, it’ll focus on one thing: throwing strikes.
The Sox didn’t walk a single batter on Tuesday night, and it’s clear to see why. Over the past 20 years, teams that are able to go a full playoff game without issuing a walk are 59-31 (.655).
Part of it was by design, with Eovaldi looking to bounce back from his awful start against the Yankees 11 days earlier, when he gave up seven runs in two-plus innings.
“We learned a lot from that,” Cora had said.
Eovaldi started the game with eight consecutive strikes. The Yankees have a potent offense, but they’ve largely been driven by their two monstrous sluggers, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. The Red Sox decided that one-run homers wouldn’t kill them and they were better off attacking everybody than giving out any free passes.
Getting the Yankees’ bats active forced the Red Sox defense to do their jobs, which they did. They also got a little bit lucky, with some Stanton balls smoked off the Green Monster that might’ve been homers in most ballparks.
Ryan Brasier, Tanner Houck, Hansel Robles and Garrett Whitlock joined Eovaldi to combine to throw 85 strikes on 113 pitches (75% strikes). It’s the ninth-lowest number of pitches used by a team in a playoff game over the last five years, and the second-highest strike percentage of those teams.
Can the Sox stick with the same plan against the Rays? Maybe.
The Rays aren’t a team that relies on two guys, but rather a team that moves the lineup along and entrusts everybody to do their part. But like the Yankees, they also strike out often and aren’t afraid to fall behind in counts.
Eovaldi explained that pitching against teams you’ve just seen isn’t easy, but the Sox haven’t seen the Rays in a month.
“I feel like most of the time it’s those back-to-back series,” Eovaldi said. “Those were the most challenging times. As long as there’s a two-week or three-week gap, it changes everything. “
The bullpen has long been a question mark for this team, particularly since Matt Barnes and Adam Ottavino began to struggle after the All-Star break. But Cora seems to have developed some trust in a few guys over the last month.
Brasier and Robles have come on strong at the right time, and neither one were on the Sox’ roster in the first half of the year.
Houck has now thrown six straight perfect innings, a remarkably impressive run considering how he’s been whipped around between the big leagues and minor leagues, and between the rotation and the bullpen.
Whitlock just came back from a pectoral strain and there’s no telling if he’s still pitching through discomfort, but he hasn’t shown any signs of it.
It’s a surprisingly strong group all of a sudden, particularly with the addition of whichever starting pitchers Cora decides to use in the ‘pen on a given night.
That means a whole lot of pitching changes. Just like the Rays are used to.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 6:34:47 GMT -5
Tony Massarotti @tonymassarotti 36m FWIW ... Eduardo Rodriguez actually led the Sox this season in wins with 13. Red Sox were 20-12 when he pitched. And Sox had 19 different pitchers win at least one game for them. That feels like a lot.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 8:11:32 GMT -5
Could the Red Sox sneak up on the Titletown Rays? Yup Current Time 0:02 / Duration 0:41
By Jim Hackett 32 minutes ago
As the other city by the other bay, the self-proclaimed ‘Titletown’ of Tampa Bay prepares to host Game 1 of the American League Division Series Thursday night at Tropicana Field, I see an opening for your suddenly sky-high Boston Red Sox.
It’s been long rumored that professional athletes don’t read their press clippings or listen to what’s being said about them, but when questioned I always find it ironic that they always know the narrative that surrounds them. Wonder how that happens?
For the Rays, since they took over first place of the AL East on July 3 and never looked back the press surrounding them has been beyond positive. It’s been daily affirmation unseen anywhere since Stuart Smalley left Saturday Night Live. Make no mistake, the Rays have earned their massive heaps of praise but I’m thinking that after three-plus months of some serious intergalactic level ball washing that it may actually have left a mark.
A permanent one ...
It’s true, Tampa Bay (or Titletown Lite, as I call them) is on a roll. They’ve got the GOAT, our GOAT Tom Brady. They have the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Lightning and the 2020 runner-up Rays who check all of the boxes and just keep winning. Just ask anybody covering them. Or anyone who knows anyone who covers them. Or anyone in Tampa Bay. Or anyone that talks about Tampa Bay. Or anyone that has been to Tampa Bay, flown into its airport or driven through it.
I get it. The Rays are good and everyone knows it but often times in sports, when teams or their top players get anointed before the actual bell sounds the results aren’t always great. The list is long of teams and stars whose path to championship gold was wrongfully preordained.
Here are some examples.
There were the very many years of the A-Rod Yankees who won a whopping one World Series in 2009 when they had a roster and payroll made to win 10. The '90’s Atlanta Braves come to mind who were annually the preseason projected champion for nearly a decade, yet also managed to win just one World Series. Those teams had maybe the best 1-2-3 pitching punch in the history of the game with Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz but are better known for their not-so-near misses and early exits during the postseason.
The Peyton Manning Colts broke through for another whopping one Super Bowl in 2006 while ESPN and all of the NFL’s national media henchman seemingly coronated them every year despite Brady and the Patriots steamrolling over Manning season after season after season. The LeBron James Cavaliers prior to taking ‘his talents to Miami’ were an annual choke job and painful as it is, our own 2007 Patriots were basically coronated in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLII.
Now I get it, those examples are different because the makeup of those teams were superstar laden while this Tampa Bay ball club has a much grittier sum of its parts type of feel. I like their makeup and their ball club. Their continued success with a bargain basement budget is beyond impressive. There is a very clear delta between those comparisons and these Rays. However, that coronation type narrative surrounding these Rays has that very same feel. It just does. Don’t agree? Find me a pundit that is picking the Red Sox in this series.
I’ll wait.
In the minds of many, the Red Sox, who were significant home underdogs going into Tuesday night’s glorious victory over the Yankees, will be just an obstacle to conquer over a small period of time. A distraction along the way to a predetermined destiny. Knowing these Red Sox, their makeup and the path they had to take, I think that’s a foolish assumption.
Which team has actually won a World Series recently? It’s not the Rays, it’s the Red Sox. Enough of the core of that 2018 World Series Championship team is still intact. Which team’s manager has more impressively proven his postseason meddle? That would be the Red Sox manager, Alex Cora. Who did the Chief Baseball Officer of the Red Sox Chaim Bloom work for during his years of critical development? That would be the Rays.
So they have the experience, the institutional knowledge of their opponent and understand how to successfully navigate October postseason baseball.
The Rays could very well dominate this series as they have with most of their opponents all season long; there is certainly plenty of media hype and box score documentation to support that. These Red Sox however have something that the Rays would be wise to recognize and that quality is resilience. This is a resilient bunch and now after two tumultuous months, they are suddenly riding high. They should be feeling great, have momentum on their side and have proven to be resilient when they absolutely had to be.
So the Rays might have the hype and the better club, but they’d be fools to look beyond these Red Sox as their season of heralded press clippings suggest they should.
Resilience, belief and momentum. Sounds like a formula for an upset to me.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 8:15:54 GMT -5
ALDS ON FS1/MLBN BETWEEN THE TAMPA BAY RAYS AND THE BOSTON RED SOX .
Game 1 | Umpire | Previous Postseason Assignments HP Dan Bellino 1 WC, 6 DS, 1 LCS 1B D.J. Reyburn 1 WC, 2 DS 2B Sam Holbrook (CC) 1 WC, 6 DS, 4 LCS, 3 WS 3B Ron Kulpa 1 WC, 11 DS, 3 LCS, 1 WS LF Greg Gibson 3 WC, 9 DS, 5 LCS, 1 WS RF Brian Knight 2 WC, 3 DS
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 8:19:15 GMT -5
Red Sox-Rays ALDS Pitching Matchups By CBSBoston.com Staff October 7, 2021 at 8:47 am
BOSTON (CBS) — The Red Sox will begin their ALDS battle with the Rays on Thursday night in St. Petersburg. Boston only had one day to get down to Florida after ousting the Yankees in the Wild Card game, and skipper Alex Cora had only one day to sort out his rotation for the upcoming series.
There’s still some sorting to do, as Cora has only named his Game 1 starter. But it’s easy to surmise how the rest of the rotation will shape out for the best-of-five series.
Game 1 — Thursday, 8:07 p.m. at Tropicana Field Eduardo Rodriguez (13-8, 4.74 ERA) vs. Shane McClanahan (10-6, 3.43 ERA)
Cora named lefty Eduardo Rodriguez as his Game 1 starter on Wednesday.
“He has been throwing the ball well. We think it’s a good matchup,” Cora said. “Obviously with them, you have to mix and match. They’re going to look for an advantage and all that. We’ll have Nick in the bullpen tomorrow, and we’ll do what we do.”
Rodriguez had an up and down 2021 season, but he did make 31 starts. He finished somewhat strong in September and October, going 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA over six starts and one relief appearance. He made two starts against the Rays during that span, and though he was roughed up for six runs over 3.2 innings at Fenway, he did toss six shutout innings at the Trop on Sept. 2.
He’ll be opposed by rookie Shane McClanahan, who led the Rays with 141 strikeouts. The lefty was 1-1 in his three starts against Boston, holding Sox hitters to a .246 average and just one extra-base hit. His most recent outing against Boston came on Sept. 8 when he tossed five shutout innings but earned a no decision in a 2-1 Red Sox win.
Game 2 — Friday, 7:02 p.m. at Tropicana Field Chris Sale (5-1, 3.16) vs. Shane Baz (2-0, 2.03)
Sale hasn’t been officially named Friday night’s starter, but he will very likely toe the rubber for Boston. Game 2 is five days after he last pitched, which did not go so well as Sale only lasted 2.1 innings against the Washington Nationals in the final game of the regular season. While he fanned seven Nats, he didn’t have his usual command, walking three. Sale also allowed four hits, surrendering a pair of runs in his brief outing. In his start prior to that outing, he was hit with a loss against the Orioles after allowing three runs over 5.1 innings.
Overall, Sale was pretty good for a guy coming back from Tommy John surgery. But he’s going to need to be great against the Rays.
He’ll be opposed by rookie Shane Baz, who has a whopping three starts in his MLB career. The 22-year-old made his debut on Sept. 20, and gave up just three earned runs over his three trips to the mound. He won his first two outings, tossing five innings of two-run ball against the Blue Jays, and following it up with a nine-strikeout performance over 5.2 innings against the Marlins. He went just 2.2 innings against the Yankees in his final start, but that was mostly because Tampa had a 7-1 lead in the third inning.
Game 3 — Sunday, 4:07 p.m. at Fenway Park Drew Rasmussen (4-0, 2.44) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (11-9, 3.75)
Neither of these guys have been named starters yet, but this is probably the matchup we’ll get when the series shifts to Fenway Park over the weekend.
Rasmussen was acquired by Tampa from Milwaukee in May and made 10 starts and 10 appearances out of the bullpen for the Rays. He was 1-0 against Boston, making three starts and two relief appearances. He surrendered four runs off 13 hits and four walks while striking out 15 over his 15.2 innings against the Sox.
We really don’t have to say much about Eovaldi. He was Boston’s best starter this season, and is fresh off a solid 5.1 innings of one-run ball against the Yankees in the Wild Card game. He was dealing on Tuesday, striking out eight. Nasty Nate was 2-1 with a 2.39 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in four starts against his former team during the regular season, punching out 31 Rays over 26.1 innings.
A potential Game 4 is set for Monday in Boston while a deciding Game 5 would be Wednesday night in St. Petersburg.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Oct 7, 2021 9:31:07 GMT -5
Young Rays franchise not new to the playoffs Bill Koch The Providence Journal
For a franchise founded barely two decades ago, the Rays already have a fair amount of playoff history with the Red Sox.
Tampa Bay reached its seventh postseason overall and third straight by capturing the American League East title. The Rays won an even 100 games while distancing Boston and the Yankees by a comfortable margin. Tampa Bay will be attempting to go one step further after losing its second World Series appearance in 2020, this time against the Dodgers. Chaim Bloom, the current chief baseball officer of the Red Sox, spent 15 years in the Tampa Bay Rays' front office before joining Boston in October 2019.
The Red Sox didn’t stand in their way last year, but Thursday night’s first pitch in Game 1 of the A.L. Division Series will match the franchise with the Rays for the third time in October. Boston was the defending champion when it fell to Tampa Bay in seven games in the 2008 A.L Championship Series. The Red Sox were on their way to the third of their four titles this century when they eliminated the Rays in the 2013 ALDS.
“They are a very clean team, to be honest,” Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. “They score a lot of runs. They might not have the names that some of the other teams have but they don't make a lot of mistakes.”
Bogaerts was able to look ahead following an electric Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Boston wrapped up the A.L. Wild Card berth thanks to a 6-2 victory over the Yankees. Bogaerts smashed a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and the Red Sox played one of their most complete games of the season in dismissing New York.
“We've just got to be ready to face a great baseball team,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Probably, coming into the season, everybody talked about them being the best team in the big leagues. We have a huge challenge, but we're ready for it.”
Boston’s familiarity with Tampa Bay now goes well beyond their 19 annual meetings as A.L. East foes. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spent 15 years in the Rays front office prior to his October 2019 hiring in Boston. Bloom is part of the growing Tampa Bay front office tree throughout the sport, the root of which now resides in Los Angeles. The Rays finished with the best record in the American League -- 100-62. Tamp Bay will host the Red Sox for Game 1 of the ALDS on Thursday night.
Andrew Friedman has served as the president of baseball operations with the Dodgers since October 2014. The club snapped its 32-year title drought last season by outlasting the Rays in six games. Player development, talent acquisition and financial muscle were successfully melded to deliver Los Angeles its first crown since Kirk Gibson famously limped around the bases against the Athletics.
Bloom, James Click in Houston, Alex Anthopoulos in Atlanta and Farhan Zaidi in San Francisco are all top baseball executives in their respective organizations who cut their teeth in the Tropicana Field offices. All four have helped build postseason clubs in 2021. Their on-field influence was apparent Tuesday, as Cora wasted no time replacing starter Nathan Eovaldi and going to his bullpen.
“I understand the situation,” Eovaldi said. “Third time through the lineup, it's tough. Batters seeing you for the third time, they have a better understanding of what you're going to do and a better idea of how you're going to attack them.”
Eovaldi had thrown just 71 pitches and struck out eight against no walks in 5⅓ innings. His line was almost identical to Blake Snell in Game 6 of the World Series last year. The left-hander — now with the Padres — allowed just two hits and struck out nine against no walks while taking a 1-0 lead into the sixth.
“When I went to the mound, he gave me this look like, ‘What are you doing?’ ” Cora said. “But it's just such a tough game to manage. We felt our bullpen was ready to get the rest of game.”
Unlike Eovaldi, Snell’s bullpen couldn’t finish the job. Nick Anderson allowed an inherited run to score and gave up one of his own. Pete Fairbanks surrendered a leadoff solo homer to Mookie Betts in the eighth and the Dodgers stole the clinching 3-1 victory. Snell was critical of the decision and Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash absorbed a heavy dose of public blame following the defeat.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @billkoch25
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