Baseball reigns supreme for the next couple of weeks.
Bruins’, Celtics’, and Patriots’ seasons are in their very early stages. There’s plenty of time—months in fact-- to gauge their chances for serious playoff runs. Not so with baseball and the Red Sox. As the cliché reminds us—“there is no tomorrow”.
The same holds true for college football which is never a big event in New England. Nonetheless, serious fans watch from a distance and assess Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame and the emerging scene. Here too there is time to separate the men from the boys.
Back to baseball. The Sox win over the Yankees was impressive. Yankee Stadium, Yankee myth, and Yankee mystique were in play, particularly after the Yanks grabbed a split coming out of Fenway. Also in play-- Aaron Judge and the rest of that scary lineup. The Sox didn’t tremble however. They attacked Yankee pitchers and they prospered. Porcello and Evoldi were clutch performers in the Bronx.
On to Houston, home to the defending World Series Champions the Astros. They are a great team. And, as of the writing of this column (early Wednesday evening), the series is up in the air. It’s riveting stuff.
Three observations, two current and one retrospective. First, I like listening to the game on the radio. The Sox announcers are good conversationalists. They don’t force the broadcast. They don’t cram in irrelevant nonsense curated by college interns---who cares about a team’s historical performance from two decades ago? It has absolutely no bearing on these two very different and very good teams battling it out in front of us. The radio guys let the rhythm of the game direct the broadcast. There’s nothing better than a professional silence between pitches where the murmur of the crowd and the call of “hotdogs here”, “get your Coke here” help paint the scene.
Second, I can’t stand pitchers who take forever between pitches. They are ruining the game. Throw the damn ball. If I was umpiring I’d have the stopwatch out all game. Twelve seconds at most between pitches.....no exceptions. Make it clear to both managers at the outset and eliminate the prima donna stare down crap.
As I said, throw the damn ball. And, on this subject, I’ll give Chris Sale and Rick Porcello their due. They take the throw from the catcher, go to the rubber, check the sign, and make the pitch. There’s no phony gunslinger spaghetti-Western stare-down. In doing so of course they establish the tempo and force the batters to play on their terms.
My retrospective observation goes back fifty years to the 1968 World Series between the Cardinals and the Tigers. Look up Bill Dow’s recent column in the Detroit Free Press and read about Mickey Lolich’s three complete games against the defending World Champion Cardinals. These were the Cardinals of Gibson, Cepeda, McCarver, Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, and Curt Flood, all great ballplayers. Dow’s column is a treat, worthy of your time.
Also worthy of your time is the comparison of pitching habits and trends. I would suggest that the four best pitchers in this year’s ALCS are Verlander and Cole for the Astros, Sale and Porcello for the Red Sox. Let’s throw in David Price as well based on his regular season performance. Between those five pitchers, they pitched a mere four complete games for the entire 2018 season. Lolich, in the ’68 Series, pitched three complete games, throwing the last game on two days’ rest! Three complete games in nine days!!
I won’t give you all the wonderful baseball nuggets—about Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, and Willie Horton among others-- in Dow’s column. You deserve the joy of reading it for yourself. I will however give you two stats about Lolich. In sixteen seasons of Major League baseball he pitched 195 complete games! That fact must be utterly astounding to today’s geniuses who monitor pitch counts as if Moses decreed them on sacred tablets. And, in the 1971 season alone, Lolich pitched 376 innings and 29 complete games. In a single season!
By the way, the ’68 Series was over by October 10th! About that seventh game—it was played in daylight in 2 hours and 7 minutes. Throw the damn ball!
Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.
Related Slideshow: Everything to Know About Red Sox vs Astros in ALCS - October 2018
The Red Sox and Astros met seven times during the regular season with Houston winning four of the seven matchups.
In the regular season, Houston outscored the Red Sox 34-31.
Houston also eliminated the Red Sox in the ALDS last season, winning the playoff series 3-1 on their way to winning the World Series against the Dodgers just a few weeks later.
Combined, the Red Sox and Astros put up 211 wins this season, Boston with 108 and Houston with 103.
The only postseason series ever with more regular-season wins is the 1998 World Series between the Yankees and the Padres. They combined for 212.
Sale finished the season with a record of 12-4 and a 2.11 ERA after missing multiple starts due to injury.
In the ALDS against the Yankees, Sale pitched 6.1 innings and gave up two earned runs in Boston's 5-4 win.
“He’s been ready. Game one, last year, in the division series wasn’t a good one for him, but instead of taking it as a negative, he learned from it," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora during his press conference on Friday.
Verlander finished the year with a record of 16-9 and a 2.52 ERA.
In his ALDS start against the Indians, he went 5.1 innings and gave up two earned runs.
Game 2: Gerrit Cole vs. David Price
Price finished the season with a record of 16-7 with an ERA of 3.58.
However, he has never won a postseason start in his career and against the Yankees in the ALDS, he lasted just 1.2 innings and gave up three runs.
"My main goal is to win in the playoffs, to win a World Series. Whatever I need to do to help us do that, I'm fine with. But I know I'm more than capable of winning games as a starter in October. That's what I look forward to doing,” said Price in his post-game press conference.
Cole finished the season with a record of 15-5 and a 2.88 ERA.
In his start against the Indians in the ALDS, he went seven innings and gave up just one run.
Game 3: Rick Porcello vs. Dallas Keuchel
Porcello finished the regular season with a record of 17-7 and an ERA of 4.28.
In the ALDS against the Yankees, Porcello went 5.2 innings and gave up one run in game four to help the Red Sox clinch the series.
Keuchel went 12-11 this season for the Astros with an ERA of 3.74.
In the ALDS against Cleveland, he went five innings and gave up two runs to help Houston advance.
Game 4: Nathan Eovaldi vs. Charlie Morton
After coming to the Red Sox from Tampa Bay, Eovaldi went 3-3 with Boston and posted an ERA of 3.33.
In his ALDS start against the Yankees, he pitched seven innings and gave up one run
Morton went 15-3 in the regular season with an ERA of 3.13.
When it comes to the bullpens, the Astros have a decided advantage over the Red Sox.
In Houston's ALDS series against Cleveland, the bullpen held the Indians to one run and four hits, while striking out nine batters and issuing three walks in 9 2/3 innings.
Houston's go-to guys are Ryan Pressly, Lance McCullers Jr., and Roberto Osuna, while Tony Sipp and Josh James are also weapons.
The Red Sox bullpen had the fourth-best ERA in the American League during the regular season.
However, in the playoffs, it has been a different story.
In 17 innings pitched, the Red Sox have a 3.71 ERA and have issued 11 walks while striking out 17 hitters.
Boston's bullpen nearly blew a 5-0 lead in game one of the ALDS against the Yankee and then closer Craig Kimbrel nearly blew a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning of game four. against New York.
Expect to see Matt Barnes and Ryan Brazier used as set up men to Kimbrel with Joe Kelly and Brandon Workman mixed in depending on the situation.
The key players in the Astros lineup are center field George Springer, second baseman Jose Altuve, third baseman Alex Bregman and left fielder Marwin Gonzalez.
Springer is the hottest of the above players, going 6-for-14 with three home runs in the series against Cleveland.
Gonzalez when 7-of-13 with five RBIs, while Bregman went 5-for-9 with two home runs in the series.
Carlos Correa went 1-for-10 in the ALDS, but his last at-bat was a three-run home run.
A player to watch for Houston is second baseman Jose Altuve.
Altuve has struggled so far this postseason, but if and when he gets going, he gives the Astros a huge spark offensively.
So far in the postseason, 4-for-14 at the plate with two RBIs, one home run and a batting average of .286.
“Individually, I think I could do better, a lot of up and down for me this year, but we are here in the playoffs and so it is an opportunity for me to redeem myself,” said Altuve in his Friday press conference.
In last season's ALDS against Boston, Altuve dominated Red Sox pitching, going 8-for-15, with three home runs for a batting average of .533.
In his playoff career (6 series), Altuve is batting 270 overall and .320 in the ALCS.
The key players in the Red Sox lineup include right fielder Mookie Betts, left fielder Andrew Benintendi, DH JD Martinez, and utility player Brock Holt.
“We have a great offense and a great lineup. We do our homework too, so I think it is going to be a great battle," said Martinez during his Friday press conference.
In the ALDS, Martinez went 5-for-14 with a three-run home run in game one against the Yankees.
Benintendi went 4-of-14 with three RBIs and three walks against the Yankees for a batting average of .286.
With Mitch Moreland likely to miss time due to injury, Holt will likely play first base for the Red Sox.
In the one game that Holt started against the Yankees, he became the first player to ever hit for the cycle in the postseason.
Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts is the lead candidate to win the American League MVP, but has struggled so far in the postseason.
After batting .346 in the regular season, Betts comes into the ALCS batting just .188 with 3 hits in 16 at-bats with two RBIs.
"I guess there is some sense of pressure there, but I have to understand that I can only do what I can do," said Betts during his Friday press conference.
In his playoff career, Betts has just 10 hits in 42 at-bats for a batting average of .238.
The managing matchup is Boston's Alex Cora against Houston's A.J. Hinch.
Cora was Hinch's bench coach in Houston last season helping to lead the Astros to a World Series title.
"Hopefully, I learned something from them that is going to make a difference in one of the four games we want to win. If that happens, well then being familiar with them really helped, but it doesn't guarantee anything," said Cora.
In his first managing job, Cora led the Red Sox to a franchise record 108 wins and their first playoff series win in several years.
Hinch led the Astros to a 103 win season after leading them to a World Series title last season.
Overall, Hinch is in his fourth season with the Astros after beginning his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
