ALCS Game 2: Beckett, Timlin And Francona Wear Goat Horns In Tampa’s 9-8 Win |

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ALCS Game 2: Beckett, Timlin And Francona Wear Goat Horns In Tampa’s 9-8 Win

By Administrator | October 12, 2008

Josh Beckett had NOTHING tonight.

The Red Sox offense staked him to leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 6-5, yet every time the offense gave him a lead, the ace surrendered it in the next half inning. Of course, anyone who watched the game knew Beckett had NOTHING… umm, except manager Terry Francona, apparently.

After the offense had re-staked him to a lead at 6-5, and after he had allowed five runs in four innings, Francona sent him out for the bottom of the fifth inning — just long enough for him to surrendered yet another lead.

Tito may be really good in the clubhouse, but his game management skills leave something to be desired.

He then compounded his mistake by calling on Mike Timlin to pitch the eleventh inning… I’m sorry, but if you aren’t prepared to use Paul Byrd in THAT situation, why the heck is he on the roster. When is he going to pitch if not in extra innings when the bullpen has been exhausted… hell, if you are lower than Timlin in the pecking order, you might as well be home with your kids.

When Tito sent Timlin into the game, even MY WIFE knew the game was over.

To all of you Tito apologists, too bad… sometimes he manages a game like he has his head inserted into a bodily orifice.

Beckett should have been out of the game after four innings — at the absolute latest!

Timlin should NOT have been added to the ALCS roster, let alone brought into a tie ballgame in extra innings! The only reason Timlin should be brought into an ALCS game is that the Sox are ahead, or behind, by six or more runs and they need someone to eat up some innings.

Hey Tito, let me say it again, MY WIFE knew the game was over as soon as you brought Mighty Mike into the game. He did NOT earn that right during the regular season… and, quite frankly, you had NO BUSINESS bringing him into the game.

Your players deserved better.

You are fond of saying that you coddle players during the regular season because you don’t want to lose them… that it’s a long season. But you are also fond of saying that, at this time of year, those considerations go out the window because October is about winning ballgames.

So WHY was Beckett left in the game?!?!?!?!?! And WHY was Timlin brought into the game?!?!?!?!?!

Lucy, you’ve got some ’splainin’ to do!

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Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia rips his second home run of the game in the fifth inning… his exploits were wasted as the Sox eventually lost, 9-8, in eleven innings… AP photo

Tito’s mental meltdown and Beckett’s ineptitude wasted a heckuva performance by the Red Sox offense.

Ummm, let me take that back. The meltdown / ineptitude wasted a heckuva performance by FOUR Red Sox batters… because, you see, the Red Sox had twelve hits — as in, four players had three hits apiece and the other five guys wasted their at-bats.

Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay and Coco Crisp each had three hits. Pedroia had two solo home runs, drove in two runs and scored four times… Youkilis had a solo homer, drove in one and scored twice… and Bay had a homer, drove in four and scored once. The Sox also scored a run on a wild pitch.

THAT was it for the offense.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Kotsay were each 0-for-6, with two strikeouts… Ellsbury is now 0-for-his-last-17 in the post-season.

David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie were each 0-for-3, with three walks.

Jason Varitek was 0-for-3, with two strikeouts and a walk.

The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a two-run double by Bay, but Beckett surrendered a two-run home run to Evan Longoria in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.

The Sox grabbed the lead again in the third inning on Pedroia’s first home run of the game, but the Rays scored twice in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead… BJ Upton hit a tremendous home run to left field and Carl Crawford singled home Evan Longoria (double) with the lead run.

Cliff Floyd homered off Beckett in the fourth inning to extend the Tampa Bay lead to two runs, but the Red Sox responded with three solo home runs in the fifth inning to re-gain the lead for the third time in the game. Pedroia and Youkilis took Rays starter Scott Kazmir deep… Bay then homered off reliever Grant Balfour to give the Red Sox a 6-5 lead.

Ah, but Tito sent Beckett back out to the mound for the bottom of the fifth… it was like he was saying: “Here, Tampa, please batter my staff ace to a pulp”. Because that’s what they did.

Beckett surrendered a walk, a stolen base, a single and a double before Francona FINALLY got the message. Javier Lopez was brought into the game and promptly surrendered an rbi-single to Carl Crawford — the only batter he faced — closing the book on Beckett: 4 1/3 IP, 8 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 3 HR.

It was even uglier than the line score.

Of course, Tampa starter Scott Kazmir wasn’t very good either: 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 3 HR

The difference was that Rays manager Joe Maddon actually pulled his struggling starter BEFORE he could hand the game to the opposition… something Terry Francona failed to do.

The Red Sox bullpen after Lopez and before Timlin was superb… pitching 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks. Manny Delcarmen pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed one hit… Hideki Okajima pitched two perfect innings… Justin Masterson pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed one hit… and Jonathan papelbon pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings.

The offense scored a run in the sixth inning to close the deficit to one run… Pedroia walked, advanced to second base on a Youkilis single and scored on Jason Bay’s third hit of the game. The Sox tied the
game in the eighth inning — Pedroia singled, Ortiz walked, and Youkilis grounded into a double play to put Pedroia at third base with two outs. Rays reliever Dan Wheeler uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Pedroia to cross home plate with the tying run.

BOth bullpens then kept the game knotted at eight until Timlin entered the game in the eleventh inning. He walked each of the first two batters he faced (shocking, I know)… after Jason Bartlett grounded to third base, Akinori Iwamura was issued an intentional walk to set up a potential inning-ending double play. But Upton lofted a short fly ball to right field — deep enough to allow pinch-runner Fernando Perez to score the winning run.

All of this while Paul Byrd sat in the bullpen, pulling splinters from his butt. Nice call, Tito!

Rookie David Price earned the win with 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

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Rays 3B Evan Longoria had two home runs in the ALDS… with tonight’s homer he became the third-youngest player to hit three homers in a single postseason. Only Miguel Cabrera and Andruw Jones accomplished the feat at a younger age.

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The two teams combined for seven home runs, tying the postseason record for homers in a game.

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Jonathan Papelbon extended his career postseason scoreless streak to a major league-record 22 innings over 14 appearances.

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Youkilis has now hit safely in all nine of his career ALCS games.

Topics: MLB Playoffs, Sox Games, Sox Players |

One Response to “ALCS Game 2: Beckett, Timlin And Francona Wear Goat Horns In Tampa’s 9-8 Win”

Brad Baker Says:
October 12th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I think there is alot to be said with the status of Josh Beckett. I am not going to down rate the ace. However, you and I both know that Beckett is not 100%. It is pretty straight forward that he is struggling with finding hit spots. Whether its his tingling in his arm or something that has been kept hush to the public by the Red Sox Admin. The Sox are back in bean town and Lester is on the mound for game 3. We can’t hold are heads down we have to move forward. Lets take 3 in Boston and head onto the World Series. Good blog! I just recently found your site. I saw you on Sawxheads.