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DEL.ICIO.USRed Sox get used to role of favorite
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Boston — Three years ago, they wondered if they would ever win another World Series. Now, it seems like they can’t do anything do anything wrong. They have made the unlikely evolution from a 86-year losers to lovable self-proclaimed “idiots” to postseason bullies.
The Boston Red Sox came into this World Series as heavy favorites over the Colorado Rockies. It’s a tag Boston manager Terry Francona didn’t want to hear about the past few days, if only because he learned first-hand in 2004 about improbable postseason results.
But after one game, has any World Series looked like more of a slam dunk?
The Red Sox won 13-1.
At last count.
“I don’t think I paid any attention [to projections] before, and I probably won’t now,” Francona said after the game.
Hard to believe, but Boston trailed Cleveland 3-1 in the ALCS. Since then, the Red Sox have won four straight by a combined score of 43-6. There comes a point when you expect this. They opened the Series by validating all of the mismatch projections that Francona and some of his players have tried to smother.
“I don’t care about the perception,” he said the other day. “Just to make this really clear, if I were betting on it, I would care. I’m not.”
Certainly seems like it would’ve been a safe investment. Boston just destroyed a Colorado team that had won 10 straight and 21 out of 22.
“It can change in a heartbeat,” Kevin Youkilis said.
Yes. Assuming the Rockies still have one.
Every player in the Sox lineup reached base at least once. All but one scored. All but one drove in a run. It was a well-balanced assault.
Josh Beckett, the starting pitcher, did something that hadn’t been done in a World Series game since Sandy Koufax in 1963: He struck out the first four batters. He allowed one run in seven innings and struck out nine, and this postseason now reads like a Koufax Hall of Fame induction speech: 4-0 with a 1.20 earned run average, 35 strikeouts, two walks.
This counts as only one game. The Rockies can keep telling themselves that. But right now Boston’s not looking real beatable. Or even touchable.
One team is a centerpiece, the other background noise. The Red Sox have the stars and the glitz. Their payroll ($143 million) nearly triples that of the Rockies ($54.4 million). The starting pitching seems laughingly tilted: Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Jeff Francis, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Fogg (or: Who, What, Where).
Game 1 pitching summary: Perception equaled reality.
Three of the first four Boston batters hit, then scored. Francis lasted only four innings, and then was carried back to the clubhouse by medics. He allowed six runs on 10 hits. He threw 103 pitches, which isn’t easy to do in only four innings.
It was 3-0 after the first, 6-1 after the fourth and 13-1 after the fifth (a seven-run inning that included three straight bases-loaded walks).
The Boston Globe broke down how the teams matched up in Wednesday’s newspaper. The Rockies were given the advantage in four of 10 categories. But two of those were “intangibles” and “karma.” I’m guessing karma didn’t make the trip.
“One of the strengths of this team is our confidence hasn’t been shaken by the results of a game,” said manager Clint Hurdle. But the Rockies will have to be twisted steel to not be shaken by this.
Maybe it was the layoff. The Rockies swept Philadelphia and Arizona in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They were off for eight days. Maybe they liked it so much that they decided to stretch it to nine.
The Rockies had claimed they were loose, thanks to playing a couple of “simulated” games. Those games must have been played on Xbox.
Relative to the Red Sox, most consider the Rockies are nameless, faceless and so far hopeless. Is that unfair? Possibly. But Colorado looked overmatched from the outset.
And the Red Sox? They looked like favorites.
It’s a new suit. But they wear it well.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves / MLB, Jeff Schultz
Comments
By john rocker
October 25, 2007 1:06 AM | Link to this
what? you mean they’re still playing baseball?
By joe cocker
October 25, 2007 1:20 AM | Link to this
i think mike vick should be allowed to play in the world series.
By Big Ed
October 25, 2007 6:52 AM | Link to this
Red Sox or Yankees. I can’t tell them apart. Boston paid $50 million dollars just for the negotiating rights for one player. The Rockies whole payroll is close to that. The “Red Sox Nation” has already gone from pretty cool to pretty smug and obnoxious. You see money actually can buy happiness.
By Jim
October 25, 2007 7:41 AM | Link to this
“yawn”….who cares……..I just hope get it over with quickly so the Braves can get busy with the process of finding their new centerfielder (whoever it is) and a couple of new starting pitchers.
By Louie the Crab
October 25, 2007 9:23 AM | Link to this
…and or “DUH”!
By eric the elder
October 25, 2007 9:28 AM | Link to this
Any of the four American League playoff teams could beat any of the four National League playoff teams in a World Series matchup.
The dilution of major league talent is most clearly evident in the National League.
By Jerry
October 25, 2007 10:46 AM | Link to this
As a lifelong Red Sox fan (and Boston native transplanted to Atlanta), I’m thrilled. It’s about time we completely exorcised the demons (racism, dumb trades, cronyism) that plagued the franchise for 86 l-o-n-g years.
By Herschel Talker
October 25, 2007 1:10 PM | Link to this
In 1996, didn’t the Braves storm back from a 3-1 deficit in the NLCS, outscoring the Cardinals big time over the 3 games?
In 1996, didn’t the Braves beat the Yankees 12-1 in game 1?
In 1996, didn’t everyone (including Terence the Fool) proclaim the series done?