10/13 vs. Tampa - 2008 ALCS Game 3

[TheKilo]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7f/Mickey_Mouse.svg/344px-Mickey_Mouse.svg.png

 

Glad to be out of that Mickey Mouse ballpark with those Mickey Mouse fans.

 

Hopefully Fenway shows the jokes in Tampa how real baseball fans conduct themselves.

 

With any luck, the following will happen:

 

Jacob Ellsbury gets benched in favoir of Covelli.

Sean Casey gets in the game for Kotsay

Timlin gets sent on a missionary trip for the rest of the month.

Sam Holbrook gets jacked a la Celtic Pride.

 

Jon Lester will destroy the Rays. Book it.

[Gom]

Go Rays. Lester loses a close one 3-2.

[BoSox21]

Go Rays. Lester loses a close one 3-2.

 

The Yankees have packed up and called it a season. Their fans should follow suit.

[Gom]

The Yankees have packed up and called it a season. Their fans should follow suit.

If I did, you guys would say I couldn't take the heat since my team lost. No win situation for us. At least I'm here giving you a chance at taking pot-shots at me.

[TheKilo]

I have no problem with Gom picking the Rays.

[Gom]

I have no problem with Gom picking the Rays.

 

Shall I say that my predictions this year have been...um....less than stellar? If the Red Sox win the series, I will pick the Red Sox to win it all. Then...you are doomed! :harhar:

[See Red]

Shall I say that my predictions this year have been...um....less than stellar? If the Red Sox win the series' date=' I will pick the Red Sox to win it all. Then...you are doomed! :harhar:[/quote']

 

:lol:

 

... f***.

[Cocos Disciples]

Gom's right, if he left then we'd just call him a pussy. As for the OP, I agree with Crisp and Casey seeing the lineup, and Timlin getting left in Tampa.

[JoeMagrane]

this is going to be a tough game for us...its a 4:30 start time...the shadows on the field could come into play... we'll see...

[Cocos Disciples]

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=1056

 

Tito says Cora will play over Lowrie tomorrow. Maddon says Baldelli and Aybar will start over Gross and Floyd, respectively.

[TheKilo]

What a f***ing joke. Cora should not start any playoff game, ever.

[Paradisecity]

Alex Cora, Mike Timlin.

 

I feel like Francona is getting all Bill Belichick without the genius part.

 

We should win today, but I also feel like it is more important to the sox to win today than it is for Tampa.

[ORS]

I agree. We took homefield from them against their best pitcher and made game 2 a house money game. They do the same if they win today against our ace. But, I don't see that happening. Garza sucks, and today that should be evident.

[Cocos Disciples]

6-3 win today, Lester gets it done.

[yeszir]

We need more Celtic Pride references.

[VA Sox Fan]

Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF

2 .Dustin Pedroia, 2B

3. David Ortiz, DH

4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B

5. J.D. Drew, RF

6. Jason Bay, LF

7. Mark Kotsay, 1B

8. Jason Varitek, C

9. Alex Cora, SS

-- Jon Lester, SP

 

WIN!!!!

[VA Sox Fan]

AND......let the whining about Ellsbury and Cora BEGIN!!

[MANNYHOF24]

why not Coco?

[VA Sox Fan]

Posted by Adam Kilgore, Globe Staff October 13, 2008 12:43 PM

 

Two items of note: Alex Cora gets the start at shortstop over Jed Lowrie, and manager Terry Francona sticks with slumping Jacoby Ellsbury in the leadoff spot.

[Cocos Disciples]

Sean Casey: *Looks at lineup* f*** this. *Drives home, takes bubble batch, watches Oprah.*

[TheKilo]

O/U on hits for Cora and Ellsbury set at 2.

 

I'll take the under.

[Cocos Disciples]

Under.

[a700hitter]

why not Coco?

This is messed up. Coco is seeing the ball very well right now. He's confident and he's been making good contact. None of these things can be said for Ellsbury right now. Ellsbury's automatic out at the top of the lineup is one of the reasons why Ortiz is not be challenged with fastballs. The key to the Red Sox playoff success has been that the table setters need to get on in front of the big boppers.

[VA Sox Fan]

The lineup explained

 

Posted by Adam Kilgore, Globe Staff October 13, 2008 01:49 PM

 

Terry Francona switched from Jed Lowrie to Alex Cora at shortstop today and stuck by the slumping Jacoby Ellsbury. There's no way that David Ortiz would be moved from the third slot, but he has not been the Ortiz of Octobers past, either. Francona addressed these topics during a session with local writers this afternoon.

 

 

Cora is in for Lowrie because, much like Game 2 in the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels and Ervin Santana, Francona prefers Cora against power righthanded pitchers, which Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza certainly is.

 

"It seems like it's been more of a fit for Alex," Francona said. "I anticipate Jed being right back in there tomorrow [against Andy Sonnanstine]. Sometimes you have different ways of being a good team. Sometimes you don't. We always make sure Jed, when he goes out to take his grounders today, knows that he's not being punished."

 

 

Ellsbury is hitless in his last 17 at-bats, and he is 0 for 11 against the Rays in the ALCS. This might be a good game for Ellsbury to shed his slump -- he's 6 for 13 with a walk in his career against Garza. Even if Ellsbury did not have that history, Francona did not want to remove him from the leadoff spot in favor of Coco Crisp, who had three hits, two doubles, in Game 2.

 

"As long as I think we're a better team with [Ellsbury] hitting first, I'll do it," Francona said. "He had a tough game the other night. So did a couple other guys. But I don't know that because somebody had a tough game or two, you necessarily change the batting order. If there's a place in time where I think we're a better team doing something else, we would do. Last year, we played Coco, and then we didn't play Coco when I thought it was time to make a change. I don't know if moving a guy just because he hasn't got hits makes us better. When somebody has to hit there, then somebody has to take that guy's spot."

 

Ellsbury started the playoffs 6 for 14, blistering the Angels' pitching. Has Tampa Bay, Francona was asked, pitched Ellsbury differently than Los Angeles?

 

"No," Francona said. "They've executed better."

 

 

Ortiz is the other Red Sox player struggling at the top of the lineup. He is batting .217 in the playoffs without a homer. Ortiz, in fact, has not hit a home run in his last 13 games. He may try a shift in approach today. During the Red Sox optional workout yesterday, Ortiz focused on hitting the ball to the opposite field and using the Green Monster as an ally.

 

"I was proud of him yesterday," Francona said. "He came out yesterday and just peppered that Wall. I thought that was really an intelligent thing to do. When he has the ability to hit that Wall, he has the ability to hit the ball anywhere with power. And he came out and just beat the [manure] out of that wall."

 

(For Red Sox starters' numbers against Garza, scroll down to the lineup post.)

[ORS]

Coco's really getting jobbed here. He lost his starting gig in the LCS last year when he couldn't get on base and Ellsbury could. The roles are reversed this year. Coco ain't got his taco.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Gom's right' date=' if he left then we'd just call him a pussy. As for the OP, I agree with Crisp and Casey seeing the lineup, and Timlin getting left in Tampa.[/quote']

 

To be fair we're probably going to call Yankees fans pussies either way...

[Cocos Disciples]

To be fair we're probably going to call Yankees fans pussies either way...

 

Rightfully so!

[TheKilo]

Coco's really getting jobbed here. He lost his starting gig in the LCS last year when he couldn't get on base and Ellsbury could. The roles are reversed this year. Coco ain't got his taco.

 

That switch didn't happen til Game 6 last year, but the fact Francona can't see Ellsbury is killing this team right now is downright maddening.

 

13 ABs! That's what he's based his decision off of? 13 ABs?

[VA Sox Fan]

Rays

 

1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B

2. B.J. Upton, CF

3. Carlos Pena,1B

4. Evan Longoria, 3B

5. Carl Crawford, LF

6. Willy Aybar, DH

7. Dioner Navarro, C

8. Rocco Baldelli, RF

9. Jason Bartlett, SS

 

SP: Matt Garza (0-1, 7.50 ERA)

[Youk Of The Nation]

I like Lester against 6-9 especially, considering how strong he has been.