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October 13, 2007
Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Julian Tavarez taps Eric Gagne on the head after Gagne escaped the ninth inning of Game 1.
BY JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- Red Sox reliever Eric Gagne struggled again, only this time it wasn't the regular season. The right-hander, who Boston acquired at the trade deadline to shore up the bullpen, entered the ninth inning of Game One of the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians Friday night and struggled.
With the Red Sox leading 10-3, Gagne did strikeout out three and didn't allow a run, but he did load the bases on two hits and a walk.
“At times (Friday) night, he threw some great off-speed pitches,” said Terry Francona. “It was obvious because he got the swings and misses. Then at times, it was the guy we’ve seen, losing his balance on the follow through and the fastball up. So, it’s a very difficult fine line right now. We’re in the postseason and it is a little tough. The one saving grace for me is the way he handles it. He’s trying his [butt] off. It’s just not as clean as we would like it to be.”
When he first arrived in Boston, he struggled a bit and started hearing the boo-birds from the fans at Fenway Park. Then he had the tender-arm issues.
“He never really got on a roll,” said Francona. “Besides the last eight days [of the regular season] he had four or five pretty good outings. It’s just the consistency of his outings and the timing of his outings probably aren’t helping, but we’ll keep at it. Hopefully we’ll have some time to figure this out.”
Fox broadcaster and former major-leaguer Tim McCarver said during Friday’s broadcast that he thought Gagne’s arm was bothering him because the right-hander kept stretching his arm. But, as Francona said Saturday, Gagne has always done that. It’s part of his rhythm on the mound.
Gagne will be a free agent at the end of this season, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Red Sox handle the reliever for the rest of the postseason and beyond.
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 6:18 PM | Permalink
