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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Not getting it done

Click here to listen to today's edition of projo SoxTalk with Sean McAdam. The topics: the starters' failure to get out of the fifth inning; Wakefield's misplay of Asdrubal Cabrera's ground ball up the middle; Cleveland's ability to create big innings; the likelihood of lineup changes in Game Five; how fatigued is Beckett? and how are the younger players coping with their struggles.

Following are some excerpts from Sean's comments.

What did these three short outings have in common? "I'm not sure it's any one thing. I think that you have to kind of break it down, and in the case of last night, as Terry Francona said in the postgame, this was sort of circumstantial. First of all, the Indians did not exactly tattoo Tim Wakefield. It was a succession of missed opportunities -- the dropped popup by Youkilis in foul ground on Sizemore; the ball that Cabrera hit that hit off Wakefield's glove that might have otherwise been an out or two. And then take into account, as Francona said, that he didn't keep Wakefield in the game the way he might have during the reghular season. He pitched OK; certainly the same can't be said of either Schilling or Matsuzaka. I think you have to take each one individually, but the bottom line is that, given the significance of these games, at no point did anyone get five innings plus, and it's difficult to win a series like that."

The Game Five lineup: "I think you'll see Kielty again in right field against C.C. Sabathia tomorrow night. That's what they did in Game One because of Kielty's history of success against Sabathia in particular, and add to that that J.D. Drew has struggled against lefties all year. So that's virtually a certainty, that Drew will be on the bench and Kielty will be in right. Then the other question is: Do you sit Crisp for Jacoby Ellsbury? And the problem there, of course, is that as much as you'd like to get Ellsbury into the game, it's pretty tough to have him go in there against a left-hander, and one of the best left-handers in the game. I don't know, to tell you the truth, which way [Terry Francona's] going to go. I would imagine it's on the table and being discussed, but that seems like that would be kind of a roll of the dice, even though Crisp has not had a good series at all."

Is fatigue an issue with Beckett? "I think, with regular rest, you're not running any risk. He might not be 100 percent, but then again I'm not sure anyone is, and certainly Sabathia is example 1-A of that. This is a guy who threw 240-plus innings, which is almost unheard of in this day and age, during the regular season and is approaching 260 innings given his two postseason starts already. So I think that fatigue is starting to creep in everywhere."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:01 AM to McAdam | Permalink

Comments

anthony | October 17, 2007 11:31 AM link