October 13, 2008 at 9:54 PM

TB 9, BOS 1: Upton, Baldelli ring out Sox

B. J. Upton and Rocco Baldelli both belted three-run home runs in the Rays 9-1 win over Boston to take a 2-1 lead in the ALCS.

Jon Lester only lasted 5 2/3's innings, eight hits, five runs, four earned, two walks, seven strikeouts, and two homers in the loss.

Goat of the Game: It hurts to say this...

Lester just did not have it today.

Boston just did not have it today.

Next Game: Wakefield

With the way the offense looked today hope for lots of goose eggs on the board tomorrow.

Discussion

10 Comments on "TB 9, BOS 1: Upton, Baldelli ring out Sox"

#1

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Posted by Sean O, October 13, 2008 10:00 PM

Manny with another RBI. why can't we get guys like this?

last person out, please turn out the lights.

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#2

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Posted by SamR, October 13, 2008 10:16 PM

Ok so I'm not even going to think about Manny. Or anything that happened today for that matter. It's time to face tommorrow...

So am I the only one who thinks Wake may be our best chance tommorrow? I know that sounds ridiculous but just think about it for a second. The Rays have crushed our big power pitchers and are settling into a rythm against the fastball. Now is there anyone better at changing pace than the Knuckler? I don't know guys. But if it's dancing tommorrow I think we might just have a good shot at evening things up. We'll know in the first couple innings of course. Let's hope.

Someone has to generate a little positive ripple eh?

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#3

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Posted by NebraskaPatrick, October 13, 2008 11:27 PM

todays game is over and all we can hope for is tomarrow nigth and wake. I dont have high hopes but at least we still have some right? Im sure theres plenty of fans out there that wish they still had hope for their team....cubs...mets...hahahha yankees? lets get em tomarrow night and hope the O shows up

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#4

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Posted by Daniel Rathman, October 13, 2008 11:49 PM

I had the displeasure of going to this game. Not fun. No way this team is winning this series with three holes in the lineup -- especially not when those holes are spread out 1, 3, and 8.

Hopefully we'll turn things around against Sonnanstine tomorrow. But the Sox never seem to hit him well, so it better be the Dr. Jekyll side of Wake.

This may sound crazy, but I think Tito ought to think about putting Pedroia back into the cleanup spot, and give Papi a night off. Something like this...

1. Coco

2. Lowrie

3. Youkilis

4. Pedroia

5. Drew

6. Bay

7. Kotsay

8. Casey (DH)

9. Varitek

Now, I know this'll never happen, but...it seems like it could work.

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#5

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Posted by Daniel Rathman, October 13, 2008 11:50 PM

Er, that should be Cash hitting 9th, since Wake's on the mound.

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#6

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Posted by Gerry, October 14, 2008 12:12 AM

Great lineup. Hard to imagine we hope to pull one out by sitting Papi, Tek and Ellsbury. The main problem Tito will have with this lineup is that it doesn't go lefty, righty, lefty, etc.

I absolutely do not understand why we are not using our speed; a weapon both the Rays and Angels used effectively against us. We are just as fast. Ells, Coco, Pedroia, Bay, Kotsay, Drew can all make things happen. We have had so many runners at 3rd, yet no bunts, no manufacturing runs. Lethargy comes to mind. How about a little energy to stimulate those bats. Take a chance, Tito.

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#7

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Posted by Sam K, October 14, 2008 10:19 AM

Now do you guys understand how lethal Tito's braincramps were in Game 2? That oh-well-we'll-get-'em-tomorrow attitude serves him well for the first 162 games, but how does it look right now?

We're suddenly on ice that's SCARILY thin: our pitching has failed us, both bullpen and rotation, and our offense is on life-support while our leadoff man and cleanup hitter register as flatlines. One more thing goes wrong for the Sox, and our season ends in just 2 more games. And hey, you know what, the Rays are a darn good team too, so if they trounce us, we deserved it, and they deserve the chance to challenge for the WS title. Good for them.

You don't give games away in October, Tito. Unforgivable.

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#8

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Posted by Bob, October 14, 2008 11:04 AM

I think that Tito know how to manage in October he wears two things on his fingers that say so. Only down 2-1, lots of baseball left

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#9

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Posted by JaredK, October 14, 2008 11:14 AM

Well, I'm glad we used up Byrd yesteday, initially I was a little pissed when it was 5-1 and I held out a little hope (despite our complete lack of offense) but now if Wake only gets us 4-5 innings we should be able to use MDC, Oki, Masterson and Paps as needed with the day off Wed.

Regarding Big Papi, no way you sit him in my opinion. He is at least drawing some walks in the post-season and I don't think you help him out of a slump by sitting him....there are enough off-days in the post-season for him to get some perspective. Casey has not had an at-bat in two weeks and if your hoping something eventually clicks with Papi its not gonna happen on the bench. He has been shitty but you never know when the at-bat will be when something clicks (other then his wrist) and he gets some timing/comfort back.

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#10

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Posted by M.A.G, October 14, 2008 1:50 PM

My personal preference:

1) Coco

2) Pedroia

3) Bay

4) Youk

5) Drew

6) Kotsay

7) Lowrie

8) Papi

9) Tek

Imagine our three hottests bats hitting back to back: Pedroia, Bay and Youk. This is our better chance to get some runs from the start and spark the rest of the lineup.

On the other hand, I like the idea of putting Papi and Tek toghether, because that way they can screw only one inning, and minimize the damage. Besides, I think this could be the best thing for them, because maybe with some of the pressure off their backs, they will begin to regain some form.

Of course, Tito never listens to me...

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