Saturday, October 10, 2009

UP AGAINST IT


I keep hearing people complain that the Red Sox "aren't showing any intensity." How the hell can a baseball player show intensity? Baseball requires a calm and relaxed attitude. In '04, the Sox were down 3-0 to the Yankees but won 4 straight because they were relaxed, not "intense." In '07, they were down 3-1 to Cleveland, but calmly and confidently came back in that series. And if they have any chance of producing another miracle, they'll need to remain cool and collected.

Sox fans who paid attention for the regular season have seen a familiar thing these past two nights: a Sox offense with everyone slumping. This lineup is capable of a relentless onslaught. It's also capable of what we've witnessed lately. Maybe 2 or 3 guys put up good at-bats, and nobody can string hits together.

The good news is that this is self-correctable. And returning to Fenway won't hurt. The Sox scored 90 more runs at home than on the road. They average 1.1 more runs per game in Fenway. So that's something to look forward to.

But the Sox have dug themselves a deep hole. They can come back from this 2-0 deficit, but the hitting has to improve ASAP, and the pitching also has to be lights out.

Game 3 Sunday afternoon at 12:07 PM. Apparently TBS wants all Sox fans to lose sleep at night, and Angels fans to lose sleep in the morning because that's 9:07 AM in Anaheim.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo