Posted by David Pevear, Sun Staff
Terry Francona knows not whether his Red Sox will win or lose when faced with elimination on Thursday night in Game 5 of the ALCS. The manager is certain, though, that "the magnitude" of an elimination game will not "get in the way of our guys performing."
The Red Sox are 7-1 when facing post-season elimination since Francona became Boston’s manager in 2004. For the third time in five years, Boston trails an ALCS 3-1, with the young and carefree Tampa Bay Rays the latest to attempt to close out the Red Sox and dance off to the World Series.
In 2004 and '07, the Red Sox roared back against the Yankees and Indians, respectively, and then went on to win the World Series in four-game sweeps.
"These guys have played in big games," said Francona. "Every game here (at Fenway Park) is big."
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon had told his players to stay away from Fenway on Wednesday even before they pounded Boston 13-4 on Tuesday night. The Red Sox on this scheduled off-day took batting practice for an hour.
Both managers said they would have preferred to play on Wednesday. Maddon would have preferred his Rays just stay on their roll.
"A team that has been playing well always wants to continue to play," said Maddon. "Somebody that's had a bump would prefer a day off. That's just normal stuff."
Though it is generally believed the Red Sox benefited last October from the day off in Cleveland after falling behind 3-1 in that series, Francona sounded like his team was chomping to get at the Rays on Wednesday.
"I think they wish they were playing in about 10 minutes," said Francona "We'll play tomorrow because that's when we're supposed to. But I think everybody is ready to play right now, which is what I was hoping for."
Red Sox DH David Ortiz was smiling during batting practice, and briefly talked to the media. He did snap, "next question," when asked how much the left wrist which has pained him this season is responsible for him batting .071 (1-for-14) in this series and .161 overall this post-season (5-for-31).
Ortiz has no homers and one RBI this October.
It was also Ortiz who after Boston's victory in Game 1 said he saw in the young Rays' faces the pressure of the post-season. The Rays have won three straight games since.
"They've been doing that all year, what they're doing right now," said Ortiz on Wednesday. "They won the (AL) East. They have a better record against everybody. So I'm not surprised."
Dice-K simply cannot pitch his "usual" Dice-K game. If he starts getting lonely out there and decides he needs the company of lots of TB baserunners before he'll stop nibbling then Francona needs to have the early hook ready - even if it means they have to go to Paul Byrd.
The Kazmir decision is interesting... He sure used to pitch fabulously vs the Sox but I thought I heard a lot of rumors that he's just not cut out to be at his best with lots of pressure and when you take out a guy with a nickname of "Big Game" in an elimination game in the other team's yard it's sort of intruiging. Perhaps the Sox can build some momentum and win here and then Shields has this in the back of his mind for game 6? The Sox are a team that came back from 3-0 (with the 3rd loss also a massacre) vs the Yankees only 4 years ago - granted with a much different roster.
On another note - congrats to the Phillies. Hope Manny and Boras have a nice winter trying to convince teams he's worth all that money. Just goes to show that baseball is still a team sport and the Phillies just wanted that series a lot more than the Dodgers did.