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Boston’s Ray of Hope
Out of the 4 teams in ALCS history to be down 3-1 only to come back to win the series, Boston holds claim to 3 of them. First in 1986 against the Angels, then historically in 2004 against the Yankees (where they were down 3-0) and again last year (2007) against the Indians. I guess you can say that Boston has a flair for the dramatic! I didn’t think they could do it in 2004, I was confident that it was possible to come back in 2007 (Sabathia & Carmona just looked too tired), but I just don’t get the same fuzzy feeling as I did last year. Tampa is too strong and Boston has Lowell out (hip), and both Beckett and Ortiz just don’t look like their usual clutch selves.
Boston winning back to back World Series, in my opinion, would be good for baseball, but I think that the Rays Cinderella story would be better!
One interesting note that I have heard so far today is that Rays manager Joe Maddon is swapping pitchers for games 5 and 6, choosing to go with Scott Kazmir in game 5 against Daisuke Matsuzaka (winner of game 1). This pushes James Sheilds to game 6, if necessary. He’s either giving the Rays a better opportunity to win a possible game 6 against Josh Beckett or he’s setting up his rotation for the World Series. What do you think?
I’d be careful if I were Joe Maddon, you just don’t want to let Boston back into this series with a win tonight or you might regret it! When they are down like this you’ve got to finish them off!
My prediction for tonight’s NLCS match up stays the same as it was yesterday. The Phillies, on the back of Cole Hamels, will advance to the World Series after defeating the Dodgers and Chad Billingsley tonight at Dodger Stadium. Play Ball!!
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