Thoughts on ALCS Game 2 and NLCS Game 3

Seven current managers are younger than this guy.

I kind of figured last night's game would be a bit more high-scoring, but that was pretty ridiculous. It did make it entertaining though. Each one of those seven home runs were tagged. None of them were flyballs that just got out. Even Pedroia's, whose just cleared the wall twice, were rockets over the fence. In the end, the Rays pulled it out on a sacrifice fly. It was one of the most entertaining games I've seen in a while. This puts everyone on notice that the Red Sox won't just beat down on the Rays. Anyway, here are some thoughts about the game.

Josh Beckett
I really didn't think he was the answer in this one. I knew going into it that he'd still be rusty. He took almost two weeks off between his last regular season start and his first postseason start. Last night was all about rust and dealing with lingering effects of his injury. It just seemed like he threw fastball after fastball after fastball up there. It seemed like he had good movement, but the command was way off. It was either up, down the middle, or both. I almost thought he found it on the front-door fastball to Cliff Floyd during his first at-bat, but that was short-lived. Maybe he'll be right by Game 6, but I'm not sure I'd count on it.

Scott Kazmir
He's still being inconsistent, and I'm not sure anyone knows why. First, his command was off as well, but that's more usual for them than for Beckett. Kazmir usually has a bit better command, but he didn't have any secondary pitches working for him. His slider had some good bite to it at times last night, but he couldn't throw it for strikes and Boston wasn't swinging. He'll have some serious work to do this offseason.

Jason Bay
I'm really happy for this guy. It seems everyone said he wasn't Manny and couldn't come through when it counted, but he's been really awesome for the Red Sox this postseason. He's doing everything humanly possible. It must feel good to prove people wrong.

As for Game 3 of the Dodgers-Phillies series, the Dodgers really need to turn it around. Tonight's game sees Kuroda vs. Moyer, and the stats for the pitchers are essentially identical. Moyer works really well against free-swinging teams, so I think he'll have success tonight. Kuroda keeps the ball down and has an excellent 1.85 GB/FB ratio, but as Peter Gammons has pointed out, the Phillies are good low-ball hitters. I think it really comes down to Utley and Manny, and I think Manny gets the best of Moyer before Utley gets the best of Kuroda. Dodgers win and make the series 2-1.