MVN: Most Valuable Network

Welcome to October, Tampa Bay. The Rays and their fans, who created an atmosphere like that of a cicada-infestation with their cowbells echoing throughout Tropicana Field, learned an important lesson in their first ALCS game. Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good. There was no superior team on the field last night in Florida; one team got a few breaks and lucky bounces, and the Red Sox won 2-0.

James Shields was the hard-luck loser in this one, recovering from a first inning in which he threw 26 pitches to go 7 1/3 innings, giving up only two runs. In the top of the first, Shields was locating his fastball but struggled with his off-speed pitches, many bouncing in the dirt. After walking Dustin Pedroia, the Rays got their first (only?) break of the night. Kevin Youkilis ripped a ball down the right-field line, but as Pedroia rounded third, the ball hit the artificial warning track material and skyrocketed up and into the crowd for a ground-rule double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out, Shields regained his control; he threw two straight breaking balls for strikes and ended with a K of JD Drew to end the inning.

Daisuke Matsuzaka started the game by sandwhiching the first two out of the innings with walks, leaving the bases loaded for Cliff Floyd. Floyd routinely grounded out, ending the threat, and Dice-K (Dice-BB?) escaped the threat he created. Matsuzaka settled in from there, at one point he retired 8 of 9 Rays, with only Carlos Pena reaching base by, of course, a walk. By the time the Red Sox came up to bat in the top of the fifth, TBS was already talking no-hitter.

Mark Kotsay has yet to have his Bobby Kielty moment, and maybe last night was the best we’ll get from the midseason pickup. Kotsay had a ball ricochet off his bat while checking his swing and land in fair ground up the left-field line for a double that followed a Jason Bay walk. With runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs, Jed Lowrie poetically started the ALCS scoring the way he ended the ALDS, knocking in Jason Bay for a run. Lowrie took three hard cuts, finally connecting on a mistake pitch from Shields and hit it far enough for a sacrifice fly.

When Dice-K hit cruise control in the early innings of this game, I wrote in the game thread that getting seven shutout innings would exceed my wildest expectations for the game. When the bottom of the seventh started with two singles, leaving runners at the corners with no outs, a funny thing happened. All of a sudden it felt like 2003 again, not that year specifically, but that feeling all Sox fans had of impending doom. When you couldn’t enjoy a lead or a win because you were too terrified of what was going to go wrong.

Knowing that Matsuzaka only allowed a .164 batting average against with runners in scoring position, I felt good after he retired the first two batters. However, as the #9 hitter Jason Barlett came up to bat, memories from seasons past, like a bad nightmare, raced through my head. Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, and now Jason Bartlett? Would he be the unlikely hero to swing the momentum for the Rays? Fortunately for the blood pressure of the Red Sox nation, not this time. A grounder to Lowrie and the inning was over, seven shutout innings for the Red Sox.

In the top of the eighth, the Sox added another run after Kevin Youkilis fought off an 0-2 count to rip a liner to left off JP Howell. The ball hit off the glove of Carl Crawford and rolled past him, allowing Dustin Pedroia to score and give the Sox a 2-0 lead. At this time, I was wondering who would pitch the 8th for the local nine; Masterson, Delcarmen, or Okie. When I saw the emotionless Dice-K trotting out to the mound, the nightmares came back: 2003, Grady Little, Who’s your daddy.

Sure enough, two batters later the Rays have two men on with no outs. Naturally, Francona brings in the bullpen’s worst pitcher with runners on base, Hideki Okajima. He goes 3-0 on Carlos Pena, the Rays most feared hitter, before getting him to fly out to JD Drew. Justin Monsterson relieved Okie at that point, and seduced Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria into a double play. Only in 2008.

Just like that it was Papelbon and a 1-0 series lead, with Josh Beckett on the hill today and Jon Lester waiting to open it up at Fenway Park. Dustin Pedroia’s single in the eighth made him 2-20 in the post-season and he looks better than David Ortiz. I personally feel the 2007 Sox would murder this year’s team. However, they keep finding ways to win, some luck they are manufacturing themselves, some luck is the surplus that was building for 86 years.

It was a thrilling October baseball game for even the common fan to watch, and we have at least three more to go. It is hard to ask for much more in game two, but I have two requests. The first is to keep the status quo, in hoping that the catwalks do not become a factor. The second, is please do not ever let Craig Sager dress himself ever again, or at least don’t put him on television while wearing a light purple suit - I don’t ask for much.