The series resumes with Sunday brunch (12:07 p.m.) at Fenway tomorrow and big-eyed Clay Buchholz is the only thing standing between the Olde Towne Team and a long, cold winter.
“There really is no big picture,’’ said Kevin Youkilis, one of the last of the ’04 Boys. “We just have to win a ballgame or we’re going home.’’
Your beloved Red Sox are reeling. Two games, two punches to the face. They can’t hit (one run, eight hits in 18 innings) and both aces were beaten at the Big A. Yeesh. The 2009 Boston baseball blueprint did not call for us to watch the Angels and Yankees in the ALCS.
It is not over yet, of course. Three times in the last decade the Sox have recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win a playoff series. They did it against Cleveland on the sheer will of Pedro Martinez in 1999. They did it against the Oakland A’s with Grady Little at the wheel in 2003. And, oh yes, there was that 3-0 deficit in the 2004 ALCS against a well-known rival from New York.
The Sox are counting on Fenway to save them. Boston went 56-25 in Sweet Caroline Games this season.
“We’re going to have to do it at home,’’ said Youkilis. “We’ve got our crowd in front of us and hopefully that will be a big factor.’’
The Sox aren’t going to win any more games unless they hit. Bill Lee once said the Angels could take batting practice in the lobby of the old Grand Hotel and not break a chandelier. This ancient adage now applies to the Red Sox. They are easily shut down by strong pitching. Away from Fenway and the friendly lobs of cousins from Baltimore, Toronto, and Cleveland, the Sox offense disappears. The Franconamen had four hits Thursday and four last night. Youkilis and David Ortiz - Nos. 4 and 5 in the Sox lineup - are an aggregate 1 for 16 with five strikeouts in the series. Shades of Jose Canseco and Mo Vaughn (collective 0 for 27) against the Indians in 1995. Six of the Sox eight hits are singles. Wonder if John Henry has any second thoughts about not signing Teixeira?
