World Series Game One - Recap
Rockies…..010 000 000 – 1 – 6 – 0
Red Sox….310 270 00x – 13 – 17 – 0
COL: Francis, Morales (5), Speier (5), Herges (5), Affeldt (7), Hawkins (8) and Torrealba
BOS: Beckett, Timlin (8), Gagne (9) and Varitek
Red Sox lead series One Game to None
Round one to the local nine as the Red Sox absolutely dominated the Colorado Rockies in Game One of the 2007 World Series 13-1.
The Sox came out cookin’ with gas as Beckett blew away the first three hitters striking out the side on 15 pitches. Incredibly, the first inning got worse for the Rockies. Pedroia hit a home run to left-center then Youkilis doubled to right-center and went to third on Ortiz’ ground out.
All you need to know about how Clint Hurdle perceives Josh Beckett you learned one pitch later. Hurdle had his infield come in as he wanted to keep the Sox at just the single run for the inning. Manny made that an exercise in futility with a bullet to left for another run. From my seat it looked as though Tulowitzki could have had it had he been playing normally though he likely would have been playing Manny to pull so I'm not certain about this.
In any case, this would be the last run the Red Sox would score in the game with less than two outs as after an out and a hit J.D. Drew doubled to right for a 3-0 lead. Brad Hawpe made a fine defensive play on the double by racing to his left and sliding to stop the ball and keep Varitek from scoring.
In the second the Rockies struck back when Atkins doubled off the Wall. Joe Castiglione was deked out by Manny calling “deep into the night!” as Atkins’ ball scraped the wall and Joe tried to pawn it off on the wind but that’s what comedian Lewis Black refers to as a “liar liar pants on fire situation.” Atkins scored on a two out double by Tulowitzki.
Colorado starter Jeff Francis seemed to have himself settled down in the 2nd as he retired the first two hitters then got Youk 0-2. Youkilis worked the base on balls and Ortiz lined one to left-center that Holliday seemed to take a bad route to. While he couldn’t have caught the low liner he could have kept it from getting through to the wall and held Youk at third.
In the 4th the Sox saw Beckett pitch around a one out double by Helton by fanning Atkins and Hawpe (who was 0 for 4 with four Ks). In the bottom of the inning the Sox again saw the first two men retired but an Ortiz single and Ramirez double led to an Intentional Walk to Lowell. Varitek then came through with a ground rule double for a 6-1 lead.
Amazingly enough, things hadn’t gotten ugly yet. Even had he retired Varitek, Francis would have been at a ridiculous 99 pitches through four innings and likely wouldn’t have come out for the fifth. As it was, his replacement Franklin Morales seemed to be in good shape with two outs and Ellsbury at first. He balked Ellsbury to second. The knock on Morales is that he sometimes comes apart when things go wrong and he did nothing to dispel that theory in Game One. The next six men who faced Morales reached and suddenly it was 10-1 with the bases loaded.
And it got worse.
Ryan Speier came on and faced three batters and walked three batters. It was now 13-1 and the Sox were up one game to none.
The key to the game to me was Kevin Youkilis’ at bat in the second inning. Having gotten one back against Beckett in the top of the inning the Rockies had to feel like they were getting their sea legs and a 1-2-3 inning would have put the Rox in a much better situation. Instead the Sox had gotten the run right back and Francis had thrown 13 more pitches.
Other Notes:
Pregame – Great work by the Sox on the pregame ceremonies. John Williams and the Boston Pops were magnificent on the National Anthem and as they walked off the field using various John Williams music to show highlights of the ALCS was wonderful. The theme from Jaws for Beckett’s Game Five start was especially fitting.
It’s been a bit of overkill on the ’67 team this season for those of us blessed to attend many games but that team changed baseball in this region and it was nice to see them one more time with Yaz getting the first pitch honors.
The only thing missing was the full team introductions. I love the intros and I'm not sure why they only did the managers and starting lineups. It was nice to see Pesky at the end of the line though even if he wasn't introduced.
Josh Beckett – Ridiculously, I didn’t think Beckett was quite as dominant as he’s been. The Rockies hit some solid shots off him, even if you discount the last couple innings when he was just trying to get out of Dodge quickly. Tulowitzki in particular looked very good though I think Brad Hawpe had enough of the Red Sox righty. It's not always easy to tell from my seats but it seems like Beckett has been almost exclusively fastball/curveball lately, not a lot of the change up. The fastball seemed absolutely dominant tonight.
Kevin Youkilis – He just seems to be grinding out his at bats right now. One thing I noticed during my 8,749th viewing of “Faith Rewarded” is how often Johnny Damon showed up in the middle of key rallies. It seems to me that Youk is playing that role right now. I don’t have any basis for it, but he just seems to be in the middle of big innings an awful lot.
The Layoff – Much will be made of the Rockies having had eight days off. It’s hard to say how crucial that was. No one has been hitting Josh Beckett in the playoffs, heck, all year really and the Red Sox lineup is hot right now. On the other hand it seems a little silly to completely dismiss the layoff as a cause of such a gruesome performance.
Kyle Snyder – As great as it was to see the Human Victory Cigar in the 9th I was curious as to why Snyder wasn’t sent in. It seems like it might have been useful to give him a chance to get his feet wet in a non-crucial situation.
Coco Crisp – Coco was moving atrociously. Not only was he limping while he ran, he was limping while he was walking from place to place. He just looked like a guy who was in a lot of pain. Having him in there as a defensive replacement probably makes sense still but it might make more sense to have him in left and Ellsbury in center.
Fragile Freddy Tip O’ The Cap: Three hit night for Julio Lugo plus an RBI walk. You can't do much better than that out of the ninth spot.
Red Sox….310 270 00x – 13 – 17 – 0
COL: Francis, Morales (5), Speier (5), Herges (5), Affeldt (7), Hawkins (8) and Torrealba
BOS: Beckett, Timlin (8), Gagne (9) and Varitek
Red Sox lead series One Game to None
Round one to the local nine as the Red Sox absolutely dominated the Colorado Rockies in Game One of the 2007 World Series 13-1.
The Sox came out cookin’ with gas as Beckett blew away the first three hitters striking out the side on 15 pitches. Incredibly, the first inning got worse for the Rockies. Pedroia hit a home run to left-center then Youkilis doubled to right-center and went to third on Ortiz’ ground out.
All you need to know about how Clint Hurdle perceives Josh Beckett you learned one pitch later. Hurdle had his infield come in as he wanted to keep the Sox at just the single run for the inning. Manny made that an exercise in futility with a bullet to left for another run. From my seat it looked as though Tulowitzki could have had it had he been playing normally though he likely would have been playing Manny to pull so I'm not certain about this.
In any case, this would be the last run the Red Sox would score in the game with less than two outs as after an out and a hit J.D. Drew doubled to right for a 3-0 lead. Brad Hawpe made a fine defensive play on the double by racing to his left and sliding to stop the ball and keep Varitek from scoring.
In the second the Rockies struck back when Atkins doubled off the Wall. Joe Castiglione was deked out by Manny calling “deep into the night!” as Atkins’ ball scraped the wall and Joe tried to pawn it off on the wind but that’s what comedian Lewis Black refers to as a “liar liar pants on fire situation.” Atkins scored on a two out double by Tulowitzki.
Colorado starter Jeff Francis seemed to have himself settled down in the 2nd as he retired the first two hitters then got Youk 0-2. Youkilis worked the base on balls and Ortiz lined one to left-center that Holliday seemed to take a bad route to. While he couldn’t have caught the low liner he could have kept it from getting through to the wall and held Youk at third.
In the 4th the Sox saw Beckett pitch around a one out double by Helton by fanning Atkins and Hawpe (who was 0 for 4 with four Ks). In the bottom of the inning the Sox again saw the first two men retired but an Ortiz single and Ramirez double led to an Intentional Walk to Lowell. Varitek then came through with a ground rule double for a 6-1 lead.
Amazingly enough, things hadn’t gotten ugly yet. Even had he retired Varitek, Francis would have been at a ridiculous 99 pitches through four innings and likely wouldn’t have come out for the fifth. As it was, his replacement Franklin Morales seemed to be in good shape with two outs and Ellsbury at first. He balked Ellsbury to second. The knock on Morales is that he sometimes comes apart when things go wrong and he did nothing to dispel that theory in Game One. The next six men who faced Morales reached and suddenly it was 10-1 with the bases loaded.
And it got worse.
Ryan Speier came on and faced three batters and walked three batters. It was now 13-1 and the Sox were up one game to none.
The key to the game to me was Kevin Youkilis’ at bat in the second inning. Having gotten one back against Beckett in the top of the inning the Rockies had to feel like they were getting their sea legs and a 1-2-3 inning would have put the Rox in a much better situation. Instead the Sox had gotten the run right back and Francis had thrown 13 more pitches.
Other Notes:
Pregame – Great work by the Sox on the pregame ceremonies. John Williams and the Boston Pops were magnificent on the National Anthem and as they walked off the field using various John Williams music to show highlights of the ALCS was wonderful. The theme from Jaws for Beckett’s Game Five start was especially fitting.
It’s been a bit of overkill on the ’67 team this season for those of us blessed to attend many games but that team changed baseball in this region and it was nice to see them one more time with Yaz getting the first pitch honors.
The only thing missing was the full team introductions. I love the intros and I'm not sure why they only did the managers and starting lineups. It was nice to see Pesky at the end of the line though even if he wasn't introduced.
Josh Beckett – Ridiculously, I didn’t think Beckett was quite as dominant as he’s been. The Rockies hit some solid shots off him, even if you discount the last couple innings when he was just trying to get out of Dodge quickly. Tulowitzki in particular looked very good though I think Brad Hawpe had enough of the Red Sox righty. It's not always easy to tell from my seats but it seems like Beckett has been almost exclusively fastball/curveball lately, not a lot of the change up. The fastball seemed absolutely dominant tonight.
Kevin Youkilis – He just seems to be grinding out his at bats right now. One thing I noticed during my 8,749th viewing of “Faith Rewarded” is how often Johnny Damon showed up in the middle of key rallies. It seems to me that Youk is playing that role right now. I don’t have any basis for it, but he just seems to be in the middle of big innings an awful lot.
The Layoff – Much will be made of the Rockies having had eight days off. It’s hard to say how crucial that was. No one has been hitting Josh Beckett in the playoffs, heck, all year really and the Red Sox lineup is hot right now. On the other hand it seems a little silly to completely dismiss the layoff as a cause of such a gruesome performance.
Kyle Snyder – As great as it was to see the Human Victory Cigar in the 9th I was curious as to why Snyder wasn’t sent in. It seems like it might have been useful to give him a chance to get his feet wet in a non-crucial situation.
Coco Crisp – Coco was moving atrociously. Not only was he limping while he ran, he was limping while he was walking from place to place. He just looked like a guy who was in a lot of pain. Having him in there as a defensive replacement probably makes sense still but it might make more sense to have him in left and Ellsbury in center.
Fragile Freddy Tip O’ The Cap: Three hit night for Julio Lugo plus an RBI walk. You can't do much better than that out of the ninth spot.
5 Comments:
At 9:22 AM,
RC said…
interestingly you down play Beckett's dominance in game 1...i'm kind of hoping it was Beckett so that games without him will be different.
here's hoping that Ubaldo Jimenez does some awesome pitching for the Rockies tonight.
At 9:22 AM,
Anonymous said…
Varitek's also had a nice couple of games.
Probably you couldn't tell from your seat, but it seemed that Beckett's fastball was consistently at 96 and consistently on the same horizontal plane -- the same height each time. The first hit he gave up was on a curve, but the second was a fastball. It seems weird that the Rockies didn't do more with a guy mostly throwing a fastball waist-high at 96 every time, especially since if Fox didn't goose that number up a couple of mph, it'd be the first time.
At 9:37 AM,
Fragile Freddy said…
Wonderful to have a Rockies fan here! I have to say I was there a couple years ago and I absolutely LOVED Coors Field, it's a beautiful ballpark.
Believe me, Beckett was tremendous last night. The point I made poorly was simply that he was SO incredible in his previous outings that this one wasn't as good. He was excellent and I expect the Rockies to be much better tonight.
Anonymous raises an interesting point. The way Beckett was blowing the fastball by people tells me that either he had more movement than you suggest or he was absolutely dead on hitting his spots.
ESPN's Inside Edge feature seems to say that he wasn't particularly impressive in terms of hitting his spots but what he DID do was throw lots of strikes working ahead almost all night. A poor pitcher can succeed when working ahead in the count, one as good as Beckett will dominate.
The other issue is the rust factor which would seem to be a bigger problem for hitters than for pitchers.
At 10:10 AM,
mike_b1 said…
FF, what was the scoreboard mph showing for Beckett?
I agree on Snyder...to the point I said to Cathy after the 7th that it was now Gagne and Snyder time. Of course, she was asleep at the time.
Also, Crisp was noticeably limping when he came off the field in the 8th. I'm guessing he was in center because he hadn't played left this season. Still, this may be the only time we see him in the Series.
At 11:19 AM,
moe berg said…
Buck, Timmy M and Moe Berg thought it was 3-1 off the bat. Joe C wasn't the only one. Moe's eyes ain't what they used to be, even if the 1968 RCA tv is still hanging in there like a champ.
thought it was the best Anthem I've ever heard. tears, Freddy, tears.
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