World Series Game Two - Recap

Rockies....100 000 000 - 1 - 5 - 0
Red Sox...000 110 00x - 2 - 6 - 1

COL: Jimenez, Affeldt (5), Herges (5), Fuentes (6), Corpas (8) and Torrealba
BOS: Schilling, Okajima (6), Papelbon (8) and Varitek

Boston leads series Two Games to None (13-1, 2-1)

Please pick any of the following as the first sentence;

If I've heard Bob Ryan say it once, I've heard him say it a hundred times "a seven game series doesn't start until the road team wins a game."

"This was the Papajima show." - Curt Schilling in the post-game

"If I'm Holliday, I think I run here, like most closers, Papelbon is slow to the plate"- Me in the 8th inning

Kinda covers everything from Game Two, don't it? The Sox grinded out a couple of runs early and a spectacular effort from the bullpen made the slim lead stand up as the good guys took a two games to none lead in the 2007 World Series. There is still a long way to go in this series though so don't get cocky yet.

The game started in less than great fashion. With one on and one out Holliday hit a hard hopper that seemed to explode on Lowell diving to his right and skipped off his glove. When it was hit I thought Lowell had a play but the ball almost seemed to accelerate as it approached him. Faced with a second and third situation Schilling did some nice work to get out of the jam with just a run.

23 year old Ubaldo Jimenez came out looking like he was going to cruise. The first time through the order he just used the Red Sox hitters like an old dish rag. The second time through, things got hinky though. With two outs in the third he walked both Pedroia and Youkilis but made some outstanding pitches to Ortiz to get the strikeout and get out of trouble. However, he had to pile up some pitches in the process.

In the fourth the Sox struck quickly. After a Lowell walk Drew lined a single to right with Lowell hustling around to third and Drew moving to second on the throw that juuuuuuust missed getting Lowell. Varitek then had an excellent at bat to score the tie run with a sacrifice fly.

Usually "excellent at bat" implies a long at bat with many foul balls and taking close pitches. What Varitek did was excellent situational hitting. He went to the plate looking for a ball he could drive to get the run home and when Jimenez' change up caught the middle of the plate Jason hit it hard to get the run home.

Contrast that with the poor effort by the Rockies in the top of the inning. After a leadoff hit by Holliday, Schilling got out of the inning on three first pitch fly outs to center, left and shortstop.

In the fifth the Sox struck again with two outs as they seemed to all day on Wednesday. With no one on Ortiz worked a base on balls and Manny stroked a 1-2 pitch for a base hit. Lowell then got himself into a favorable count and delivered the go ahead double and chased Jimenez.

From there it was a battle of bullpens. Matt Herges, Brian Fuentes and Manny Corpas all did a fine job to keep the Sox from padding the lead but Hideki Okajima was equal to the task and kept the Rockies from getting the equalizer. In the 8th with two outs Okajima was lifted and Papelbon brought in to face Matt Holliday. On an 0-2 pitch Papelbon caught too much of the plate and Holliday smoked a single to center bringing Helton up.

He didn't see a pitch in the 8th though.

Just as I had the thought I mentioned earlier about Holliday running so too did Holliday, but so too did Brad Mills who according to Varitek was the one who called the pick off play. Holliday leaned and Papelbon made a quick move, Youkilis got the tag on and the inning was over.

In the ninth Papelbon made quick work of the Rockies with Hawpe ending the second straight game with a strikeout. The second out of the inning was a reminder of how good Coco Crisp is in center. Atkins hit a line shot out there that Ellsbury looked very lost on. He not only double clutched, but triple clutched going for the ball but fortunately hang time and speed enabled him to make it an easy play but it wasn't pretty.

Other Notes:

Terry Francona - OUTSTANDING work by Tito in Game Two. He lifted Schilling before his veteran (read: old) right-hander could get in trouble and rather than getting cute simply went to his best option; Okajima. Then, I felt he handled Okajima's outing precisely right and let him face the two non-home run threats in the 8th before turning to Papelbon to face the very dangerous Holliday.

Ubaldo Jimenez - I thought the youngster looked very good. The fastball didn't seem quite as impressive as I had anticipated but he mixed his pitches well and I thought he had good control of all his pitches. The Sox did a nice job though of waiting him out and the control eventually got away from him. I liked what I saw from him though.

Kevin Youkilis - 29 pitches in five plate appearances. He is just a force right now. Not only is he getting on base but he is making pitchers work a lot.

The Sox Hitters - The comparisons will of course be to 2004 but to me I see the 2005 team. That '05 team wasn't quite as good due to bad years from some key guys (Millar, Bellhorn, Renteria, even Damon at the end of the year) but they still worked some long at bats and made pitchers work their cabooses off. In doing so they were able to get some starters who might otherwise be pitching well out of there. This lineup isn't great, but it is good and right now is taking a terrific approach to the plate.

Hideki Okajima - The Boston Red Sox have made it pretty obvious that they don't keep guys around because they are nice guys or lots of fun (Damon, Arroyo, Millar, Pedro, Mueller). The Boston Red Sox front office is comprised of cold, unfeeling robots (this is a good thing) and when they signed Hideki Okajima it seemed that the perception was that it was done essentially as a way to give Matsuzaka a pal.

We should have known better.

Hideki Okajima was brought into pitch and while I'm sure he has exceeded the wildest dreams of everyone involved, that he has been successful is not an accident.

Ryan Spilborghs - I don't know that I've ever seen someone called out on strikes three times in one game. I'm not sure what it means but it sure was interesting.

Brian Fuentes/Manny Corpas - The two main cogs of the Rockies excellent bullpen saw their first action in the series tonight. Corpas' work was brief but Fuentes was excellent. The positive for the Red Sox is that the lineup got to see Fuentes and this is the kind of situation where eventually the Sox may solve him like they did with Betancourt if the series goes long enough.

Matt Holliday - As I alluded to briefly above, I don't think Holliday's idea was a bad one, he just needed to be a little more cautious. This is one of the risks of aggressive base running in the playoffs. Bill James once pointed out that aggressive base running often works in the regular season because bad teams throw the ball around, in the post-season though you are playing against good teams and will hurt yourself as often as you help yourself. Risks can be taken but they need to be calculated risks.

I liked what Holliday was doing, he just executed poorly. Lowell's play in the fourth was a good one because he had the play in front of him to start so he knew the type of throw that would be necessary and that early in the game you can take chances. Reading the difference between a pick off and a pitch from a right-handed isn't that difficult, Holliday just did it poorly tonight.