| 11 October 2009
The Sox are down 2-0 and the offense is in full fledge hibernation mode right now, but nothing wakes this team up like Fenway Park.
The Sox were Clark Kent-like on he road this season, fumbling through games and posting a 39-42 record away from The Fens. But here in Boston, the Sox beat up on the bad guys like their powered by the yellow sun, finishing 31 games above .500 at 56-25.
Simply put, we've got a serious Jekyll and Hyde thing going on here... but it favors the Sox.
The Angles think they've got the monkey off their back thanks to two win in Anaheim, but the Halso didn't exactly light up our starters in Games 1 and 2. Lester held them to three runs through six and if Ramon Ramirez didn't pitch like he had been pounding a Red Bull per inning, that game would have been even closer at the end. And Beckett was locked in through six before he imploded in the 7th... and that game was still in reach until the very end.
My point is... the offense didn't show up in Anaheim. Not much we can do about that now, but that just won't happen here in Fenway. If Buchholz can harness whatever mojo he had going when he went toe-to-toe with the likes Doc Halladay, C.C. Sbathia and Justin Verlander back in August, the Sox should win this game.
I don't care if Kazmir has been lights out since he joined the Halos (6-4, 3.27). And I don't care that he's 2-0 against the Sox this season and owns a 6-4, 3.05 ERA career line at Fenway. The Sox have a huge edge at home and the Angels know we've crawled out of deeper holes than this in the past. As soon as we put that first run on the board today and the Fenway Faithfull go crazy... the ghost of playoffs past will start creeping into the heads of the Angel players and that's when we stick it to 'em.
Key Matchups
Dustin Pedroia vs Kazmir
Pedroia kills Kazmir at a .517 clip (15 for 29). Pedey has been a 1 for 8 funk this series, but he has a career .302 BA against lefties and was nasty ar home this year: .318 BA, 10 HR, 46 RBI. If there's one guy that knows what to do with his back against the wall it's Pedroia.
Chone Figgins vs Buchhlolz
The Angels haven't seen much of Buchhy, but Figgins is 2 for 6 (.333) with 3 walks against Buchhy and hits .290 at Fenway. Figgins has struggled in the postseason in the past, but I fear that will cause problems for Buchholz if he gets on base. He defines Anegls baseball as a leadoff man with speed and "small ball" skills. If there's one guy that could throw Buchholz off his game it's Figgins.
Bottom Line: This is going to be tough, but like I said before, the Sox play like Superman at home and there isn't a cloud in the sky today... time to play hero.
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