John Lackey Could Have a Quick Exit
John Lackey is 3-6 in his career against the Red Sox with a 5.54 ERA. He did pitch well against them earlier this season but he was tattooed in his last start of the season giving up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings.
Or you could go by this great bit of insight by Halos Heaven :
One can only assume that Lackey's lackluster Friday night was a straight fastball session meant to delight Texas hitters and just break a sweat.
I'm sure they wanted to have Lackey go out there and throw meatballs to get ready for the playoffs; more great insight from a clueless Angels fan.
2 comments:
Good point. I played baseball for many years, and I can assure you, nothing gets a pitcher more prepared for the playoffs than getting clobbered in the game prior to that. It is like the pitcher has gotten all the hits out of his system and now only has outs left in that arm.
(give me a break)
I can easily see it going like this...
Lester has a great game, goes deep, hold the Angels to 1 or 2 runs, and the Sox get to Lackey for 4 or 5. Lester goes deep, Paps closes it out.
Then, game 2, Dice-K looks decent, keeps the score down, but gives up 3 in the 4th. By the 6th, his pitch count is around 5000 and they pull him out. Score is close. Then, someone in the Sox bullpen gives up a 2 run homer, the Angels pen closes it out, series heads back to Boston even.
Now, the world rests on Beckett. If he feels good, Sox go up 2-1, and are in good position to take the series. If not, Beckett is ineffective (or comes out early) and we are in a nail biter.
That's what you have to love about the playoffs, everything hangs on one pitch, especially in a 5 game series. I think game 1 is a must win for the Angels, their media and fans will start the "here we go again" stuff and have a tough time recovering.
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