Gods will smile on Boston - 美國職棒

http://espn.go.com/mlb/hot?id=7022039
By Jerry Crasnick


The Boston Red Sox didn't have to play lights-out baseball down the stretch
-- or even passable ball. All they needed, in hindsight, was to stay in
survival mode long enough for the Yankee Stadium bullpen doors to swing open
and Scott Proctor to lug his 6.81 ERA to the mound. It was the definitive
sign from the baseball gods that everything will turn out fine in the end.

Now that Jacoby Ellsbury has completed his home run trot and the Red Sox have
enjoyed a restful night's sleep in the Inner Harbor atop that one-game
cushion over Tampa Bay, it's time for Boston to take a deep breath and
finally put this wild-card "race" to bed.

Even though the Orioles have been awfully feisty in September, you have to
like the way this is setting up for the Sox. Monday's pitching matchup
features Josh Beckett, Boston's only reliable starter at the moment, versus
Tommy Hunter, who has yielded an .838 career OPS against left-handed hitters.
Sure, it's a small sample size, but J.D. Drew has a 1.556 career OPS against
Hunter, and Carl Crawford is right behind at 1.390. Can't you just see one or
both of those guys crafting a "late-season redemption" story with a big night
against the O's?

Baltimore appears to have the edge in Game 2 with the Zach Britton-Erik
Bedard matchup, until you see that Britton is 1-1 with a 10.80 ERA in two
starts against Boston, and the Red Sox's lineup is hitting .355 against him.

In the series finale, Boston will send out Jon Lester, who is determined to
prove his past three starts were an aberration, versus Alfredo Simon. What,
was Daniel Cabrera not available?

This isn't the way the Red Sox wanted to make the playoffs, obviously, but
the ending has a certain symmetry to it, given that Boston began the season
at 2-10 and endured all sorts of mindless "Is it time to panic yet?"
speculation in the media. Now the Red Sox have to conquer the dreaded "curse
of the ESPN The Magazine cover jinx" to make it to the finish line.

So it's only fitting that Boston enters the final week sweating out a series
with the 67-92 Orioles while simultaneously rooting for the Yankees to play
well at Tropicana Field. Maybe the Red Sox are too emotionally spent and
bereft of pitching to make a deep run in the playoffs. But they will get the
opportunity to try.

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