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Self-fulfilling prophecy
After proving people wrong, Sox are proving people right
Posted: Thursday October 07, 1999 08:52 PM
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Bret's got the Blues: Boston's Bret Saberhagen hangs his head after giving up a three-run homer to Harold Baines. AP |
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The preseason predictions about the Boston Red Sox are coming true in the postseason: They're not going anywhere.
At least, it seems, not back to Cleveland.
That's where a fifth game of the best-of-5 division series with the Indians would take place Monday night. First, a Boston team down 2-0 has to reverse the momentum at Fenway Park on Saturday and Sunday.
"I'm sure everybody in this room is pretty frustrated with the way we played," Boston reliever Tim Wakefield said after Thursday's 11-1 loss to the Indians. "We have to play each game like it's our last, which it could be."
In less than 24 hours, the team few picked to reach the playoffs but made it with a 94-68 record is one game from elimination.
Blame it on weak hitting, poor fielding and wild pitching as well as powerful batting by a Cleveland team that is one of seven in major league history to score 1,000 runs in a season.
"That's a pretty good team across the hall there," Boston first baseman Mike Stanley said from his corner locker. "We knew what we faced coming in here. They've obviously met the expectations of what they've done all year. We start ours on Saturday."
So Boston turns to Martinez to save the season -- Ramon, not his brother Pedro. Ramon Martinez, who started just four games this year, is scheduled to pitch Saturday's third game.
"I'd take my chances any day of the week with Ramon," said Bret Saberhagen, whose uncharacteristic wildness began Boston's downfall Thursday.
Ramon Martinez as savior is an unlikely role. On Sept. 2, he made his first start in nearly 15 months. He finished the season with only four appearances.
His central role is just the latest twist to Boston's strange season that has defied expectations.
The loss of Mo Vaughn to free agency and a lack of stars beyond Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra convinced many that Boston was a longshot, at best, for the playoffs.
But the Red Sox won a wild-card berth, Garciaparra led the AL with a .357 batting average, Pedro Martinez was baseball's best pitcher and Saberhagen walked 11 batters in 119 innings.
On Thursday, Garciaparra went 0-for-3 without getting a ball out of the infield, while Saberhagen walked three batters in the third inning alone -- when Cleveland scored six runs.
Pedro Martinez, the ace the Red Sox needed to come through, left Wednesday night's opening 3-2 loss after four innings with a sprained muscle below his right shoulder blade.
"That's a tremendous blow for our ballclub because we kind of feed off him," outfielder Darren Lewis said.
After he left, third baseman John Valentin's throwing error with two outs in the sixth preceded Jim Thome's homer. On Thursday, Jose Offerman's high throw on a potential double-play relay was a major factor in the Cleveland third.
"We're playing not the way we did to win 94 games," Boston reliever Derek Lowe said. "Any time you give this team even one extra out, if it's a defensive play or an extra walk, it snowballs."
Boston scored just three runs in the two games. Cleveland had more than that in each of the third and fourth innings Thursday when the Red Sox issued nine walks, an AL division series record. They led the majors with fewest walks per game, 2.9.
But, Stanley said, "we're not going to sit here and think negatively about how we've played."
One thing has gone according to form.
The Red Sox entered the series at 1-16 in postseason games starting with Game 6 of the 1986 World Series when Bill Buckner made his infamous error against the New York Mets.
That's 1-18 now.
"If you want to win a World Series, you're going to have adversity along the way," Lowe said, "and this is our big mountain to climb."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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