RSS
Home
Five keys to victory for the Rays against the Red Sox in Game One
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
When considering the Rays’ prospects for a Game One victory in the ALCS against the Red Sox tonight, certain areas of the game immediately jump to mind.
1: The Rays need to be patient against Dice-K, run up his pitch count, and get him out of the game no later than the sixth inning. This part of the plan doesn’t necessarily involve scoring a lot of runs off Dice-K, but it will be big for the Rays if they can make the Red Sox bullpen work for at least three innings.
2: James Shields must keep the Rays within one run when Dice-K leaves the game. If the Rays are no worse than one run behind after Matsuzaka leaves, then they can turn to their late-inning, Tropicana Field comeback magic against the Red Sox corps of middle relievers.
3: The Rays must make Dice-K pay for his walks. One of the key factors in this game will be how many runners the Rays leave on base. If they can draw walks off Dice-K, especially early in innings, then they need to cash in those base-runners. One of the reasons Dice-K had such a great year is that he pitched around walks possibly better than anyone in baseball.
4: The Rays must get some runs off Boston’s middle relievers. Middle relief is one area of this series that the Rays feel they have an advantage. They need to set the tone in Game One and jump on the Red Sox’ bullpen.
5: Shields must keep Ellsbury and Pedroia off the bases. I know, easier said than done. This is a pretty obvious one as the goal is to limit the RBI opportunities of David Ortiz, Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, and J.D. Drew.
If the Rays can accomplish most of these goals, I believe that they have a great chance to win tonight. I’ll be back after the game to see how they did.
For more info: MLB playoff coverage by examiners.
Related Articles:
Comments
The American League Gold Glove Awards were handed out today and the Rays cashed in for the second straight year. Third baseman Evan Longoria won his …
The Rays officially exercised Carl Crawford’s $10 million option for the 2010 season on Monday according to Bill Chastain of MLB.com. Does this …
- Tampa Bay Sports Examiner Ted Fleming
- Tampa Bay Lightning Examiner Althea Pashman
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers Examiner J.J. Rodriguez
- Tampa Tennis Examiner Sean Craft
- Tampa High School Sports Examiner Derek LaRiviere
- Tampa MMA Examiner Doug Drexler
- Orlando Magic Examiner Samuel Rabinowitz
- FSU Seminoles Examiner Corey Dowlar
- Sarasota Millionaires Examiner Doug Miles
- Tampa Motorsports Examiner Dwight Drum
- Chicago White Sox - JJ Stankevitz
- Cleveland Indians - Marcus Barkley
- Detroit Tigers - Randall Castro
- Kansas City Royals - Josh Hood
- LA Angels of Anaheim, California, Planet Earth - William Martinez
- Minnesota Twins - Brian Pietrzak
- Oakland A's - Sam McPherson
- Seattle Mariners - Richard Holl
- Texas Rangers - Rand Huguely
- Arizona Diamondbacks - Mark Brown
- Atlanta Braves - Ryan Harings
- Chicago Cubs - Miriam Romain
- Chicago Cubs - Meghan Montemurro
- Chicago Cubs - Chris Ryan
- Cincinnati Reds - Ken Bothe
- Colorado Rockies - Travis Lay
- Florida Marlins - Ed Giuliotti
- Houston Astros - Stephen Goff
- Los Angeles Dodgers - Jim Lakely
- Milwaukee Brewers - John Buchel
- Philadelphia Phillies - Patrick Gallen
- Pittsburgh Pirates - Chris Adamski
- San Diego Padres - Judson Green
- San Francisco Giants - Theo Fightmaster
- St. Louis Cardinals - Andy Carroll
- Washington Nationals - John Dugan
- Washington Nationals - Chuck Hixson
- Washington Nationals - Patrick Neuman
