Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays-
Series Keys-
1- Boston Health- I picked against Boston in the 1st rd mainly over health concerns. Mike Lowell is out, Josh Beckett looks about 50% and JD Drew looks about 75%. Is that enough to defeat the best team in the AL East?
2- Set-up vs Closer- Tampa has a great 7-8th inning tandem in RH Grant Balfour(6-2,1.54,14 holds,4 saves,82 Ks in 58 1/3 innings) and LH J.P. Howell(6-1,2.22,14 holds,3 saves, 92 Ks in 89 1/3 innings) and a back up closer in RH Dan Wheeler(5-6,13 saves,26 holds,5 blown saves) with veteran Troy Percival injured off and on all season. Red Sox set up unit of RH Manny Delcarmen(1-2,3.27,18 holds),Justin Masterson(6-5,3.16) and LH Hideki Okajima(3-2,2.61,23 holds) is good but not on that level. However, they feature an elite closer in RH Jonathan Papelbon(5-4,2.34,41 saves with 5 blown). What wins out?
3- Team D- Both clubs have excellent fielding units, particularily Tampa with 1b Carlos Pena and SS Jason Bartlett among the elite in the game. Boston’s OF D is among the best since the late 7os units of Yaz, Lynn and Evans. C Jason Varitek could make you an effective ML pitcher.
4- Hate- These teams do not like each other! Incidents going back 7-8 years culminated with the ugly June bench clearing brawl featuring Boston’s Coco Crisp and Rays LH James Shields.
5- Vets vs Kids- 7 of the 9 starters on Boston are returning from the World Championship 2007 club. Only SS Jed Lowrie and LF Jason Bay are new. Rays bench players Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd have won but this Tampa club is new to this level of competition.
Wild card Players-
Boston has 2- Knuckleballing veteran Tim Wakefield owned the Rays till this season(0-2,5.87 in 3 starts and 15 1/3 innings) and either Mark Kotsay or Sean Casey must play at 1b with Lowell out. Those are big shoes to fill. Tampa’s hidden gem is the best player on their team- LF Carl Crawford(who missed 50+ games).
The Pick-
Los Angeles was the best team in the majors all season and Boston beat them. Tampa is a nice story but they will lose in 6.
