No more fooling around…

The defense of the 2007 World Series trophy truly begins with game 1 against Anaheim. This won’t be easy.  But it can be done.  The Sox have a team that can play with anyone, so it’s just a matter of executing the game plans.

So how do they beat the Angels?

Starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching

It’s all going to begin and end with what we get from the starters.  The sox bullpen is not devastating and it can be beat if asked to go 3 or 4 innings a night.  So, we need seven inning starts.  Not 6.  Certainly, not 5. You hear me Dice-K?  I’m talking to you.  You’re going to get the start twice in this series.  None of these 115 pitch, 5 inning outings.  Handing it over to the bullpen to get 12 outs in a one-run game is not the formula for winning.  The formula is seven innings of starting pitching, an eight inning that allows Francona to matchup with Okajima, Masterson, Delcarmen, and even Javier Lopez (who by the way, really hasn’t gotten the recognition he deserves for over performing this year) and come up with 3 outs.  Then hand it over to Papelbon for 3 outs in the ninth.

Manufacturing runs

The Angels offense is better, but I still don’t see them getting much more than 4 runs a game.  Conversely, the sox probably don’t have many 3 run innings in them, so they need to use their baserunning and situation hitting to score 1 run at a time.  Get on base, move runners, and get some clutch two-out RBIs.  In the playoffs, the team that gets 2 out RBI’s is the team that will win. 

Don’t dwell on Beckett

Lester is the best starter we have this year.  Yes, it sucks that Beckett only gets 1 start this series (hopefully) but Lester and Dice-K are capable. Emphasizing what they can do, rather than what Beckett can’t is the way to go.

Win Game 1

Never has winning game 1 felt so important to me.  Lester vs. Lackey feels like a very winnable matchup for the Sox. 

Predictions

Of course, I’m picking the Red Sox to win the series.  My instincts are telling me that it’s going 5 games.  And with Dice-K scheduled to get a game 5 start, we all know that anything can happen.  He can be brilliant. He can also be maddening.  Let’s pray that he’ll be brilliant and stick with the script above.  Give 7 solid innings, hand it off to some bullpen cocktail of Okajima and Delcarmen to get a couple outs in the 8th, then bring in Papelbon for a 4 out save to close out the series.  Offensively, Jed Lowrie will have the key go-ahead RBI in game 5.