Expect the Unexpected: Red Sox Surging Once Again
Baseball is always more fun when your team isn’t supposed to win. The Rays were a strange juggernaut. They lost their ace in June and collected pitchers throughout the season like rare coins, always adding strike-throwers for the pen. A juggernaut built on constant adaptation, platoon splits and homers, with better defense than most of the AL. One of their more dangerous hitters, Brandon Lowe, never got going in the series. Their cleanup hitter, trade-deadline addition Nelson Cruz, showed his age (41) at last. Still on prospect lists until the end of May, a star was born…in Wander Franco. That star homered in Game 3 and tied Game 4 late at 5–5, but the 20 year-old proved mortal while backhanding a grounder and throwing on the run in the 9th.
As Franco’s throw sailed high, the door to the ALCS cracked open for Boston. An infield hit by the very mortal pinch-hitter Travis Shaw helped advance Vasquez to third. Of course October hero Kike Hernandez stood in with pinch-runner Danny Santana now on third. A routine fly to left was all it took. This Red Sox mystery season continues for at least four more games.
The Boston pitching staff many of us doubted rose to the occasion. The relentless! yet loose-limbed Tanner Houck pounded the edges of the zone and saved Sale with nasty sink in Game 2 while the bats exploded. Nate Eovaldi hummed…
