Felger & Mazz On: The Sox Weekend In NY
Michael Felger & Tony Massarotti discuss this past weekend the Red Sox had in New York. Are there any positives that came out of it? Or are the Sox just treading water at this point?
Felger: "That win yesterday may not have saved their season, but I think a loss would have sunk it officially. It would have been the official nail in the coffin. They showed some balls and I think they showed that thing that they've had for years here, which is being a tough, gritty team when it matters. They still have that element to them and I think we saw it yesterday. What Bard did yesterday was incredible. Just think of the circumstance: A loss ends the season, for all intents and purposes, and he's out there bases loaded 1 out. Jeter, Swisher, 6 pitches, and the manner in which he did it. Did you see that? Papelbon manned up yesterday. He came into a pretty tough situation there in the 8th inning. 2 on, 2 out, and he gets out of it. And he pitched around another jam in the 9th. Lester deserves a lot of credit. He lost his last 4, he hadn't been pitching well. You got the big money guys, Lackey and Beckett, crapping the bed. Lester pitches a ballsy game in a game you have to have. There's some good things the Sox showed over the weekend. They showed some balance and got real gutsy performances yesterday from Papelbon, Bard, and Lester."
Massarotti: "The starters, beyond Lester and Buchholz, have been unreliable. Lackey and Beckett haven't pulled their weight. Not enough, not even close to enough. I just think they're operating with no margin for error. Think of everything that had to happen in that game, all the things you just talked about, and they won by 1 run holding on by their fingernails. For them to win against good competition, it's going to have to be those kinds of brilliant performances from guys like Lester, Bard, and Papelbon. If they slip up the slightest bit, they'll lose 3-2. Did they extend it? Yeah. But what did they extend? It still feels like a stay of execution to me. To me, they did the bare minimum. They needed to pick up ground over the weekend. They didn't need to just tread water. Treading water just takes days off the calendar, it doesn't help them any."
