ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -Josh Beckett is bracing for a stiff challenge from the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the AL championship series Saturday night.
Beckett is undefeated in two ALCS starts for the Red Sox and posted solid numbers against Tampa Bay this year, but the hard-throwing right-hander said the Rays have a difficult lineup.
“I think just situationally, you’ve got to make sure that you put yourself into a good situation because they can hit with runners in scoring position,” said Beckett, who went 2-1 with a 2.06 ERA in five starts against the Rays this season.
Scott Kazmir, who grew up in the same part of Texas as Beckett, will get the ball for the Rays. The All-Star left-hander was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in four starts against Boston this season and said he isn’t feeling any added pressure ahead of the matchup with Beckett.
“I don’t think there’s going to be any pressure from here on out,” he said. “We’re kind of underdogs, and wasn’t even expected to make it this far. So we’re just having fun.”
settled to work 5 1-3 innings and get the win.
“The main thing for me is to keep the first batter every inning off the basepaths,” Kazmir said.
Beckett is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA over five games, including four starts, in league championship series for the Red Sox and Florida Marlins. He beat Cleveland twice in the 2007 ALCS and pitched a two-hit shutout for the Marlins against the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the 2003 NLCS.
Coming back from a strained side muscle, Beckett allowed four runs and nine hits and was not involved in the decision in Game 3 of the division series against the Los Angeles Angels.
Asked Friday if he thinks he can be at his best the rest of October, despite the injuries he’s been dealing with, Beckett said: “Yeah, I’m going to be the best I can be.”
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MANNY’S DADDY: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has a close relationship with Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez. Manuel managed Ramirez in Cleveland’s minor league system and for one season with the Indians in 2000.
“Manny is like my son,” Manuel said. “I’ve been around him a long time. I spent a lot of time with him. I spent a lot of time in the cage with him. I spent a lot of time throwing extra batting practice to him. I spent a lot of time talking to him.
is tension-free in life.”
Manuel compared Ramirez to Barry Bonds, the major league home run king.
“I look at Manny in this series like Barry Bonds,” Manuel said. “He’ll make you change your ideas on things at times. He’ll put some pressure on you, especially like in big situations in the game, and he’s got a chance to do something big in the moment and beat you.”
Manuel, who was a hitting coach before managing, takes credit for helping Ramirez become one of the most dangerous hitters in the game. But it wasn’t for any special tips he gave him.
“I definitely helped him,” Manuel said. “I had to keep people away from him because everybody knows how to hit and everybody wanted to talk to him and everybody wanted to mess with him. If he went 0-for-4, they want to spread him out, change his stance. The biggest problem was getting people to leave him alone because he could hit from the first time I ever seen him.”
Ramirez was one of the first Dodgers to come over before Game 2 of the NL championship series and hug Manuel. Manuel learned his mother died hours before the game.
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SOLD ON RAYS: Boston designated hitter David Ortiz thinks Tampa Bay has a chance to be a force in the AL East for many years to come.
The Rays had never won more than 70 games in any season before earning their first division title and playoff berth this season.
e kids, if they stay out of trouble like they have and focus on the game, they’re going to do a lot of damage in this division,” Ortiz said before the Red Sox played Tampa Bay in Game 1 of the AL championship series. “It’s not one or two, it’s all of them every night coming through.”
Ortiz feels the Rays have matured as a team and organization and are no longer intimidated by the big payroll division rivals.
“This year they’re not afraid to get down with anybody,” Ortiz said. “They have a better record against everybody this year. They’ve been doing a great job.”
Boston’s Dustin Pedroia agreed.
“They have a great young team, and they’re only going to get better,” Pedroia said. “Hopefully this isn’t the only time we’ll meet in a playoff. It makes it exciting. You know every game is going to be close. It’s going to be a dog fight.”
Tampa Bay may be the feel-good story this season, but Ortiz said the postseason would not be the same without the Red Sox.
“As long as I’m in, I’m fine,” Ortiz said.
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WHAT MATTERS MOST: Jonathan Papelbon has become one of the elite closers in baseball. But the Boston right-hander knows playoff success can impact how a player’s career will be remembered.
. That shows what kind of player you are.”
Papelbon made his presence felt in the 2007 playoffs by recording three saves in Boston’s World Series victory over Colorado.
Tampa Bay won the regular-season series against Boston 10-8.
“This is a whole new thing. … What you do during the season, that doesn’t matter any more now,” Papelbon said. “That’s just the kind of approach that we take.”
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RAY OF HOPE: Dodgers manager Joe Torre was impressed the last few years with the young talent on the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays. But even he was surprised at how they were able to make the jump from last-place team to the ALCS.
“That’s probably a surprise that it happened so quickly,” he said. “I think they just got a little bit of a roll. They certainly were tested all year. They still had to go out there and fight off Boston all year long.”
While fans in Tampa might disagree success for the long-suffering franchise came “quickly,” the additions of players like Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford and some needed patience were enough to make them winners.
“They kept adding one factor after another,” Torre said. “Once they started addressing the pitching and once the pitching that they had started growing, you knew it was just a matter of time before they were able to control the game a little bit better.”
He said there was no team in the American League, other than Boston, he felt pressure to beat quite like the Rays.
“You have to beat the Red Sox and Tampa,” Torre said. “Tampa because we had our spring training (there), just a lot of needs there.”
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