Projo Sox Blog

The Red Sox, writes Jim Donaldson, are playing like defending World Series champions -- which, of course, they are -- and falling behind them 2-0 in a best-of-five series, with Games Three and Four scheduled for Boston, would be a death sentence. The Angels agree, calling tonight's Game Two a must-win for them. (Los Angeles Times) So do most pundits, among them Lee Jenkins of SI.com. And reporters, like Michael Vega of the Boston Globe.

The Angels say they're ready to put Wednesday behind them -- they certainly seemed loose yesterday (Riverside Press-Enterprise) and Mark Kriegel of foxsports.com quotes Torii Hunter as saying, "You've got to have amnesia" during the playoffs -- but Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown wonders. He notes "in recent years, this is the part where the Angels, bless their regular-season souls, begin to wonder. It's the part where the Red Sox begin to play them out of the postseason." Also wondering is the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy: "The Angels have to be doubting themselves right now. And it's not going to change until they win a playoff game against the Red Sox."

They get the chance -- maybe their last real chance of this series -- tonight.

WE DON'T TAKE NOTHIN' FROM NOBODY: That chance comes against Daisuke Matsuzaka (above), who Kevin McNamara notes has settled in, both as a pitcher and as a person, in his second season in Boston. His wildness would make plate discipline a priority, you would think, but Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher isn't having any of that nonsense. (Los Angeles Times) "You want them to step in the box and be able to do something," Hatcher said. "You don't want them to step in the box and say, 'We're going to take a pitch, and then we're going to swing.' "

WHICH MAY BE WHY . . . the whole of the Angels' offense seems less than the sum of its parts. Or maybe, thinks Joe Posnanski, it's all because of Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins.

ALL SYSTEM GO: McNamara and Donaldson report Josh Beckett's side session went well yesterday and he looks set for his Game Three start on Sunday.

IF THIS IS OCTOBER . . . it's Jacoby Ellsbury time. After an up-and-down rookie year, McNamara reports he picked up right where he left off last postseason. And thanks to old friend Allan Wood for tipping us off that Ellsbury is blogging during the playoffs.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Joe McDonald reports MLB has set game times for the last three games of the series. Nothing in the daylight, we're sorry to say.

PUTTING IT BEHIND ME: Jed Lowrie didn't make an error at shortstop all year. Then he booted the first grounder he saw in the postseason, and it cost the Sox a run. But McNamara reports he didn't let it eat at him.

GIVE ME JUST A LITTLE MORE TIME: J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell were back in the lineup Wednesday, though neither was particularly effective; they went 0-for-8 between them. They tell Donaldson all they need is a little live pitching to get back in the groove, though Terry Francona sounds like he's planning to spot Lowell during the postseason to make sure he's okay physically.

A SPECIAL MEMORY: The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley calls Kevin Youkilis' nailing of Vladimir Guerrero at third base on Wednesday night a play to remember.

CABA . . . WHAT?? No, we never heard anyone refer to Dustin Pedroia as "caballito" before, either. But the Herald's John Tomase digs a little deeper and finds there may be something to it.

THE LAST GO-ROUND: Mike Timlin wouldn't talk much at all Wednesday. But yesterday, reports Buckley, he was talking retirement.

TRIBUTE: The other day I wondered why Jim Rice didn't use his blog to talk about Johnny Pesky. Yesterday, he did.

THEY'RE NUMBER ONE: The Hardball Times will do daily updates of its postseason odds. The Red Sox are the favorites to win the World Series today.

PROTECTING THE ASSETS: Another in a series of strong organizational pieces from WEEI.com's Alex Speier focuses on how the team was able to hold onto its most talented long-range prospects at the trading deadline . . . unlike last year, when they included Engel Beltre in the ill-fated Eric Gagne deal.

NO ESCAPE: Bill Reynolds notes he's been gone for more than two months now but the specter of Manny Ramirez lingers in New England. Ramirez was also the subject of a long, fascinating espn.com piece by old friend Bill Simmons, who wonders why Scott Boras -- whom he thinks was unquestionably behind this whole distasteful episode -- has somehow sidestepped any of the blame, all of which has fallen on Ramirez' shoulders. It may be tiresome to some, but as long as Ramirez remains, in the words of SI.com's Jon Heyman, "the greatest midseason acquisition in forever," expect the topic to stay hot.

ESPECIALLY IF . . . Ramirez continues to hit like Babe Ruth in the playoffs. He blasted another long home run last night (right, AP Photo) as the Dodgers again routed the Cubs. (Los Angeles Times) Still, the story -- everywhere but here -- is the Cubs, and the apparent detonation of yet another chance to break that 100-year World Series drought. Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan writes of "the suffocating sense of doom that chokes Wrigley Field every time it's graced with baseball in October," Tom Verducci of SI.com says the doom is well-founded because the Cubs are in trouble. Big trouble. And in Chicago . . . all you need to know is Lou Piniella had to give the obligatory "There are no curses here" speech after last night's game. (Chicago Tribune) Maybe not, but the Tribune's Paul Sullivan raised the dreaded 'C' word -- choke -- in this morning's editions.

STUNNER: Baseball Musings' David Pinto is shocked: "The Cubs are one of the best home teams in the majors. They pitched two of their three aces. [And yet the] Dodgers totally spanked them." It's got him thinking ahead now to a potential Dodgers-Red Sox World Series.

GETTING THEIR PHIL: Also up 2-0 in the NLDS are the Phillies, 5-2 winners over the Brewers yesterday. (Philadelphia Inquirer) The bill finally came due for CC Sabathia, who was pitching on short rest for the fourth consecutive start and was gone by the end of the fourth inning. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

TAMPA HEY! Before the series began, Pinto gave the Rays a 60 percent chance of beating the White Sox in their ALDS matchup. They made him look prophetic with a 6-4 Game One victory that, reports the St. Petersburg Times, looked a lot like the type of game they played all year in the regular season. The Tampa Tribune's Joe Henderson agreed, calling it "a rerun from a script that produced 97 wins and the American League East championship." Evan Longoria led the way with home runs in his first two postseason at-bats (St. Petersburg Times) -- only the second player in history to do so; the other was Longoria's minor-league hitting instructor, Gary Gaetti -- and it capped a 12-hour party in Tampa Bay. (St. Petersburg Times)

IMPRESSIVE: Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune notes approvingly that the Rays are acting like they've been there before.

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? The subplot was the strange seventh-inning confrontation -- verbal, not physical -- between Orlando Cabrera (foreground) and Grant Balfour (being led off the mound, AP Photo). Yahoo Sports! Gordon Edes finds the participants -- or at least Balfour, anyway -- was just as befuddled as we were. At least, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, you can't blame A.J. Pierzynski for this one.

LAST CHANCE: Javier Vazquez served up another stinker -- he's 0-4 with a 13.23 ERA in his last four starts -- and the Tribune's Mark Gonzalez writes he may be lifted from the rotation.

COOL DRAFT: ESPN.com's Buster Olney says the Yankees' slide from the top of the baseball world can be traced to a decade of poor drafting. And he takes us through just how poor.

BASEBALL 24/7: The New York Times has a nice feature on the MLB Network, which is scheduled to go live Jan. 1.

THE REAL ELECTION: If the Blue Jays somehow put the presidency of the team up to a vote, my old pal The Tao of Stieb has mine.

WHISPERS: SI.com's Jon Heyman reports Francisco Rodriguez' free-agent asking price is five years, $75 million . . . The Padres say no one's untouchable, including Jake Peavy (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . The Yankees and Pirates both say there's nothing to Nate McLouth-to-the-Bronx rumors (New York Post) . . . Brian Cashman thinks Mike Mussina is leaning towards retirement. (LoHud Yankees Blog)

HERE AND THERE: The Braves plan to bring back Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Mike Hampton (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . The Mets' contract negotiations with Jerry Manuel have hit a snag. (si.com)

AND FINALLY: It's probably not going to win him many votes in this bluest of blue regions, but, even so, John McCain (AP Photo) is rooting for the Red Sox. (Boston Herald)

You think this guy might have something to do with that?

-- ART MARTONE