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Once again, the trade deadline inaction by team President and CEO
Dave Dombrowski is haunting this 2018 Red Sox team. Dombrowski's inability to upgrade a
clearly woeful bullpen nearly cost Boston a
Game One victory in the
American League Division Series. Staked to a 5-0 lead by the offense and
Chris Sale's solid starting pitching, the relief corps was not ready for prime time in a series of "deer in the headlights" appearances before
Craig Kimbrel was forced to slam the door with a four-out save. These types of 'cardiac' wins are not sustainable in a championship run—as the Red Sox were
lucky to
prevail 5-4 over The Evil Ones. In the first inning,
J.D. Martinez reminded us all why we got him—with a laser shot into the first row of the
Monster Seats for a three-run HR. Tack-on runs were provided by
Steve Pearce (RBI single) and a
Xander Bogaerts sacrifice fly—then the offense shut down for the rest of the game. In the meantime, successive poor outings by the 'pen forced manager
Alex Cora to bring in starter
Rick Porcello in the eighth inning before going to his closer. A Pyrrhic victory if there ever was one.
David Price goes in
Game Two tonight to try and secure a 2-0 lead heading to
Baghdad-On-The-Hudson Monday night.
