The Red Sox Have Been Outscored 18-6 Since Eduardo Rodriguez Tapped His Wrist At Carlos Correa
It’s really that simple. The Red Sox have been riding the wave of slight all October. That was their superpower. Stomp out the opposition and talk shit the second the series was over. Did it to the Yankees. Did it to the Rays. They were 50% of the way to doing it to the Astros when they decided to give the slight card back to Houston and quite simply nothing has been the same since. Cora knew it was a bad move the second it happened.
Bats have gone ice cold. Everyone outside of Alex Verdugo is trying to pull the ball, meekly grounding out at bat after at bat. Pitchers can’t get the third out; 21 Astros runs have come with two outs this series, an ALCS record.
This series has been a direct reflection of the entire season: go on a run, look like the best team in baseball, come crashing back down to Earth, make errors like a Little League team, and fail to produce any signs of life at the plate. They came back to Boston with home field advantage, squandered plenty of opportunities in games one and four, and now head back to Houston trailing the series with their season on the brink.
Nate in 6. Everyone with an arm in 7. At this point, it’s the only way.
PS - I will say this: I’ve seen the Red Sox down 3-0 in the ALCS, down 3-1 in the ALCS, and be in a slobber-knocker with the Tigers in 2013 where the lineup hit a collective .017 for the series. I don’t, by any means, feels great about being down 3-2, but we’ve been here before. A little positivity never killed anybody. It isn’t super warranted at the moment, but that’s how I’m choosing to go into Game 6.