10/17 Red Sox vs. Tigers ALCS Game 5 Thread

Alright, I'm going to say it: win it or go home.

Ever so true. Do you want him at SS or 3B?

How about: win and then go home

It may be 2-2, but it feels like we're down 3-1.

Why? Even if we lose, game 6 and 7 are at home.

Yes, I get that Detroits pitching is very good but so are ours. We *could* very easily have been swept but we are lucky to be at 2-2 in my eyes.

Peavy mailed it in but we got lucky with games 2 and 3.

Xander time. It better be.

Games 6 and 7 are at home but look at the pitching matchups. Perhaps Scherzer and Verlander aren't as near perfect as last time, but Buchholz hasn't been right since he's come back and I don't know that you'll ever see Lackey anywhere near as good. I think the better odds are the Sox can split the two games at home, so it is very imperative that the Sox win tonight, which they certainly can. They have to chase Sanchez from the game early and get to the Tigers pen. They can't keep going 5 innings without scoring and/or getting a hit. Lester needs to give them seven strong innings.

They missed a golden opportunity last night as the Tigers had a hittable pitcher on the mound. They scattered their hits while the Tigers bunched their hits and Peavy lost the strike zone and gave up a killer 2 out hit to extend the Tigers lead from 3-0 to 5-0.

I don't think Peavy mailed it in. I think he tried hard, extremely hard, and perhaps he wanted it too much. Who knows? But I have no doubt the guy badly wanted to win. He just plain stunk up the joint.

And yes the Sox generally have good pitching, but the Sox starting pitching is not on the same level as Detroit. It just isn't. If someone said they'll trade you Sanchez, Verlander, and Scherzer straight up for Lester, Buchholz, and Lackey, you'd make the trade and not think twice about it.

They hung with the Tigers starting pitchers twice in four games. The other two games they were left in the dust. Fortunately Benoit has been bad this series.

The Red Sox are very fortunate to be 2-2 in this series right now. They easily could have been swept. And this series does have a feel of being down 3-1 although that's not the case.

The Tigers have been outplaying the Sox. The Sox need to play better. Winning tonight would be huge for the Sox. Would losing eliminate them? No, but the Sox already defied the odds winning the Buchholz/Scherzer and Lackey/Verlander games. I'd hate to see them have to defy the odds again.

I think people are over-reacting a bit to last nights loss.

Yeah, it sucked, but the team lost on the road to the defending AL champions. They are a very good team. No shame in that.

The Sox still have home field even if they win tonight. The team came back from 0-3 against NY and 1-3 against Cleveland.

Series tied going into game 5, could be much worse. Does not feel like we're down 1-3 at all.

Red Sox v. Sanchez: Ellsbury CF, Victorino RF, Pedroia 2B, Ortiz DH, Napoli 1B, Gomes LF, Drew SS, Bogaerts 3B, Ross C.

Farrell's obsession with Jonny Gomes' intangibles are misplaced, and I'll leave it at that.

There appears to be little or no hope. These three Tiger pitchers are probably among the top ten in the game right now. And we have to beat them two games out of three. (Granted, two games are at home).

I mean, really, when was the last time that happened? Can someone look online?

Yeah, but the Sox stole one of those games by winning 1-0.