Game Six decision

Make no mistake about it, last night’s come from behind win was awesome. Games like that, home runs like that and game winning hits like that don’t come around too often – certainly not in do-or-die American League Championship Games.

That being said, we can’t get carried away with the Red Sox. They still need to win two more games – both on the road, and both against a team that continues to slug away with home runs after home runs. Boston still has to face a very good pitcher in James Shields, and then should they win Game Six, they will then face flamethrower Matt Garza, who sat the Sox batters down as if they had never held a bat before.

So now comes the big question? Will Manager Terry Francona have enough guts to make the proper move of starting Jon Lester tomorrow night? That’s a move he should and has to make. We can’t get ahead of ourselves – you can’t get to Game Seven, unless you win Game Six. Jon Lester has been the team’s true ace all season long. He’s been the most consistent pitcher all season long. Josh Beckett isn’t the same pitcher he was last year. He’s not 100 percent healthy, so why take the risk? I think Lester’s poor outing in Game Three was more due to the fact of having extra rest, instead of having his normal four days off. He’s back to that schedule, so Terry please give him the damn ball!

Besides Lester being the better pitcher right now and all season, there’s another reason to go with Beckett in Game Seven, rather than tomorrow. The bullpen. If Lester goes tomorrow and pitches his normal game, it’ll most likely be a combination of him with two relievers (Masterson or Okijima) with Papelbon – assuming it’s a close game. Should they win that game, Game Seven everyone will be available except for Lester. You can start Beckett and once or if gets in any kind of trouble, you have Wakefield and possibly Dice-K to get you through the middle innings, before Delcarmen, Masterson, Okijima and Papelbon. I guess you can say the same thing, regardless of who pitches Game Six, that you’ll have everyone in the pen, but why go with a guy who is not completely healthy and who is struggling, over a guy who has been dominant over the past two months, except for one start?

There’s no word yet that Francona will push Lester up, so it’s highly unlikely it’ll happen, but I do think it’s a foolish move if he starts Beckett over Lester (but then again I predicted the Sox to win Game Four, 8-5 so boy was I wrong). The other thing Terry needs to do is make sure Coco is leading off, and Ellsbury is on the bench. Coco played great last night – and deserves to be playing center field and leading off.

While I have questioned some of the moves Francona has made or not made, how about that awful move from Joe Maddon? Talk about screwing up the bullpen. First off Dan Wheeler is not a legitimate closer – so you put him in the seventh inning needing seven outs from him? It made no sense at the time to bring him in (I told my friend Kevin it would backfire on Maddon when he made the switch) and have a good lefty in JP Howell in the pen when the Sox lefties due up with Ortiz and Drew.