Time for Drastic Measures

I started writing this after watching the non-Ortiz-Ramirez-Lowell portion of the lineup dribble into three feeble outs on 10 pitches in the top of the fifth. Down only 2-0 at the time, it felt like 20-0 since the once again ice-cold Sox lineup was making Jake "6-9, 4.32 ERA" Westbrook look like the white Bob Gibson. When Dice K imploded for another pair of runs as he continued his now seven month "adjustment" to Major League baseball it was obvious this one was over and the Sox were about to go down 2-1.

It's clearly time for a major shakeup if there is any hope of saving the postseason.

I had a bad feeling about this game all day. Not really a "bad" feeling, but an empty one. Something was sucked out of me after watching "Mo" Gagne, "Larry" Lopez and "Curly" Lester nyuk, nyuk, nyuk that game away in the 11th Saturday night. I felt hollow, and watching the Sox play like sleepwalkers in Game Three, I think they have the same feeling. So herewith is my "To Do" list for Game 4 if the Sox are to continue playing beyond this series.

1. Start Josh Beckectt in Game 4. Tito says he doesn't want to do this because it would be a "panic" move. I don't know about you, but this looks like a perfectly reasonable time to panic. We have just endured two games where the Sox starters couldn't get out of the fifth inning. So what do we do to end this streak? Hand the ball to an ailing Tim Wakefield who is unpredictable when he is going good but hasn't pitched an effective game in over a month? Holy Smoke! Why not just start Eric Gagne? Plus keep in mind that with Wakefield you get a side order of Mirabelli, so an already wet noodle lineup might get weaker, if such a thing is possible. (Although watching tonight's episode of "Tek's Greatest Popups" tells me Belli might actually be an upgrade). Make up a story, say Wakefield is hurt, give him a cup of soup, a gold watch and have him take a nice comfy seat at the end of the bench. Starting Beckett is the only move here and Theo or the Trio better make Tito do it.

2. Pray for rain on Tuesday. The forecast calls for possibility of rain, and that would be a godsend for the Sox. It will allow Tito to bring back Beckett on regular rest eliminating the one valid reason for not starting him in Game Four.

3. Start Jacoby Ellsbury. When the Sox were playing like walking corpses in September, Ellsbury provided a spark and no one can deny that the morbund Sox lineup is in desperate need of a shot of something. I don't care who he plays for...Crisp or Drew..it doesn't matter since they both have been as effective as the T at rush hour.

4. Have Ellsbury lead off. Dustin Pedroia has been struggling so it's time to take some pressure off. Have the speedy Ellsbury, who in case you have forgotten, hit .361 with a .390 OBP in September. Let Pedro hit eighth which might give some pop to the bottom of the lineup.

5. Say a novena that someone other than Ortiz-Ramirez-Lowell can get a hit. The way the other 2/3's of the lineup has hit, I don't know why the Indians' pitchers don't just intentionally walk those three every time up. The rest of the lineup as been a disaster.

(5 innings later.....)

Okay. So I waited until the end of the game, hoping I could scrap this entire post and write about an exciting come-from-behind Sox win. Didn't happen as I knew it wouldn't. 4-2 final. The cherry on the top of this Excrement Sundae was watching Lowell, Drew and Tek make Borowski look like Mariano Rivera in the ninth.

In our post game recap, Kevin in New York and I got into a heated exchange regarding making the above mentioned changes. I'm sure you are shocked that his feeling is that this team is what we saw. They will score 10 runs one night and get completely shut down the next. He is willing to wait it out and let them either come out of it or not. I would opt for the shakeup route.

Unfortunately, I believe Tito agrees with him. If so, tomorrow night is the key to the postseason. If Wake comes up with the miracle start they tie the series with Beckett on Thursday. If Wake implodes like Schilling and Dice K, I fear it's curtains.

Let's go Tito. Do the right thing.