Patience at the plate probably is the Boston Red Sox’s biggest weapon. But the White Sox pitching staff has taken the free pass and the deep count away from hitters in the first two games of this American League Division Series matchup.
In winning the first two games, Jose Contreras and Mark Buehrle continued to pound the strike zone and limit the damage with runners on base.
That has been the key to White Sox’s 13-6 run that started with a 2-1 victory at Minnesota on Sept. 16, after back-to-back losses at Kansas City had sounded an alarm.
“Our pitching is the reason we’re even in the playoffs,” first baseman Paul Konerko said. “It doesn’t surprise me that these guys have brought their `A’ games. That’s what I’ve seen all year.
“I look at it from a hitter’s standpoint, and these guys pitch the way you’re supposed to pitch. They attack people. They’re fearless.”
Boston has eight players with 50-plus walks, seven more than the White Sox, who have only Konerko. But en route to a 2-0 edge in the best-of-five series, the White Sox have drawn one more walk (three) than the Red Sox.
Buehrle’s intentional walk of Manny Ramirez in the third inning on Wednesday was the Red Sox’s only one until the eighth inning of Game 2 when Bobby Jenks walked Trot Nixon.
Boston manager Terry Francona does not believe his hitters are helping the pitchers.
“I don’t think we went out of the zone very much,” Francona said after Game 2. “[Buehrle] throws a lot of strikes. He has walked, I think, four left-handers all year. If you go up and try to walk against Mark Buehrle, you will be making some right turns (to the dugout).”
Buehrle refused to give in, even to David Ortiz. He set the tone in Game 2 by coming back from a 3-1 count to strike out Ortiz in the first inning.
The Red Sox’s slugger swung through two sinkers–his two-seam fastball–in the first inning. Otherwise it would have been bases loaded with no outs for Ramirez, who delivered a two-run single.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen admitted he was worried about walks entering the series.
“We have to make those guys swing the bats,” he said.
Contreras threw 70 strikes in 100 pitches in Game 1. Buehrle followed with 70 strikes in 95 pitches in Game 2. That’s a phenomenal ratio.
The White Sox also have done a terrific job winning the game’s biggest battles. Boston hitters have had 19 at-bats with men on second or third in the series but have gotten only four hits in those situations, including Ortiz’s infield single in Game 1.
When Contreras allowed two hits with men in scoring position Tuesday, it gave him one fewer double play (five) than hits (six) over 28 at-bats in those situations in his last four starts.
Ramirez’s two-run single in the first Wednesday was the first hit with a man in scoring position against Buehrle since Kansas City’s Emil Brown singled off him Sept. 15. In his last four starts, Buehrle has allowed two hits in 16 at-bats with men in scoring position.
White Sox pitchers are holding hitters to a .170 average with men in scoring position over the last 19 games.
Freddy Garcia, who faces Boston’s Tim Wakefield in Game 3, held hitters to a 1-for-11 showing with men in scoring position in his last three regular-season starts.
