When 32 year old, right handed pitcher: Jake Peavy marches to the pitching mound tonight, the world will be watching simply because of the stage for which Jake is pitching.
With the World Series knotted at 1 game a piece it is no lame fact that the outcome of tonight's 8:07 game between the Red Sox and Cardinals might very well decide the outcome of the World Series as a whole. After the Red Sox failed to hold onto a 2-1 lead in Game 2 of Baseball's Championship Series they lost home field advantage and fell into a situation where, if they were going to win the Series they would have to steal one on the road. Their first chance to do that comes here tonight and even with as much importance as this game carries, mid-season acquisition, Peavy is as good as the Sox can get.
We all saw this game on the schedule and cringed when it was announced that Peavy would start it. We joked about it at first but felt a bit of the weight come off our chests when Boston coasted to that 8-1 win in Game One. As the very worst it seemed that going into Game 4 Boston would be UP 2-1 in the series but now, in the event of a Peavy loss, Boston would be trailing a Cardinals team that has had more World Series success than any other since 2000.
Peavy knows the importance of this start.
"And so to go out in a World Series game and have a chance to sway the odds, the favor, in your direction, on the road, against a team that's got some momentum with a big win at our place? Of course, this is the biggest start in my career."
The previous 'biggest start of his career' came in the ALCS and it did not work out so well. Peavy struggled to throw strikes and made it through just 3 innings while allowing 5 hits and 7 runs.
Following that failure, fans questioned Peavy's attitude and accused him of being 'too amped up'. That last part stings the most. Even while taking into account the lack of consistency in Peavy's 6 starts in Boston he has been far better than the alternative. Before Peavy, the Sox were starting guys like Kyle Whilend, Stephan Wright and so many other unprepared AAA starters. Fact is without him, the ease for which Boston clenched the AL East would not have existed and without Jake the AL would probably have belonged to Oakland.
Peavy must execute tonight and he needs to do it for way more than 4 or 5 innings. Why? Because despite the day off between games 2 and 3, Boston's bullpen is fatigued and it has shown in their lack of poise in clutch situations. You had Dempster allowing the homer in Game One and then there was Breslow's collapse on Thursday night. And those are just 2 mistakes among several that have been committed since pretty much the conclusion of the ALDS.
John Farrell knows this but also trusts the ability his starter has to bounce back.
"The one thing I think he's done a very good job of in the last three or four starts is creating an energy level in his delivery that doesn't take away from locating pitches. In his second inning in Detroit, I thought he started to pitch a little too fine and maybe didn't trust his stuff enough, which wasn't the case in the first inning."
The energy Farrell referenced has never been lacking with Peavy on the mound as it was stated earlyer today by WEEI's John Dennis that "Peavy cant get through a pitch without screaming at the hitter and screaming at himself for a little while."
Sox left fielder Danial Nava says that integration with every pitch rubs off on Peavy's teammates.
"There's no one who wants the ball more than Jake Peavy right now," said Daniel Nava, who will be starting in left field in Game 3. "And I think that's the right guy to have on the mound.When you have a guy yelling at the top of his lungs at himself on the mound, it's also entertaining. It gets me pumped up."
It is make or break for Jake Peavy. A win tonight and he is loved by all. A loss and he might never again play baseball in Boston.
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