Boston Red Sox

Behind enemy lines

By Chad Finn

2 minutes to read

Our look at what others are saying about the Red Sox-Rays matchup.

  • The Tampa Tribune’s Joe Henderson praises the Rays’ dynamic B.J. Upton, who is having a Manny Ramirez-like postseason . . . and who also overcame some other Manny-ish issues during the regular season.

    His three-run homer in the third Monday off Jon Lester was a rocket. That’s about as hard as a human can hit a ball. It totally turned the game, and perhaps the series, around.

    It’s especially significant considering Upton’s problems over the summer. We all know what happened – he was benched, fans booed, he struggled at the plate. A lot of the criticism was deserved.

    Given the way Upton is playing right now — he has five homers this postseason — it’s a credit to both the player and Rays manager Joe Maddon for the way they handled his problems earlier this year . . . though a Sox fan probably wishes right about now that Upton had been suspended for, oh, rest of the season.

  • After reading this whopper of an opening from Trib columnist Martin Fennelly . . .

    Day became night and Game 3 became history at silent Fenway Park. A full moon appeared. At this time of year, there’s name for such a full moon. It’s called a Hunter’s Moon.

    And the hunters were out in force. They wore Rays uniforms.

    . . . the Cliche Police were sure he’d refer to Upton’s homer as a moonshot. No such luck, but he did offer this fun tidbit on Evan Longoria’s blast in the decisive third inning:

    Longoria, being Evan Almighty, naturally gets bonus points for hitting his homer directly to a Rays season ticket-holder – who was wearing a Longoria jersey. And it was the guy’s birthday. Sure, why not?

    “That was something, wasn’t it?” Longoria said with a grin.

    They’re so young, so unaware, so immune, like kids hitting rocks over a pond. Child’s play.

    Funny, when we here at EB think of child’s play, we think of this. And he coaches the Bucs, not the Rays.

  • Elsewhere: CNNSI’s Tom Verducci says rest has been the key for the Rays against the weary Sox . . . ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick says the Rays are “brimming with talent, confident in their ability, [and] unfazed by pressure . . . Finally, Yahoo! has the Inside Edge scouting report on Game 4. We believe it says something about Tim Wakefield throwing a knuckleball.

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