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Behind enemy lines

Print | Comments () Posted by Chad Finn, Globe Staff October 10, 2008 01:03 PM

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

Joe Henderson in the Tampa Tribune says the Rays have tremendous confidence in Game 1 starter James Shields, who's known in the clubhouse as "Big Game James." (And somewhere, James Worthy prepares a copyright-infringement lawsuit.)

Writes Henderson:

[Shields] has that quality you look for in moments like these. Just look at his face.
"I know it, you know it, the fans know it, the other team knows it - you see it in their eyes. If you see scared eyes, you know he doesn't want it," teammate Trever Miller said.

"He wants the ball in the big games. Some guys are afraid of the big moments - I like to call them the rocking-chair moments - but he loves it. He wants to be able to sit down when he's a grandfather and tell all the grandkids how he pitched Game 1 and won, or Game 7 - beat the best team that year."

The Tribune runs a feature on a lifelong Red Sox fan who has switched his allegiances to the Rays. We here at EB aren't sure we're buying it: he still sounds like a Sox fan to us, albeit one who boarded the Rays' bandwagon due to proximity.

The Trib also has a well-done interactive timeline of the franchise's history. Not surprisingly, the emphasis is on this season. It's almost like Dewon Brazelton never existed.

ESPN simulated the ALDS using Diamond Mind software, and the results won't please Sox fans. The most interesting (simulated) revelation:

The most likely scenario is that the series will go six games . . . regardless of which team wins.

Which, given the way the Red Sox rotation is set up, would mean ace Jon Lester would pitch only once.

Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan takes a look at Rays manager Joe Maddon's fuzzy math

Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus breaks down the series for CNNSI.com, noting that the Rays and Sox are "the [American League's] two best teams from the league's strongest division." Don't let John Lackey get wind of that statement.