The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash., John McGrath Column: Long Layoff Fun While It Lasted

Oct 25, 05:38 AM

Current Headlines: By John McGrath, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

Oct. 25--BOSTON -- The World Series opener Wednesday night showed all that's possible -- and all that's not -- when baseball's best pitcher faces a team that hasn't seen any kind of opposing pitcher in eight days.

With his full-tilt fastball and half-moon curve, Boston right-hander Josh Beckett has the talent to silence a lineup of All-Stars, as he did in July in the Midsummer Classic. But against a Colorado Rockies club left with the longest layoff before a Series opener in 98 years, Beckett's ability to frustrate the Rockies' hitters was almost unfair.

He struck out the game's first batter, Willy Taveras, on an unhittable fastball that painted the outside corner of the plate. Kazuo Matsui and Matt Holliday were luckier. At least they got their swings in before Beckett fanned them.

Had Colorado starter Jeff Francis been half as effective as his counterpart -- had he merely been serviceable -- a few minutes of suspense might've ensued at Fenway Park. But when Red Sox leadoff man Dustin Pedroia hit the second pitch he saw, and sent it over the top of the famed Green Monster wall in left field, the pieces were in place for a mismatch that could be counted among the all-time World Series clunkers.

Between the futility of the visiting hitters, the shell-shocking of their starting pitcher and the startling incompetence of Colorado's middle relievers -- pitchers can accumulate rust, too -- Game 1 made it challenging to imagine any chain of events that would enable Wednesday's 13-1 blowout victims to become next week's world champions.

Still, there's a risk in reading too much into a Series opener.

"Sometimes a lopsided score can happen," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "You get into a bullpen, sometimes things don't go right. It happened to us in the playoffs against Cleveland."

It happened, too, to the 1959 White Sox, who beat the Dodgers, 11-0, in Game 1, only to lose the Series in six games. More recently, the 1996 Braves put a 12-1 thumping on the Yankees in the opener. So disturbed were the losers about that dispiriting start, they went on to take the Series in six games -- and win three more world championships over a span of four years.

"We're smart enough to know tomorrow's game is what's ahead of us, and that's all that matters," Francona told reporters. "After I'm done with you guys, we'll put this behind us and move on."

So will the Rockies, whose first appearance on baseball's biggest stage turned into a 3 hour and 30 minute exercise in feeding the Monster.

They gave up nine extra-base hits, a Series record. They gave up 13 runs, a record for a Series opener -- as was Boston's 12-run margin of victory.

"We got outplayed," said understated Colorado manager Clint Hurdle, who declined to speculate on whether the Rockies were negatively affected by the eight-day intermission between qualifying for the World Series and actually playing a game.

"You can ask me all Series long, I'm not going to be able to give you an answer on that," said Hurdle. "We're a no-excuse ballclub. Always have been, always going to be."

No excuses should not be confused with no explanations. Hurdle was wary enough of a possible rust problem that he organized a simulated game last weekend at Coors Field in Denver.

But there's a difference between trying to stay sharp during a glorified session against batting practice pitchers, and taking on an ace who improved his 2007 postseason record to 4-0, while lowering his 2007 postseason ERA to 1.20.

A few hours before Beckett took the mound, Hurdle offered a thought.

"The best thing that can happen," he said, "is we play a game and win. The next best thing that can happen is we get to play a game."

Then the first three Colorado batters struck out, and the first Boston batter hit a home run, and suddenly, Hurdle could be forgiven for suspecting the longest October layoff in 98 years ended much too soon.

-----

To see more of The News Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.TheNewsTribune.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.