CLEVELAND – At its best, Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball does more dancing than a Lake Erie midge on a hot Jacobs Field night. The midges – those insects that bedeviled the Yankees during the ALDS – aren’t expected tonight, but it’s harder to predict how effective Wakefield might be for the Red Sox.
“[Wakefield] is the hardest guy to be a manager for of any pitcher I’ve ever been around,” said Terry Francona, whose Red Sox face the Indians in Game 4 tonight.
“I learned real quickly, sometimes to take both your hands, put them underneath you and sit there. Because of the way he pitches, if you don’t do that, it can drive you crazy a little bit.”
With last night’s 4-2 Game 3 loss to the Indians, the pressure is on Wakefield, who is asked to help the Red Sox even this series.
Adding to the intrigue, Wakefield hasn’t pitched in 18 days, after missing the ALDS with tightness in his upper back. The 41-year-old right-hander gets the task of facing veteran Paul Byrd, who was just good enough to beat the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS, securing the Indians’ first playoff series victory in nine years.
Wakefield threw a simulated game last week in Boston and says he’s fine. Though he went 17-12 for the Red Sox during the regular season, he benefited from generous run support, as his 4.76 ERA would indicate.
“I was able to pitch for a good team,” Wakefield said. “They scored me runs when I needed to score runs and I pitched well when I needed to pitch well, and felt lucky that I pitched on the right days sometimes.”
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As much as the Indians love catcher Victor Martinez‘s bat in the middle of their lineup, Kelly Shoppach is Paul Byrd‘spersonal catcher, and manager Eric Wedge isn’t about to mess with success. With Byrd slated to start tonight, expect to see Shoppach behind the plate.
“Shoppy has caught Byrd’s every start,” Wedge said. “It’s a relationship that grew from early in the season . . . and we don’t want anything to disrupt that.”
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The Indians were one of three teams – Colorado and Arizona were the others – that reached the LCS with a Opening Day payroll that ranked in the bottom third among major league teams.
Cleveland’s Opening Day payroll was $61.6M, which ranked 23rd overall. Colorado ($54.4M) and Arizona ($52M) were 25th and 26th.