TBS reaction to Sox/Rays ALCS Game 1

Here's what the folks at TBS had to say about game one of Friday night's Red Sox win over the Rays in the ALCS.

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Announcers Ernie Johnson, Harold Reynolds, Dennis Eckersley and Cal Ripken

Reynolds on the message the Rays were sending through their fights with division rivals:
“This team is a whole different group. (The Rays) got into it with the Yankees in Spring Training, they got into it with the Red Sox during the season, it’s like they were saying, ‘We are done being the little brothers being stepped on.’”

Eckersley on changing his pick for the NCLS:
“I bought into the Dodgers, I’m glad we didn’t have to make our prediction because I would have picked the Dodgers. Nevermind, I’m not taking the Dodgers.”
Reynolds: “I’m not jumping off of the bandwagon.”
Eckersley: “I am. Phillies!”

Red Sox manager Terry Francona on playing in Tropicana Field with its unique fair and foul play rules:
“The one thing that potentially concerns everybody are the catwalks, you hate to see a baseball field start to look like a pinball game. The ball goes up and it comes down somewhere else. Hopefully that doesn’t get in the way, but if it does I hope it helps us, but you don’t want it to.”

Eckersley on the ground rules of Tropicana Field:
“It’s a circus, it really is. You just hope it doesn’t affect the outcome. Terry (Francona) was saying, if it does affect (the game) you hope it helps you, but it’s ugly.”

Boston Red Sox (2) @ Tampa Bay Rays (0) – The Red Sox lead the series 1-0.
Announcers Chip Caray, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling and Craig Sager reporting

Martinez on the defensive talent of the Rays:
“What an indication of how confident the Rays are. They are a good overall defensive club, I believe it’s the best defensive club in the American League. They are not intimidated one bit and they aren’t afraid to make mistakes.”

Darling on Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (Dice-K) having throwing a lot of balls in the first inning:
“This is how (Dice-K) pitches, he’s a bend-doesn’t-break kind of pitcher, but he seems to come up with the big pitch in a big situation.”

TBS’ Chip Caray, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling spoke to Rays manager Joe Maddon during the game.

Maddon on the advice he gives his young club about how the handle the Postseason:
“Primarily when you get in this situation it is truly about one day at a time and if something bad happens I didn’t want them to get out of our game. So I wanted to point that out, that something bad or nasty may happen to us, but don’t get out of our game. More than anything if you can do that this time of year you have a pretty good chance of winning.”

TBS’ Chip Caray, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling spoke to Red Sox manager Terry Francona during the game.

Francona on the pitching of Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka:
“They say you go with what got you there. You can’t get to this part of the year without seeing good pitchers and (Matsuzaka) is one of the best.”

Darling on Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka being a slow pitcher:
“(Matsuzaka) challenges the patience of the hitters, his manager, his teammates on the field, the fans in the audience, I mean everyone’s patience is challenged.”

Martinez on how Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka can hold a runner on base:
“You can run against Matsuzaka, but he’s wise enough to hold the ball. The best way to shut down (Carl) Crawford is to hold the ball, vary your moves, throw from different set positions and try to give (Jason) Varitek a chance to throw him out. Catchers don’t throw out a lot of good runners and they have to get help from the pitchers.”


Darling on Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka slowing down the game: “It’s almost like Matsuzaka freezes you out. It’s like calling timeout in the middle of a basketball game, just freezes the hitter in that batter’s box.”

Caray: “In the broadband world, he’s dial-up speed.”

Darling on the Rays not playing the way they won during the season:
“I’m seeing a young team trying to do big things and getting out of their box of what they do all season long.”

TBS field reporter Craig Sager interviewed Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis after the game.

Youkilis on the ability of Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka to get out of jams: “(Dice-K) is amazing, he gets out of jams better than anyone I’ve seen. We laugh if off, it’s not funny when we’re out there in the field, but when we come in the dugout it’s unbelievable, we start laughing. We prefer for him not to have guys on base but sometimes he gets out of jams easier that way, I don’t know how he does it. He pitched great and it was a great win.”

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Johnson, Reynolds, Eckersley and Ripken

Reynolds on the Rays ability to win the series:
“This is a seven game series, I see the importance of game one, but even if (the Rays) don’t win game two and they go to Boston and they still have a chance to win the series.”

Ripken on the difficulty the Rays will have winning the series after losing the first game:
“It’s going to be an uphill battle. (The Rays) have the magic in home field advantage, they were expected to win this game. Shields throws really well, they play really well, a young team, they could feel the pressure a little bit. It is an uphill battle, you’ve go to face (pitchers Jon) Lester twice and (Josh) Beckett twice.”

Eckersley on the decision to keep Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka in to start the eighth inning:
“I was surprised (Red Sox manager Terry Francona) stayed with Dice-K and even started the eighth inning. (Matsuzaka) just got out of a big jam in the seventh inning and he started the eighth inning, gave up two base runners, they were lucky to get out of that.”

Ripken on the pitching approach the Dodgers are taking against Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard:
“The good thing is (the Phillies) are up, the bad thing is for the Dodgers is that (Howard) could start to get hot. It’s obvious to me that the Los Angeles Dodgers have said, ‘Let’s junk him to death. Let’s throw curve ball, curve ball, after curve ball.’ He’s going to have to sit on that curve ball and really juice it so he can get the opportunity to hit some other pitches.”

Reynolds on the Tampa Bay hitters helping Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka have such a good game:
“(Matsuzaka) got a lot of help from Tampa, the key thing is guys know how to exploit weaknesses of other clubs. With the aggressiveness of the young hitters of Tampa, having their first big league game here in the Championship Series, they are swinging at a lot of pitches and guessing. You can tell they were totally off kilter and (Dice-K) did a great job of changing it up.”