Game 3: One Game at a Time

So it all comes down to one man.

The fate of the 2016 Red Sox season and one last chance to get David Ortiz back to the World Series
lies on the right shoulder of one Clay Buchholz, Sunday afternoon. To quote Sox radio voice  Joe Castiglione (but this time with a sarcastic tone): can you believe it?

You know the same Clay Buchholz that Sox fans wanted run out of town back in May. The same Clay Buchholz that was banished to the bullpen mid-way through the summer. And the same Clay Buchholz who finished the last two months of the regular season with a 4-1 record, 3.02 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in eight starts. Yeah that Clay Buchholz.

Red Sox Nation, the guy who had the bulls-eye on his back and was the target of most of your complaints throughout the season, has been your second best pitcher down the stretch run - posting a 5-1 record with a 3.22 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 40 strikeouts after the All-Star Game break. There's no arguing with those numbers.

Now I get it. You don't know which Clay Buchholz is going to show up in Game Three against the Indians on Sunday. But I can tell you one thing: there isn't anyone I'd rather hand the ball to than Buchholz in this situation.

For everything that he has been through this year, he handled it with the utmost integrity. Pitching so poorly early on that he loses his spot in the rotation but he didn't get upset, he didn't throw a tantrum. He simply did his job, moved to the bullpen and took the mound when his number was called. (Does this sound familiar? Sounds like "The Patriot Way," doesn't it?) A few weeks later he was called back into the rotation and forced manager John Farrell to make the difficult choice of who start in the Division Series.

That is no easy feat. And to those Red Sox fans who have criticized Buchholz for a lack of mental toughness (your's truly), his success at the end of the regular season, after what he went through during the season, is the definition of mental toughness. So in this situation, down 2-0 in the series, there is no other pitcher I'd rather have out there. He's faced bigger and sudden waves; this is just another wave and this time he has advance warning.

But it cannot all be Buchholz. The Sox offense has been putrid in the first two games on the shores of Lake Erie and Farrell's tinkering with the line-up was not making things any better. They have to help out Buchholz and puts some runs on the board early. They have re-kindle the powerhouse offense from April and May and then again during their September 11-game winning streak.

The young leaders of team, Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Mookie Betts, played like they had tight sphincters at the plate. Now I'm not saying they weren't nervous, playing in the post-season for the first time in their Major League careers but that's over. They have to get back to swinging the bat like they were all year: loose.

Veterans, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz haven't been much better. They look just as tight. Remember the final out of game one, Thursday night? That wasn't a Dustin Pedroia at-bat. And Ortiz looks like he's trying to be "Big Papi" and be the post-season hero. That's the wrong thought process.

It's now 'just get one game.' Take it one at-bat at a time. One pitch at a time. One out at a time. One inning at a time. Don't try to do too much and swing easy.