Lackey strong in Pitching Battle; Sox take 2-1 Series Advantage in ALCS

The first two games of the ALCS came were each decided by 1 run, so it’s no surprise that game 3 came down to the wire as well. John Lackey held the Tigers to just 4 hits, and kept the Tigers off the scoreboard through 6 2/3 innings pitched, and Mike Napoli hit a tie breaking solo home run in the top of the 7th against Justin Verlander, which proved to be the deciding blow in a 1-0 Red Sox victory.

The Sox secured the victory with solid pitching performances from the relievers who took over for Lackey. Craig Breslow, Junichi Tazawa, and Koji Uehara combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings pitched to close out the Tigers.

For Boston’s bullpen, their biggest inning came in the bottom of the 8th. Ahead 1-0, Craig Breslow, who took over for Lackey with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th inning, surrendered a one out walk to Austin Jackson.

Junichi Tazawa got the call to face Torii Hunter, who hit a single to put runners on 1st and 3rd with just one out, and Miguel Cabrera stepping to the plate. Tazawa kept pitches hard and away from Cabrera, it’s hard not to hold your breath on every pitch when he’s at the plate, but Tazawa got him swinging on the 4th pitch of the at-bat.

"The eighth inning, Taz, that was huge," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "Cabrera's such a great hitter. One out, those are situations he thrives in. He gets in situations where he can get an RBI and it's tough to get him out, let alone strike him out."

With two outs and Prince Fielder, John Farrell called on his closer, Koji Uehara, to get the four-out save. Uehara punched out Fielder on 3 pitches to end the 8th inning threat. He proceeded to close down the Tigers in the 9th inning, erasing a lead off single by Victor Martinez when he got Johnny Peralta to ground into a double, and struck out Mike Avila for the final out.

Mike Napoli had been 2-for-19 in October with 10 strikeouts before stepping to the plate in the top of the 7th inning with the bases empty, and had already been fanned twice in his first two at-bats against Verlander. Still, he hit Justin Verlander’s 100th pitch of the outing into the bullpen in left field to put the Red Sox up 1-0.

Despite pitching 120 pitch, 10 strikeout performance in which Verlander only surrendered 1 run and 4 hits through 8 innings, he couldn’t get the win. Apart from the single blemish to Napoli, Verlander looked like Verlander: lights out. However, he was out-dueled by John Lackey of the Boston Red Sox, who was not the starter people were talking about as the two teams entered tonight’s game.

Lackey gave up two hits in the 1st inning, and was leaving pitches up in the zone. But following a blackout which interrupted play for 17 minutes at Comerica Park, Lackey settled down nicely, and his curve was filthy. Lackey put up some impressive numbers as well, going 6.2 innings giving up just 4 hits, no walks, with 8 strikeouts, but more importantly, zero runs allowed.

Lackey got out of a jam in the 5th inning, when Johnny Peralta hit a leadoff double and advanced to 3rd base on a fly out to right by Mike Avila. With one out and the go-ahead run at 3rd base, Lackey got Omar Infante to fish for a curve out of the zone after a long at bat for strike three and the 2nd out of the inning, followed by a soft groundout by Andy Dirks to end the inning.

"There was a lot talk coming into tonight's game about Verlander's stuff, [he’s] a competitor... but let's go ahead and grab the other side, what John Lackey did to the Detroit Tigers," Johnny Gomes said after the game. "Then adding on with our bullpen. Verlander pitched an outstanding game. We touched it once and they didn't touch it at all."

For the Red Sox offense, the game started much like games 1 and 2. They were held hitless through 4 2/3 before Johnny Gomes beat out a slow chopper to Johnny Peralta for an infield single. The only big inning the Sox have really put together in three games has been the bottom of the 8th in game 2, when Big Papi hit a game tying grand slam against Joaquin Benoit. However the Sox find themselves up 2-1 in the series because they continue to grind down Detroit’s starting pitching, despite not producing against them.

In game 1 the Sox got their first hit in the 9th inning and had nothing to show for it; in game 2, David Ortiz delivered a timely hit to give the Sox life before ultimately winning the game in the bottom of the 9th; in game 3, it was Mike Napoli delivering a big hit, and John Lackey and the Sox bullpen shutting the Tigers down. The message to take from this if you are the Red Sox is: if you can give yourself a chance against the Tigers bullpen, you can win the game. Can Boston expect their starters to out-perform Detroit’s starters the way Lackey did Verlander in game 3? One thing is certain, the ALCS has the makings of a long, tight series.

Pats lose to Bengals, 13-6

After beating Atlanta to improve to 4-0, it seemed like the Patriots were going to cruise to another division title. With very little resistance left on the schedule for the Pats, many began looking for games the Patriots might lose. Most were looking to week 6, when the New England will take on Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Perhaps the Patriots were too - in the process, they looked like they forgot that the Bengals weren't just going to lay down and die this Sunday.

The Bengals put together a strong drive in the 4th quarter, capped off by a 1-yard TD run by Ben-Jarvus Green-Ellis, putting the Bengals up 13-3. The Pats would only be able to muster enough offense to add three points to their total, Tom Brady threw an interception to "Pacman" Jones with 16 seconds left in the game to end it for the Bengals.

The game on Sunday marked the first time that Brady had not thrown for a touchdown in 52 games. The Patriots offense was anemic all day long, and the pace of the offense was slow - the only urgency the Pats showed came in the 4th quarter when they had already fallen behind by two scores. Tom Brady completed 18 of 38 passes amounting to 197 yards (with zero TDs and one pick). The ground game couldn't spark the offense either, LeGuarrette Blount led all Patriots rushers with 51 yards on 12 attempts - Cincinnati was also able to hold their ground against the Pats when they were stationed on the 1-yard line late in the 4th quarter, amounting in a Gostowski field goal.

The Bengals defense also sacked Tom Brady four times. The Patriots offensive line couldn't give Brady the time he needed to throw the football, and when Brady did have time, there was a disconnect between him and his receivers. There were opportunities - but the Pats executed poorly.

What can we take from this loss? Perhaps it was a lack of focus on the offense's part this week, or maybe the Pats came up with a bad offensive scheme to combat a pretty strong Bengals defensive unit. It was likely a combination of the two. The Pats sat down in this one, they were waiting for opportunities to present themselves - the high throttle offense of the past is gone, but does that mean you've forgotten when it's time to put the pedal to the metal? The 2013 Patriots offense will need to make adjustments as they go, but this past Sunday they were stuck in one gear.

Sure, the rain started coming down hard at an inopportune moment - right as the Pats began their final drive - and Tom Brady couldn't control the football which led to Jones' interception, but lets not forget that for 58 minutes prior to the Patriots' final drive, the weather was clear - the Pats didn't create opportunities to score and when they did create chance late in the game - they could not capitalize.

Does it mean the Pats aren't as good as we thought they were? It depends - the Falcons lost last night to the New York Jets, which makes the Patriots victory over the Falcons seem a bit less meaningful (because maybe the Falcons aren't as good as we thought they were). The fact is, the Pats are young on offense - that means ebbs and flows, trials and tribulations, any number of colloquial ups and downs - this offense will face them. They have a talented group of young receivers that are not always going to succeed right away.

The bright side, the Patriots defense still looks strong. Week after week the D continues to impress, even without Vince Wilfork in the mix against the Bengals, the D was able to keep their opponents to 13 points (only one TD against). Next week may prove to be the first real test of the Pats as a whole - they're coming off a frustrating loss to an inferior opponent, with zero production from the young offense, and the defense will have to take on Drew Brees and one of the more high powered offenses in the NFL.

Let's see how this team responds. Kick off at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro between the Patriots and Saints will be at 4:25PM this Sunday, October 13th.

Patriots Defense Carrying a Young Offense

The New England Patriots are 3-0 for the first time since 2007, coming off a 23-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 3-0 record is one of the few similarities that this 2013 Patriots team has to the '07 squad. Of course Tom Brady was the quarterback and Bill Belichick was the head coach, but the Patriots of '07 road a high flying offense to a perfect record (of course rendered meaningless by a 17-14 loss to the Giants in Superbowl XLVI).

The 2013 Patriots will not have a perfect season, but to this point, they are winning, and unlike the Patriots of old, they're doing it with defense.

In their season opener, the Pats narrowly squeaked past the Buffalo Bills with a game winning field goal in the dying seconds of the game. In their home opener in week 2 against the Jets, the Patriots won a sloppy game after what seemed more like a punting contest than a pro football game, 13-10. In both match ups, the defense held up their end of the bargain, which is why the Patriots finished week 2 with a 2-0 record.

This past week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't put up much of a fight. After taking a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, the Patriots scored 23 unanswered points, including 2 TD passes to Kenbrell Thompkins, and took the game, decidedly, 23-3. The Buccaneers seemed to squander early opportunities to put points on the board, and after an ill-advised throw from Martin Freeman late in the first half was intercepted by Aqib Talib, leading to a late-in-the-half field goal by Stephen Gostowski putting the Patriots up 17-3, the Buccs all but stopped playing.

The Patriots are use to being at the top of the ranks when it comes to offense. In 2012 the Pats were ranked 1st in the NFL with 34.8 points per game and 427.9 total offensive yards per game. In 2011, they were ranked 2nd in total offense, and 3rd in points per game. They were ranked 1st in points per game in 2010, they were in the top 10 in terms of total offense and scoring in 2009 and 2008 (yes, even with Matt Cassel), and of course, the offense set multiple records in 2007. After 3 games in 2013 the Patriots offense are ranked 17th with 19.7 points per game, and 17th with 340.3 total yards per game - but most concerning, the Pats are ranked 22nd in passing, with just 217.7 pass yards per game.

The offensive side of the ball has seen dropped passes, missed routes, bad throws, and an overall angry version of Tom Brady.

On the flip side, the Patriot's defense is 2nd in the league giving up 11.3 points per game to their opponents. The defense has made strides from the past few years - timely turnovers are still a big part of the team's defensive success, but now they are getting off the field on (most) 3rd downs. They are still solid in the red-zone, and overall, the development Pats fans have expected from this defense has been evident in the first 3 games of the season.

How much of the Patriots' defensive success is due to the lack of a true offensive opponent? It's a fair question, thus far - the Pats have faced two rookie quarterbacks, and Martin Freeman, whose accuracy and decision making on Sunday could not challenge the defense for a full 60 minutes. The real test of the Pats defensive strength should come next week against an Atlanta Falcons team that must be frustrated after losing 27-23 to the 3-0 Miami Dolphins. Matt Ryan and the 1-2 Falcons are meeting the Patriots in Atlanta - the Falcons are 0-2 on the road, but their one victory did come at home. The Falcons are looking for their offense to have a break out game, can the Pats defense step up to the plate? It's yet to be determined.

One thing to look forward to if you're looking for a bright side to the Pats offense this week, Rob Gronkowski should make his return. His presence should be huge for the Patriots, especially when they get into the red zone. One thing is for certain, the offense will eventually have to steal a game, the defense has stolen the first three for the Pats, we should see if that side of the ball is for real this Sunday.