Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

This is my first visit to Jacobs Field. Wow.
It reminds me of Camden Yards in Baltimore with the backdrop of the some mini-skyscrapers.
Very clean. Very spacious. And very big.
I remember when the Red Sox brass of the Harrington Era stating that 65 Mack Trucks could ride inside the premises compared to half of one at Fenway Park.

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Those fans you see directly behind homeplate are sitting in area called the “Dugout Suites.” Each unit — there are 10 overall — seats 12 fans and all are owned by corporations. They run from dugout to dugout, with clear plexiglass separating it from the actual home and away dugouts. So fans on the end units get to see inside the dugouts. Must be must-see viewing.

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There is a story worth reading was in today’s Cleveland Plain-Dealer by Jodie Valade on Indians left-fielder Kenny Lofton, who basically is not talking to anybody in the media anymore.
The story says not a lot of people know Lofton, including teammates and family, making it sometimes difficult to embrace his story of returning to try and get the Indians the championship they probably should have won a decade earlier.
Here is the link: ww.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports/119243764384680.xml&coll=2

Here are some pregame quotes from both managers and tomorrow’s starters:
The Red Sox

Q. You’ve managed a lot of playoff games now. A game like the other night, how long do you replay and grind out things that could have been, might have been, that type of thing, or are you able to just kind of put that away pretty quick?
TERRY FRANCONA: Try to put things away pretty quickly. It seems like the longer I manage, the losses tend to maybe stay with you longer than the wins do. I wish it wasn’t like that. I’m not sure why it is. But at the same time, when something happens difficult in a game, I think it’s our responsibility as a staff to show up the next day and be ready to go, and I think our staff does a really good job of that.
And again, we have practice doing that. In Boston every game means so much. You lose two or three in a row — it’s easy to talk a big game in spring training, this is how we’re going to do things. Then when it comes time to do it we need to live up to our end of things, and I think we do that.

Q. Was there any thought during Game 2, if that game kept on going, that you would come in and pitch out of the bullpen?
TIM WAKEFIELD: There was a thought in my mind, yeah, absolutely. I was actually getting prepared at that point to possibly go into the bullpen. After Lester had come into the game, we didn’t have anybody left. Fortunately it didn’t come down to that.
But to answer your question, yeah, there was a thought in my mind that I’d probably have to go down there if it continued to go another three or four innings, yes.

The Indians
Q. Can you talk about your decision, Trot Nixon is in the starting lineup?
ERIC WEDGE: Well, Trot, his playing time has been somewhat limited here the last couple of months, but when we have had him in there, he’s given us some good at-bats.
You know, I look at Gutierrez, and we’ve thrown a lot at him for a young kid, and he’s done a great job. He had a big home run the other night. But they’ve been feeding him a steady diet of breaking balls, and I think we’ll see more of that tonight with Matsuzaka. Getting another left-hander in there with some experience, I think it’s the best way to go tonight.

Q. Does Boston present particular challenge in terms of pitching style? They go all the way from pure power pitcher to a knuckleballer.
ERIC WEDGE: Well, I think when you get to this time of year, you have a great deal of challenges when it comes to the opposition, or they wouldn’t be here. Surely a knuckleball pitcher takes it to the extreme. It’s not something you see very much of anymore.
But you go up there and you’ve got some people with experience with it, some people that have their theories just in regard to how to approach that, and I’m sure we’ll see and hear a little bit of both of that tomorrow, and we’ll go from there.

Q. Is it easier to pitch at Jacobs Field than it would be at Fenway Park? How are they different?
PAUL BYRD: I think they’re pretty similar: Short left field, higher wall, Fenway being a little shorter. But they’re both — I’ll say hitters’ parks, and something you have to be conscious of. I guess in a big situation you have to be conscious of the short left field, although I think Boston is a little shorter.

Q. You had a high ERA here at Jacobs Field, is there any particular reason for that?
PAUL BYRD: I don’t know the answer to that, other than I had two absolute disaster outings here. I had a game against the Yankees, which I just got killed. And then I had a game against Seattle where I did not have good stuff and just gave up, I don’t know what it was, seven, eight, nine runs in a couple innings. I think that hurt me.
But overall I’m not afraid to pitch at Jacobs Field, and I’m looking forward to it.

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