Playoff Previews

Oakland A's vs. Boston Red Sox

By Charles Curtis

The most exciting of the first round matchups in the playoffs begins Wednesday night in Oaktown, as Boston and Oakland go head-to-head for what promises to be an intense series.

The BoSox have the firepower in their lineup to pound Tim Hudson and Barry Zito, but the big factor in their playoff performance will be Boston's bullpen, which makes even manager Grady Little nervous. Though Byung-Hung Kim saved 16 games for the Sox after being acquired from Arizona, we've seen him melt down in stressful situations before. Scott Williamson and Mike Timlin had their troubles toward the end of the season, which may carry over to the postseason. However, if the Sox lineup can pound out enough runs to avoid a possible seventh or eighth inning collapse, they will have the series in their hands. Boston's starting pitching is solid, with Pedro Martinez becoming the dangerous force that he was a year ago. Tim Wakefield and Derek Lowe round out their good, not overwhelming, rotation, and you can guarantee that they will also benefit from run support.

However, the Red Sox will have to knock those runs in against formidable A's pitching in the form of Hudson, Zito, and Ted Lilly, who won his last six regular season starts, dropping his ERA from 4.99 to a respectable 4.18. Of course, the A's will miss Mark Mulder, who is out with an injury, but Zito and Hudson beat Boston in both of their starts against the Sox this season, with Hudson throwing a complete game shutout. Not to mention that Oakland heads into the playoffs with a tough bullpen, led by Chad Bradford, who submarined his way to a 3.04 ERA. Having to face Hudson, Bradford in the eighth and 43-save closer Keith Foulke in the ninth does not bode well for the American League's most powerful lineup.

And what about the A's lineup? After Miguel Tejada's horrific start, he's back to being the big RBI threat on the team alongside fellow 100-RBI hitter Eric Chavez. Though there are a few holes among their nine hitters (Chris Singleton and Terrence Long aren't exactly threats), no Boston reliever will want to face Chavez, Tejada and Erubiel Durazo in a row.

Here are the five factors to watch during this series: 

1. Grady Little's Managing. It's the bottom of the eighth. Derek Lowe has thrown 110 pitches and he's got a man on first with no outs... and Miguel Tejada is swinging away in the on-deck circle. It's at a time such as this that Little must make the right decision about his bullpen. Otherwise, the A's will jump on the BoSox in a heartbeat.

2. The Red Sox lineup in a playoff atmosphere. Ever notice how great players seem to disappear in the postseason? Before last year, Barry Bonds was an example of a player who couldn't find a dinger in the playoffs if his life depended on it. So will the same happen to an entire lineup that stayed hot once it gelled during the summer? Stay tuned.

3. Two words: Barry Zito. He won the Cy Young last season and dominated every team that faced him. This year, he has been less impressive, but came back to win three of his final four starts to finish with a respectable-but-not-dominant 3.30 ERA. If he can pitch better than he did in last year's Division Series (6.0 IP, 3ER, 8K, 4BB), the A's will be in business behind their solid pitching.

4. Another two words: Pedro Martinez. We know Boston can hit. We know that Derek Lowe and Tim Wakefield may not be the most solid starting pitchers. But if the A's can get to Pedro early in the first game, the Sox could be in for trouble.

5. The best-selling beach read of the summer: Moneyball. As the book preaches, the A's try to win using players with great on-base percentage. Unfortunately, the A's finished tenth out of fourteen teams with a team OBP of .326. And who finished first? The Red Sox, thirty-four points higher at .360. Uh oh. That means that the A's will have to ditch Billy Beane's theories and hope that their lineup can produce runs.