Playoff Pulse: Resetting the ALCS

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

The ALCS is headed back to Boston deadlocked. That much at least, isn't a surprise. Neither is the fact that the Rays and Red Sox have played 20 innings so far and not one has been dull or meaningless. But the rest of this series has been a reminder of how little we really know about baseball when the postseason arrives.

Tampa Bay and Boston will enjoy a day off Sunday, so let's take advantage of that to reset the series:

- Joe Maddon managed Game 2 with desperation. He didn't have a choice because the series would have been essentially over if the Rays went back to Fenway Park down 0-2 and set for a date with Jon Lester. That desperation could come back to haunt him later on in the series, though, because of the way he was forced to stretch his bullpen.

Maddon's go-to setup men -- J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour -- appeared in both of the games at Tropicana Field. Balfour threw 21 pitches in Game 1 and 19 pitches in Game 2. He's now appeared in all but one of the Rays' playoff games, and he surrendered a home run and failed to record an out on Saturday night.

His closer has to be nearly as fatigued. Dan Wheeler pitched 3 1/3 innings and threw an eye-popping 48 pitches in Game 2.

Howell, Balfour and Wheeler will all have a day to rest, and theoretically should come back strong on Monday, but the Rays' top three relievers have put in a lot of work already this postseason, and there's still a long road ahead of them. I'm most concerned about Balfour, who reminds me a great deal of Rafael Betancourt in 2007. Betancourt was overpowering for the Indians last year, but he had a similar workload in the postseason and melted down in Game 7 against Boston.

Tampa Bay's bullpen has been an enormous strength all season long, but things don't necessarily line up well for the rest of the series.


- It's not all roses and sunshine for the Red Sox, who are dealing with the alarming decline of Josh Beckett. His postseason resume is the stuff of legends, but Beckett is clearly diminished by the strained oblique he suffered on the eve of the postseason.

Boston's coaching staff continues to toe the party line, saying Beckett's struggles are the result of rust and poor execution, but those statements look ridiculous when you consider that the right-hander's fastball velocity was down from the upper-90s to the low-90s, and when you consider that he had a "pain-killer and anti-inflammatory injection" on the final weekend of the regular season.

From the Boston Globe's Tony Massarotti:

Though Sox officials downplayed the severity of Beckett's injury at the time, the fact that the pitcher had an injection suggests the ailment was more severe than originally anticipated.

Beckett generated four swings and misses in Game 2. Four from one of the most overpowering pitchers in the game. Let that run around your head for a few seconds. He had no business being out there in the fifth inning, but Terry Francona had that luxury having already taken care of a split at the Trop in Game 1. It allowed Francona to keep his bullpen just a little bit sharper and more rested.

But now the questions about Beckett shift to a potential Game 6 start. Would the Red Sox really run him out there again when he's obviously hurting? That's a hard sell, especially since Lester could start that game on regular rest.

Had Boston been able to escape with a win in Game 2, the ALCS would have been a done deal. Now, we're faced with more questions than answers about both clubs and a series that could very well go the distance.

Yesterday's Hero: Dan Wheeler (see above). Honorable mention to Dustin Pedroia, Jason Bay and B.J. Upton.

Yesterday's Goat: Terry Francona, who shouldn't have hung Beckett out there as long as he did. On the flip side, I could at least understand his thought process, and if his bullpen winds up fresher later on in the series, sticking with Beckett could pay off. Dishonorable mention to Beckett, Scott Kazmir and Jacoby Ellsbury.

Quick Hits: If Paul Byrd isn't going to make it into a game like Game 2, why is he even on the roster? ... Chip Caray is completely insufferable. This may just be me, though I'm fairly certain it isn't, but he seems to be teetering on the edge of openly rooting against the Red Sox. ... The Dodgers could send worse pitchers to the mound than Hiroki Kuroda with their season essentially on the line.