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Who's On 1st? Sox Not Saying

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

BOSTON - Daisuke Matsuzaka hit a home run in Japan last year, and the Boston pitcher should get a chance to bat when he starts Game 3 of the World Series in Denver. Which also means David Ortiz, Mike Lowell or Kevin Youkilis will be left out of the lineup with no designated hitter at Coors Field.

Ortiz has been slowed by an ailing right knee, and that could be a factor. Red Sox manager Terry Francona wasn't ready to reveal his plans Tuesday, one day before the Series opener.

'It puts us at a disadvantage' without a DH, Francona said. 'Youkilis, Lowell, Ortiz, two out of three play.'

The Red Sox played nine games in NL stadiums this year and went 6-3. Ortiz, the usual DH, played first base in seven of them. Youkilis is Boston's regular first baseman and Lowell is the everyday third baseman.

'I haven't talked about it yet,' Ortiz said. 'I don't even know if I'm playing first base.'

Whatever Francona decides, Colorado pitchers will have one less dangerous hitter to deal with on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, too, if there is a fifth game.

Youkilis hit .425 with four homers in the first 10 postseason games. Ortiz batted .387 with three homers. And Lowell hit .333 with 11 RBIs after driving in a team-high 120 runs in the regular season.

THAT'S THE TICKET: The Rockies sold out all three World Series games at Coors Field on Tuesday, one day after their first attempt collapsed in a computer-system crash blamed on people trying to fool the system to hoard tickets.

The Rockies, who had labeled the problem as an 'external, malicious attack,' said they sold more than 50,000 tickets in the second round of ticket sales in about 2 1/2 hours.

'The online system, after a slow start, certainly worked very, very well for us,' club spokesman Jay Alves said.

Alves said tickets were selling as fast as 1,500 per minute Tuesday and all were gone in 2 1/2 hours.

He said the team was sorry that some fans who wanted to go to a game were shut out. The team's decision to sell tickets online was the fairest way to give everyone a chance, he added.

Bob Bowman, CEO of Major League Baseball's Internet wing, said the system was overloaded by powerful computers that were programmed to constantly generate five-digit codes meant to prove that an actual human is trying to buy tickets. Bowman said those computers were blocked from buying tickets but their attempts to connect weren't discarded, allowing them to clog the system and ultimately knock it down.

CROWN IT WITH YAZ: Former Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before tonight's game, 40 years after he became baseball's most recent Triple Crown winner.

The Hall of Famer will be joined by Dick Williams, Boston's 1967 manager, and 20 teammates from the 'Impossible Dream' Red Sox, including Jim Lonborg and Rico Petrocelli. Richie Conigliaro, brother of the late Tony Conigliaro, also will be on hand.

THE GRASS IS GREENER - REALLY: Red Sox groundskeeper Dave Mellor had prepared for potential World Series baseball, but he never expected he'd be watering the grass at Fenway Park to keep it from drying out in the October heat.

Temperatures that soared as high as 84 degrees Monday forced Mellor to give his famous lawn a sprinkling. Meanwhile, Colorado counterpart Mark Razum was putting growth blankets on the grass at Coors Field to keep it warm under a snowstorm.

Mellor has growth blankets standing by in case the Series returns to Boston for Games 6 and 7. In the meantime, Mellor is keeping the tarps ready. Rather than snow, there was a 30 percent chance of rain for tonight's opener.

The Associated Press

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