MLB Playoffs: Tito Channeling Bill James

In the Red Sox 8-7 improbable comeback victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, in Game Five of the ALCS, Terry Francona was the man for the Boston Red Sox. Tito called a team meeting before the game and then demonstrated some major cojones by bringing in his closer Jonathan Papelbon to pitch the seventh and the eighth innings. Tito was channeling Bill James last night. Red Sox advisor and baseball sabermetrician Bill James has long advocated that a closer should not only be saved for the ninth inning, but he should be used when the game is on the line in the seventh or eighth inning. With Manny Delcarmen struggling in the top of the seventh, Francona went to the pen and went with his ace. Papelbon wasn't perfect, as he allowed a two-run double to Rays center fielder B.J. Upton, but he was able to avert a major crisis in the seventh. Papelbon held the Rays to only two runs in the seventh, which proved to be the difference maker.