Bedard: David Price's Red Sox career comes down to one start ... no pressure

Up until now, David Price's three-year tenure in a Red Sox uniform has been ... unsatisfying.

Sure, there have been some good moments.

There was his three-hit, eight-inning 7-0 win over the Indians in August. Last year, Price helped Boston to a 3-0 victory over the Yankees with eight shutout innings. And he struck out 14 in win over Atlanta in his first month in a Red Sox uniform.

But a 39-19 record with a 3.74 ERA in three regular seasons is not exactly worth the $90 million the Red Sox have paid to this point, or the $127 million Price still has left on the balance of his seven-year deal — if Price doesn't elect to opt out after this season.

And if you consider his lack of postseason success as a starter — really, by this point, everyone in New England knows his history there — you could make the argument Price has been a flop.

But here's the thing now that the Red Sox dropped Game 1 of their American League Championship Series 7-2 to the Astros on Saturday night: none of that means anything. Price has a chance on Sunday night to completely rewrite his Boston existence.

With a strong start, Price has a chance to be a savior to the same fans who booed him off the mound after lasting just 1.2 innings in a Game 2 loss to the Yankees in the Division Series.

Come up short again, and Price will be buried in Boston forever. A poor start would all but sentence the Red Sox to an 0-2 deficit after two games at Fenway heading to Houston for three games, and a disappointing series loss against the Astros.

So, yeah, no pressure.

"I know I'm more than capable of winning games as a starter in October," Price said after the loss to the Yankees. "That's what I look forward to doing."

Will he be able to do it?

His career record as a postseason starter (0-9 and 6.03 ERA in 10 starts) says no, that the Red Sox are hoping against hope that Price will suddenly reinvent himself into someone (playoff stopper) he's never been.

His track record against the Astros — in 14 career appearances (10 starts), Price is 6-2 with a 2.69 ERA — says he has a good chance.

What does Alex Cora — the guy who has bet his rookie season as Red Sox manager on Price — have to say? Well, Cora is trying really hard to find any positive reinforcement he can find to pump up his No. 2 starter. Cora even delved into social media — always a harbinger of fact — in his efforts to boost Price.

"I read somewhere in social media that his only postseason start under 50 degrees, he went nine innings and gave up two runs," Cora said. "So small sample size but he was good."

You could term that a little #fakenews. That start, in 2014 with the Tigers in the Division Series, was in 53-degree weather, Price allowed two runs in eight innings — and he lost.

But, hey, good try.

"He's fine," Cora maintained. "We feel that if he attacks the way he did in the second half using his fastball in different spots and creating differences in his velocity, he'll be good. It seems like the velocity of his cutter and his sinker and four-seamer and the changeup, they were all together the last three, I want to say, location-wise, everything came together in the same spot.

"But we did talk about it in the off day in New York. And he understands. And we expect him to go out there and attack them in a different way and give us a good start."

Cora was asked after Game 1's defeat — the supremely confident manager who has been a baseball Precog to this point, and certainly against the Yankees, surely imagined Price pitching with a 1-0 series lead — if he was still sticking with Price.

"Yes," Cora quickly answered.

You can imagine Cora will have an even quicker hook at the ready (wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have someone get up when the first base runner reaches — either Rick Porcello or Nathan Eovaldi) than he did against the Yankees. With a 1-0 lead, Cora didn't give Price much of a chance to straighten himself out. Down 0-1, the entire series is riding on Game 2.

"I did expect to make more starts for us in this year's playoffs," Price said on Saturday when asked about Cora telling him he'd start Game 2. "But Alex told me before we even got off the field (against the Yankees). So for him to tell me before we even took our jerseys off to put on our postseason shirts that we get when we win, that was special.

"It's different baseball. It is. It's fun. I enjoy it. Haven't been successful the way that I know I can be and will be, but I look forward to getting out there."

Not many people get a chance to rewrite their own history, but Price has that Sunday night. Contribute a strong start to a Red Sox must-win in Game 2 and he'll truly, finally, be a Red Sox.

Come up woefully short again on the big stage and he might be booed into oblivion and out of a Red Sox uniform.

No pressure.