David Price came to the Red Sox with a history of poor postseason results. He had one start in the ALDS for the Sox last year vs CLE, and gave up 5 runs in 3 1/3 innings. Here are his stats per Bref, and I have highlighted the one year where he was good in the postseason, 2008 and he was a reliever then. Since then, not so much:
Here is another guy who used to pitch for the Red Sox, Jon Lester. Consistent playoff performer:
Or Adam Wainwright, who didn't pitch all that well against the Sox in 2013, but otherwise very good in the playoffs:
Or CC Sabathia, who has had mixed results in ALCS series, but very good in ALDS series with a 6-0 record and 3.24 ERA...
I was conscious of being race neutral in the examples; otherwise I could have listed Bumgarner (11 starts, 102 IP, 8-3, 2.11 ERA, 0.899 WHIP).
I enjoyed watching Price's work last year in the regular season, and - his last start not withstanding - this year as well. But you get paid $30M per year to take teams deep into playoffs.
I know he is only one pitcher, and I know the Sox lost that series as much because they couldn't hit or compete with Playoff Tito as for anything that David Price did or didn't do, but if he had pitched in Game 2 the way he pitched regular season, maybe the results are dfifferent in that one game, and the Sox come back home with a bit more resolve instead of an inevitable feeling that they were done. It is worth noting that his was the only game the Sox were never close after the Chisenhall HR in the 2nd inning.
Edit: about 2008 results.