The thrashing was thorough.

The Potomac Nationals needed just seven innings to drub Salem 14-2 in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday, August 23.

Red Sox manager Chad Epperson closed the clubhouse door and gave his team a little lesson in the facts of baseball life.

“I just told them that a majority of minor-league players never make it to the big leagues,” Epperson said.

Even though the team was 56-67 for the season, and 24-30 in the second half, Epperson told his players they still had a shot at making the playoffs and — more than that
— that trying was worth the effort.

“At the time, maybe some of the guys were tired. Some of the guys wanted to go home,” Salem reliever Kyle Fernandes said. “He made us see that we had a chance here,
basically, to win a [championship] ring.

“For some of us, we may never get that chance again.”

The Red Sox won 11 of their last 16 games to earn a spot in the Carolina League’s Southern Division championship series, which begins today in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Southern Division champion will play the Northern champ for the Mills Cup championship in a series which begins next week.

“We’re feeding off each other,” pitcher Eammon Portice said of the Salem starters. “If I see someone go seven innings, I get really excited for him. If he’s going good, I feed
off of that. If he’s going bad, we try to pick each other up.”

Salem’s rotation will get a boost today from Boston Red Sox starter Diasuke Matsuzaka, who will start for Salem against the Dash in a rehab assignment.

Carolina League president John Hopkins said there is no prohibition against a big leaguer playing in a playoff, or any other, game. Boston farm director Mike Hazen said
the situation is “not ideal,” but that Matsuzaka needs another rehab start and Salem is the highest-level minor-league affiliate Boston has that is still playing.

While there’s no rule against big leaguers playing down in the minors whenever they please, Salem needed and got special dispensation to get closer Derrick Loop and
reliever Josh Papelbon back from their call-ups in time for the playoffs, because there is a rule against stacking teams for the playoffs with players from higher-level minor
leagues. In both cases, the approval came because the player had been with Salem for most of the season.

“We are not trying to bolster the roster,” Hazen said. “We’re just trying to give the Salem team a fair shake, to get a fair experience for our players.”

While that begs the question of the fairness of having Matsuzaka pitch, Hazen said the bottom line there was that Boston is “trying to get him ready for the big-league
club.”

“If he was ready to pitch in the big leagues, he would not be pitching in the Carolina League,” Hazen said. “He is not ready to pitch in Fenway.”

Hazen said Matsuzaka will be on a pitch limit, but would likely be able to complete five to six innings.

Winston-Salem manager Joe McEwing, the Carolina League manager of the year, said his players will be “ready for the challenge.”

“It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound, they’re going to go out and compete,” McEwing said. “It’s going to be fun, They’re going to enjoy it. Many players go their entire
career without being able to compete in the playoffs. They’re going to give it everything they’ve got.”

McEwing said he would not worry any further over Matsuzaka because “it’s something we can’t control.”

The Dash went 38-30 to win the Southern Division first-half title outright and tied Salem (35-35) atop the division in the second half.

“They’ve done an outstanding job of competing the whole year and maintaining what they do from the start til the end,” McEwing said of his team, which placed third
baseman Brent Morel on the postseason all-star team. “They left it all on the field.”

The Red Sox had gone6-6 against the Dash until just before Epperson’s eye-opening closed-door meeting. Salem went straight home and took three of four from the Dash
and, four days later, split a four-game series down in Winston-Salem.

Winning five of their last eight games against Winston-Salem was pivotal in the Red Sox’s bid to make the playoffs.

“It’s the start of a new season now,” McEwing said. “As far as those last couple of series, that’s behind us now.”