One concern about the Red Sox lineup was that while they just ate up mediocre pitching, they struggled mightily to score runs against the top pitching. When you get to the postseason, nearly every pitcher is a top pitcher, and true to form, the Red Sox couldn’t score runs last night. As in any runs. They dropped game one 5-0, as Torii Hunter hit a three run bomb off of Jon Lester to propel the Angels to a 1-0 series lead with game two tonight.
Amalie Benjamin has the Red Sox coming up completely empty in the frustrating game one loss. Michael Silverman says that the Angels have already made history with their win last night. Joe McDonald says that John Lackey and some defensive miscues were too much for the Red Sox last night. Bill Burt has the Red Sox getting off on the wrong foot. Paul Doyle has the Angels putting the talk about hexes and curses to rest. Bill Ballou has the Red Sox hoping they got all their bad postseason baseball out of their system last night.
Sean McAdam has the Red Sox now having to play catch-up in the series. Dan Shaughnessy has the Angels finally stopping the madness and getting a series lead on the Red Sox. Alex Speier looks at Five Things We Learned last night.
Bob Ryan has Torii Hunter giving his teammates a lift with his three run blast. Steve Buckley says that it was more than just one bad pitch that did in the Red Sox, Jon Lester was out-aced all night.
Adam Kilgore has a grateful Paul Byrd winding up on the postseason roster. McAdam notes that the postseason roster is full of surprises this year. Barbarisi says that the Red Sox can burn up the basepaths in this series. McDonald looks at the decision to leave Rocco Baldelli off the roster.
Alex Speier has the Red Sox betting the franchise on Beckett again tonight. Buckley has Josh Beckett ready to go tonight. Barbarisi says that Beckett needs to step forward and dominate tonight. Ballou has Beckett looking to scowl his way to a win tonight. Mike Fine has Beckett downplaying the impact of playoff pressure. Amy K. Nelson has more on Beckett.
Kilgore has first base umpire CB Bucknor making a name for himself last night. McAdam has crew chief Joe West making excuses for Bucknor by saying the incidents were bang-bang plays at first. Barbarisi says that Bucknor’s night was almost as bad as the Red Sox’.
Ryan has Billy Wagner looking for some personal redemption in the postseason. McDonald has Daniel Bard looking good in his low-pressure playoff debut. Barbarisi looks at a shaky outing for Ramon Ramirez last night. Brian MacPherson examines the catching predicament the Red Sox and Beckett are in. Rob Bradford says that there is no room for sentiment in the catching situation.
Shaughnessy writes a piece aimed at college students to tell them how spoiled they are by all the Red Sox success this decade.
Benjamin’s notebook says that Victor Martinez will catch Josh Beckett tonight. The Herald notebookhas Terry Francona suffering from food poisoning last night. The Projo Red Sox journal has Manny Delcarmen OK with being left off the first round roster. Ballou’s notebook has a look at the blown calls at first base.
Angels/MLB
Peter Abraham says that the only thing Lackey didn’t do last night was finish out the game. Ron Borges says that the Angels just might have a chance in this series after last night. Daniel Barbarisi has John Lackey turning his fortunes around against the Red Sox. Jim Caple has the Angels getting it straight last night.
Abraham has a look at Jered Weaver who gets the game two start for the Angels tonight. Borges has Weaver trying not to get hyped up too much for tonight’s start.
Abraham’s notebook looks at Mike Scioscia’s plan to pitch lefties at Fenway Park. The Projo Angels journal has the Weaver brothers rooting for each other in the postseason.
Nick Cafardo has Eric Hinske completing his tour of the AL East this year when he joined the Yankees.
Boston Sports Media Watch 