Red Sox Youth Wears Down Angels in Game One Loss

The Red Sox always seem to find a way in the postseason.

As much sucess as the Red Sox have had against the Angels in the postseason; particularly John Lackey, nobody in the ballpark had that losing feeling last night at the beginning of the night. The Angels aren’t pushing the panic button yet after their 4-1 loss to last year’s champs at Angel Stadium last night, but there are some things to think about. The lineup that looks so much more dominant than last years’ in comparison managed only one run against the Red Sox farm system of pitchers: Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, and Jonathan Papelbon. Jacoby Ellsbury made perhaps a game-saving catch and also collected 3 hits, and Jed Lowrie, although he made an error, also made a couple of nice plays in the field. Overall, the young Red Sox overmatched the Halos and the team has a day off to think about it.

“It’s only one game,” Vladimir Guerrero said through a translator. “We have to keep our heads up and go forward, play the game the way we can.”

Vladdy’s baserunning blunder would cost the Angels late in the ballgame, but let’s start from the very beginning.

The pitching matchup of this game was set to be a good one: Jon Lester against our own John Lackey. Lester was making the start in this game as the Sox’ injury-plagued ace Josh Beckett, is set to pitch in Game 3 at Fenway Park. John Lackey had struggled big time against the Red Sox in the past postseasons, and was not planning on getting blown out on this one. In the first inning, Jacoby Ellsbury would lead off the game with a booming double, but Lackey got 3 ground balls to retire the side. The Angels would also strand baserunners in the first, as Jon Lester would get out of trouble despite allowing 2 hits and a walk. After an uneventful next couple of innings, Jon Lester would blink first. With Garret Anderson on second and Vladimir Guerrero on first, Torii Hunter would drive in Anderson with a single to left field. Lackey’s postseason start against the Red Sox had so far been very succesful. When you have a small lead though, and you make one mistake, you’re going to be in trouble. Lackey had struck out Jason Bay twice with curveballs, making Bay look foolish each time.

“You can’t throw the same pitch every time,” Lackey said. “This is the big leagues.”

With 2 outs in the sixth and Kevin Youkillis aboard on first, Jason Bay recieved a fat fastball and absolutely crushed it, shattering the noise of the then-excited Angels fans. The only ones you could hear were the Red Sox fans. Yes, they were here too.

Although Lackey gave up the 2-run homer to Jason Bay, this is all he would allow, as he pitched 6 2/3 innings almost matching what Jon Lester was able to do for his team, the Red Sox.

“Lackey pitched his butt off,” Hunter said. “We had a lot of opportunities and didn’t capitalize. You’ve got to give Lester credit. He was nasty. He made pitches when he needed them.”

As it turns out, this is all Jon Lester and his bullpen needed to finish the rest of the game. Of course, they got a little help from Vladimir Guerrero. It could have been a combination of things, such as Jacoby Ellsbury’s outstanding diving grab to begin this 8th inning that Angel fans would like to forget. However, Vlad’s baserunning blunder proved crucial, as the Angels were still only down by a run at the time. Guererro singled with one out in the inning. The next batter, Torii Hunter, lifted a fly ball that landed behind a diving Kevin Youkillis in short right field. Guerrero, thinking he had time to get past second base, ran through a stop sign. He was out at third, and it wasn’t even close.

“It was behind me, and I didn’t know if the ball was going to drop or not,” Guerrero said. “If I had taken off and run hard all the way, I might have been doubled off. I kept running.”

Guerrero also went on to say, “I feel bad, but it’s over now, and we have to go on.”

The Red Sox would go on to score 2 runs in the 9th inning, on RBI singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz. If the Angels had any chance against all-star closer Jonathan Pabelbon down one run in the bottom of the 9th, the hopes of that were dashed when the Red Sox had their way against Scot Shields.

Overall, a very disappointing first game of the ALDS for the Angels. Daisuke Matzuzaka will go for the Red Sox on Friday night as the Angels will counter with Ervin Santana. Here are the final stats for Game One:

Angels:

Figgins: 0-5, 3 K

Anderson/Teixeira/Guerrero: 2-4 each

Hunter: 2-3, RBI

Napoli: 0-4, 3 K

Lackey: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO

Shields: IP, 4 H, 2 ER

Red Sox:

Ellsbury: 3-5, RBI, 2 SB

Pedroia: 0-3, 2 BB

Ortiz: 1-5, RBI

Youkillis: 1-4, RBI