Near Perfection

Josh Beckett was the hero tonight throwing a four hit shut out to get the postseason underway for the Boston Red Sox. Beckett is no stranger to postseason success, tonight was his third shutout in the playoffs.

Speaking of not being a stranger to postseason heroics, David Ortiz went 2-for-3 with a two run dinger in the bottom of the third to stretch the lead to three at the time. Kevin Youkilis started the night off in the bottom of the first inning with a solo shot and wound up going 2-for-4 on the night. Mike Lowell added the final run of the evening in the third inning as well, driving Manny Ramirez in on a single to center. The big bats of Manny and Big Papi also drew a walk each and went a combined 3-for-6.

All nuts and bolts aside, this game went fucking quick. It came in a hair under 2 ½ hours. Boston did a good job wearing down Angels starter John Lackey, but didn’t really knock him out completely. After the third inning he pitched three scoreless and Boston didn’t get to tear into the Angels bullpen until the seventh. This should help the Halos out in the long run especially since the series will not resume until Friday. Then again, Boston didn’t take a shot in the bullpen either with Beckett going the distance.

Dice-K starts on Friday night and he’d better be rested. I’m sure LA’s lineup won’t be held down the entire series. I don't want to say anything bad about the guy, but still...

There really isn’t too much more to say about tonight’s game. Boston scored as many runs as they needed while the pitching, which was the best in the American League this season, did their (or his) job by not allowing the opposition to get to second base, let alone the scoreboard. I knew Beckett would be automatic this first game, it’s just hard to gauge where Dice-K and Schilling will be. It sucks that Tim Wakefield isn’t on the ALDS roster for the Sox too, but better to rest him and save his back for the ALCS if they make it there. The Sox did help their chances in the short series by winning tonight though. I’m looking for Boston to take a two games to none lead back to LA for Sunday’s Game 3. Fingers crossed of course.