For those of you who didn’t stay up until 12:50 AM last night, you missed a pretty good game even though the Boston Red Sox lost. It came down to the bullpens for both teams and obviously the Angels bullpen was just 1 run better.
The starters for both teams were out after the 5th inning or during the inning in the Angels case. After that, the bullpens held strong despite both teams having numerous chances to score. In the end, it was Javier Lopez who gave up two bloops hits, the second one off the bat of Erick Aybar that scored Mike Napoli from second with the winning run for the Angels.
It’s definitely a frustrating loss especially when you look at all the chances the Red Sox had. Yes they probably shouldn’t have even been that close as some miscommunication in the Angels outfield in the 2nd inning and the ball Jacoby Ellsbury hit went off the glove of Garrett Anderson which eventually led to the tying run for the Red Sox in the 5th.
Normally when you see Josh Beckett on the mound in the postseason, you can expect to see a great outing and a win. He was far from the October Beckett that we are used too and it seemed to me as though the long layoff between starts (13 days) left him a wee bit rusty. Despite having 6 strikeouts, he left some pitches up in the zone, none no bigger than the hanging curveball that Napoli put into the Cask’n Flagon outdoor deck on Brookline Ave.
Links and all that good stuff after the jump
Javier Lopez was at a loss for words last night trying to explain what happened on the pitch to Erick Aybar.
The Angels finally found a way to beat the Red Sox in the postseason.
It was a long night for Josh Beckett but the Red Sox still have Jon Lester going tonight.
Jacoby Ellsbury’s popup almost cost the Angels their playoff lives.
The Red Sox bullpen nearly wrote a successful ending.
Scot Shields was excellent out of the Angels bullpen.
Justin Masterson is turning into a huge weapon out of the Red Sox bullpen.
The Boston Globe scribes have their video roundups of last night’s game.
Michael Berger of WEEI.com takes a look at the struggles of Dustin Pedroia in the ALDS. For the record, Terry Francona isn’t worried about his struggles.
Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com has some audio quotes of the participants in the long night at Fenway Park.
Jessica Camerato of WEEI.com says Boston Celtics players Eddie House and Leon Powe were able to score tickets last minute to the game.
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the LA Times, Orange County Register and LA Daily News websites.
