With there being no Boston Red Sox action until Friday night in the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays, I thought it might be a good idea to see what other Red Sox blogs are saying today in relation to the game last night. So let’s take a stroll around some of the Red Sox blogosphere as well as the Rays plus some links from the local Boston media on this beautiful fall late afternoon.

Woo Hoo [A Red Sox Fan From Pinstripe Territory]

It Never Gets Old [Center Field]

John Lackey Can’t Handle The Truth [Fenway West]

How ‘Bout Dem New Sox [Fire Brand of the American League]

Punching Our Ticket to the ALCS [Jacoby Ellsbury’s Postseason Blog]

Jonathan Papelbon turns Craig Sager’s pumpkin suit into fizzy goodness [Red Sox Monster]

Red Sox Ruin Angels’ Playoff Dreams, Craig Sager’s Sportscoat [Surviving Grady]

Schadenfreude 64 (A Continuing Series) [Joy of Sox]

I didn’t think the Sox were winning that game [Wicked Good Sports]

Rays Silence Doubters With Win #100, Win ALDS [Rays Index]

Breaking News: Red Sox Fans Not Very Intelligent [Bugs & Cranks]

The Rays Are Going To American League Championship Series [DRaysBay]

Terry Francona hasn’t decided upon the roster or the rotation for the ALCS.

Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe held a chat this morning over at Boston.com.

Here’s a look at Terry Francona’s comments on The Dale and Holley Show.

Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal has some audio comments about last night’s game.

Curt Schilling would consider a half-season comeback next year. He also offered up congrats to the team over at 38 Pitches.

Forgot this one in the morning but take a look at what 38cliches.com has to say about the playoffs and the announcers.

Be sure to let us know who you think will win the ALCS over in the left sidebar above the calendar.

In case you missed it, the UConn Huskies vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights football game on October 18th will kickoff at 12 Noon and will be televised on ESPNU.

With UConn and South Florida falling last week, there is no clear cut favorite in the Big East.

The Big East has been a lot more physical this year than in year’s past.

Brian Bennett of ESPN.com has his mailbag.

The original complaint against former UConn freshman forward Nate Miles was dismissed yesterday.

Nate Miles’ guardian Sean Patterson and his attorney are working on an appeal of the dismissal from UConn.

Even though Miles was dismissed from UConn, his scholarship doesn’t open up.

Former Husky and current Detroit Piston Rip Hamilton talks about Air Jordans.

Former UConn Huskies soccer stars Joe Morrone and Chris Gbandi are among 32 players on the ballot for the NCAA Men’s College Cup 50th Anniversary Team.

3 down 8 to go.

Jon Lester showed all of baseball and Red Sox Nation why he has been the ace of the Boston Red Sox staff all season. Last night, he continued his magical postseason run as he gave them 7 scoreless innings and looked better this time around against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim than he did in Game 1.

Some people were questioning why Lester came out of the game after the 7th inning but if you were watching the game, you’ll have noticed him pumping his fists meaning that mentally he was done pitching. Terry Francona explained it afterward.

He was around 110 pitches…and at that point it looked like we were going to need him in the ALCS, so we shut him down for the night. I thought to maybe bring him out in the 8th as well, but it was probably best for him and the team for the later rounds to get him out at that point. I’m sure he coulda thrown a complete game if we left it up to him, but then what would he give us in the ALCS and the Series. JD is banged up, Lowell is out for the playoffs and Beckett isnt 100%, so to overwork our ace at this point would be foolish. Sometimes you have to think big picture which has got to be one of the toughest things in playoff picture considering how important each moment can seem. Any more questions?

I totally agreed with the decision because things were looking good. Unfortunately, a 2-out walk to Mark Teixeira by Hideki Okajima and walk to Vlad Guerrero by Justin Masterson and 2-strike piece of clutch hitting by Torii Hunter changed the whole complexion of the game.

Fortunately for the Red Sox in the top of the 9th, a failed suicide squeeze bunt by Erick Aybar cost the Angels and the Red Sox were able to respond in the bottom half with the winning run.

Now comes the battle. These aren’t your kids’ Tampa Bay Devil Rays anymore. This isn’t the same Rays team that finished in last place last year. This is a team with a mission. They gave the Red Sox fits all season long and remember this, the Red Sox won only 1 game at Tropicana Field all season. And oh by the way, the Rays have the home field advantage by virtue of winning the American League East.

Starting Friday night, the war gets underway but I like our chances with a probable top 3 of Josh Beckett, Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Links and other goodies after the jump.

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Game 1 – Friday, October 10th, 8:37 PM @ Tropicana Field

Game 2 – Saturday, October 11th, 8:07 PM @ Tropicana Field

Game 3 – Monday, October 13th, 4:37 PM @ Fenway Park

Game 4 – Tuesday, October 14th, 8:07 PM @ Fenway Park

Game 5 – Thursday, October 16th, 8:07 PM @ Fenway Park

Game 6 – Saturday, October 18th, 8:07 PM @ Tropicana Field

*Game 7 – Sunday, October 19th, 8:07 PM @ Tropicana Field

*if necessary

All ALCS games will be broadcast on TBS. Chip Caray, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling will have the call. NESN will be broadcasting 1 hour before and soon as the TBS coverage is over after the game.

If you’re smart and have a DVR, synch up the television feed to Joe Castiglione and Dave O’Brien on the Boston Red Sox Radio Network.

As loyal SOX & Dawgs readers know, I like to post videos of the celebrations. I’ll be honest with you, NESN didn’t show a lot of the celebrating but did concentrate on the interviews with players. And as always, I’ll do my best to provide the non-NESN audience with some of the interviews.

First up is the game-winning hit from Jed Lowrie and the TBS interviews with Lowrie and Jason Bay.

[flash http://ianbethune.com/mom1.FLV w=425 h=300]

Second up is the media interviews with Lowrie and Jon Lester.

More videos after the jump

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Jed Lowrie’s walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs scored Jason Bay from second base to give the Red Sox a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels and send them to the ALCS for the second straight season.

Scot Shields was back on for his second inning of relief in the 9th and struck out J.D. Drew to start things. Bay followed with a ground rule double off the end of his bat that Reggie Willits just missed when he dove for it. Had that ball not bounced into the stands, Bay may have had an inside-the-park home run. Mark Kotsay came up and lined a shot down the right field line but a great diving catch by Mark Teixeira kept the score tied. Lowrie then followed with the game-winner to send 38,785 frozen fans at Fenway Park into a frenzy.

If they gave MVP's for this series, Jon Lester would have been my MVP.

Jon Lester started this game for the Red Sox and once again showed why he was the ace of 2008 for the Red Sox. He went 7 scoreless innings allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4 on 109 pitches. Hideki Okajima went 2/3 of an inning with a walk and was charged with a run. Justin Masterson went 2/3 of an inning, allowing an unearned run on a walk and a hit. Manny Delcarmen was perfect in his 2/3 of an inning to pick up the win.

Bay and Lowrie led the Red Sox offense with 2 hits apiece with Lowrie adding that game winning RBI. Dustin Pedroia broke out of his funk with an RBI double and Jacoby Ellsbury drove in the other run. The only members of the Red Sox starting nine without hits were Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis.

Both Lester and Angels starter John Lackey set the side down in order in the 1st inning.

Lester got the first two outs of the 2nd before he issued a walk to last night’s Angels hero Mike Napoli. Juan Rivera followed with a single but Lester rebounded to strike out Howie Kendrick for the third out.

Lackey struck out Youk to start the bottom half of the inning. Drew laced a single to left and Bay worked a walk but Lackey got Kotsay to ground into a 4-6-3 inning-ending twin killing.

Erick Aybar grounded out to start the 3rd. Chone Figgins followed with a single and Lester got Garrett Anderson to ground out with Figgins advancing to second. Lester walked Teixeira but got Vladimir Guerrero to ground out for the final out of the inning.

The Red Sox went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 3rd as did the Angels in the top half of the 4th.

Pedroia’s 0-for continued as he grounded out to start the inning and Big Papi followed with a single. Lackey got a ground ball from Youk but Figgins throw pulled Kendrick off the bag and everyone was safe. Drew’s fly ball moved Big Papi to third but Bay flew out to end the threat.

Lester worked around two singles in the top half of the 5th and the Red Sox finally broke through in the bottom half.

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Here is the press release from the Boston Red Sox concerning the announcement of the removal of Mike Lowell from the ALDS roster.

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox today replaced third baseman Mike Lowell on the active roster for the 2008 American League Division Series due to a right hip strain.

Boston has replaced Lowell on the active roster with infielder Gil Velazquez, who will be available tonight for Game 4 of the ALDS versus the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Lowell started Games 1 and 3 of this series and is hitless in 8 at bats. He has been bothered by the hip injury for much of the second half of the season and had just one at bat over the final two weeks of the regular season.

Since the injury replacement is being made in the middle of a series, Lowell would not be eligible for the active roster in the event the Red Sox advance to the American League Championship Series.

Velazquez, who wears #51, was purchased from Triple-A Pawtucket on September 25 and was 1-for-8 with one RBI in 3 regular season games in his major league debut. The righthanded-hitting Velazquez batted .260 with 10 homers and 46 RBI in 101 games at Pawtucket in 2008 while playing all 4 infield positions and left field.

After a long hard fought battle last night and into early this morning, the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are back at it again tonight with the Angels looking to force a decisive Game 4 back in Anaheim.

The Red Sox will be looking to their ace of 2008 Jon Lester to prevent a return flight to Anaheim after the game tonight. In Game 1, Lester allowed 1 unearned run on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 7 in 7 innings of work. Lester made 17 regular season starts at Fenway Park and was 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA.

John Lackey looks to keep the Angels alive tonight. In Game 1, he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in 6 2/3 innings of work to take the loss in the Red Sox 4-1 victory. Lackey is 2-4 with a 6.34 ERA in his lifetime at Fenway Park.

The new big news of the night is the fact that Mike Lowell is not in the lineup and could be done for the playoffs.

He’s really sore. He came out of the game last night and was really sore. Checked on him today. The trainers checked on him this morning, and we knew that he was sore. He came in. He’s pretty beat up. He’s not in the lineup tonight. Where it goes from here, we don’t know yet. He needs to be seen by the doctors. I think he’s a little frustrated. Nobody questions his toughness. It’s just getting difficult for him to be a baseball player right now. We’re going to try to get this out. Get a little more information on what we should do, or what we can do, or what we’re able to do.

Here is the transcript for press conferences of Terry Francona as well as Mike Scioscia.

Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe gets us up-to-date with the rest of the Red Sox pregame news.

Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe previews Game 4.

Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe stopped by for a chat this morning over at Boston.com.

Dan over at Red Sox Monster has an interview with the guy who bought Big Papi’s bed in the auction.

Lineups and batter/pitcher matchups after the jump.

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The Big East Conference announced that the UConn Huskies vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights football game on October 18th in Piscataway, NJ will kickoff at 12 Noon and will be televised somewhat nationally on ESPNU.

This marks the third game of the season for the Huskies on ESPNU and is the sixth-straight game on the ESPN family of networks.

Donald Brown was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll for his performance in the game on Saturday night. Brown finished with 33 carries for 161 yards and a touchdown.