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Here is a look at what happened between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as written here on SOX & Dawgs by Steve and myself.

Click on the dates to see the full article.

April 13th, 2007: Behind another strong effort from Tim Wakefield and the bats of David Ortiz and Mike Lowell, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by the final score of 10-1. The game was 4-1 entering the 8th inning until the Red Sox put up a 6 spot in the bottom half of the inning.The knuckleball was dancing on Friday night. In seven innings of work, Wakefield gave up 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked 2 batters and struck out 3. Ortiz was 2 for 5 with 3 rbi’s and Lowell was 2 for 4 with 3 rbi’s. Doug Mirabelli added a home run and had 2 rbi’s in the contest.

The Red Sox went to closer Jonathan Papelbon in the eighth inning. It was a save situation at the time and once again, he was electric on the mound. Using the “Papelglare”, he was able to strike out Vlad Guerrero on a 97 mph fastball and got Garrett Anderson to fly out. He threw a total of 6 pitches. Because the Sox put up 6 runs in the bottom half of the inning, manager Terry Francona brought in Mike Timlin to finish off the game.

April 14th, 2007: Another solid effort by Curt Schilling helped the Red Sox defeat the Angels on Saturday afternoon by the final score of 8-0. Schilling went 8 strong innings and now has thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings. Schilling gave up 4 hits, walked 1 and struck out 6. His ERA now stands at 2.84.

Big Papi was the man again going 2 for 4 with 4 rbi’s. He clubbed a long home run to center field in the 8th inning as well. Eric Hinske, who gave Kevin Youkilis the day off, filled in nicely going 2 for 3 with 2 walks. Hinske has now hit safely in his last 13 games.

J.D. Drew’s 13 game hitting streak ended on Saturday as he was hitless in 3 at bats. He would have had one more chance to extend the streak in the bottom of the 8th but manager Terry Francona pinch hit Wily Mo Peña for him.

April 16th, 2007: After giving up a first inning home run, Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett rebounded to finish strong with help from his hitters in the bottom half of the inning, and the Red Sox swept the series from the Angels by winning today 7-2.

The Red Sox put together four consecutive hits to start the bottom of the 1st that led to the first three runs. Julio Lugo led off with a double and scored on a Kevin Youkilis’ single. David Ortiz then hit a double to move Youk over to 3rd base and Manny Ramirez knocked them both in with a single. J.D Drew then grounded into a fielder’s choice but Angels 2nd baseman, Howie Kendrick, threw the ball into the outfield which allowed Manny to score all the way from first base. The doubles machine, Mike Lowell, hit yet another one to drive in Drew.

Beckett actually gave up a home run to former Sox SS Orlando Cabrera, then hit in Vladimir Guerrero in the wrist. Vlad had to leave the game, and the x-rays were negative. Both teams were warned after this happened but it was clear that Beckett wasn’t trying to hit Vlad at all.

Beckett scattered 6 hits over 6 innings of work, allowing the 1 run, walking 1 and striking out 5 Angels batters. Lugo was 2 for 4 today and was outstanding in the field making some great over the shoulder catches. Hopefully, his defensive play continues like this. Big Papi was 2 for 3, with a home run to go along with his double. The Red Sox bullpen (Hideki “Darkman” Okajima, J.C. Romero, and Kyle Synder) pitched very well with the only blemish being a Kendrick home run in the 9th inning.

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The Result

The Patriots roll over the Bengals 34-13 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati and improve to 4-0 on the year. The Bengals are now 1-3. 

Sammy Morris, Tom Brady and Randy Moss did the primary damage offensively for New England tonight.  Morris, filling in for Laurence Maroney, had his 4th career 100 yard rushing game, Moss became the first player with 4 consecutive 100 yard games to start a season and Brady completed 78% of his throws. 

Defensively the team wasn’t as good as it has been but the expolosiveness of the Cincinnati offense led them to leave more people back than they usually do resulting in only one sack of Carson Palmer. 

Overall a good effort but not nearly as dominating as the last three games.

Scoring Plays

1^st Quarter

NE – Gostkowski 31 yard FG – 3-0 Patriots

NE – Brady 1 yard TD pass to Vrabel – kick good – 10-0 Patriots

2^nd Quarter

CIN – Palmer 1 yard TD pass to Houshmandzadeh – kick good – 10-7 Patriots

NE – Brady 7 yard TD pass to Moss – kick good – 17-7 Patriots

3^rd Quarter

NE – Morris 7 yard run – kick good – 24-7 Patriots

CIN – Graham 40 yard FG – 24-10 Patriots

4th Quarter

NE – Gostkowsi 36 yard FG – 27-10 Patriots

CIN – Graham 48 yard FG – 27-13 Patriots

NE –  Brady yard 14 TD pass to Moss – kick good – Patriots 34-13

Offensive Player of the Game

Sammy Morris, playing in place of Laurence Maroney had 21 carries, 117 yards and a TD.

Defensive Player of the Game

Asante Samuel had 4 tackles and a big interception.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

Patriots 62-yard TD drive to answer the Bengals first TD and put the lead back to 10 with about 4 minutes left in the half.

Samuel’s interception of Bengal QB Carson Palmer just shy of the goal line with Bengals driving at end of the second half.

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Nothing like kicking the New York Mets when they are down.

A source is reporting to ESPN that Mets left-handed reliever Scott Schoeneweis received steroids while he was a member of the Chicago White Sox in 2003 and 2004. Schoeneweis had testicular cancer while he was in college at Duke back in 1993.

The doctor who prescribed the steroids to Schoeneweis, Ramon Scruggs, is the same doctor who wrote the scripts for the Blue Jays’ Troy Glaus. Glaus still has not talked about his alleged receipt of the performance-enhancing drugs.

According to the source who looked at the invoices, Schoeneweis received five packages of steroids. The first three packages he received also had stanozolol.

Gary Wadler, a physician and member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that while it might make sense for someone with hormone deficiencies to take testosterone, he had never heard of anyone taking stanozolol to help with the affliction.

“It’s not an approved use, as far as I’m aware of,” he said.

This is just another black eye for Major League Baseball and its apparent steroid and HGH problem.

I know a lot of people out there are numbers people and I will admit that I am too. I started looking at the final numbers for the Red Sox and as a team and I have to admit that some of the numbers are quite impressive.

If you look at the team numbers, most of the hitting numbers are in the upper half of the American League. The pitching numbers are right at the top of the American League and MLB.

• Final record: 96-66 (tied with Cleveland for best record in AL and MLB)
• Runs scored: 867 (3^rd in AL, 4^th in MLB)
• RBI: 829 (3^rd in AL, 4^th in MLB)
• Home Runs: 166 (8^th in AL, 18^th in MLB)
• Batting Average: .279 (5^th in AL, 6^th in MLB)
• Slugging percentage: .444 (3^rd in AL, 6^th in MLB)
• Stolen bases: 96 (7^th in AL, 15^th in MLB)
• Pitching cumulative ERA: 3.87 (1^st in AL, 2^nd in MLB)
• Cumulative WHIP: 1.27 (1^st in AL, 2^nd in MLB)
• Strikeouts by pitchers: 1,149 (3^rd in AL, 6^th in MLB)

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Two members of the Red Sox picked up some hardware from MLB on Monday. David “Big Papi” Ortiz was named Sharps Presents the American League Player of the Month for September and Jacoby Ellsbury was named American League Rookie of the Month for September.

During the month of September, Big Papi was 36 for 91 (.396) with 9 home runs and 27 RBIs and 26 runs scored. 21 of his 36 hits were of the extra base variety. He also led the American League in slugging percentage (.824) for the month.

Ellsbury was 35 of 97 (.361) with 3 homers and 17 RBIs. He also added 8 stolen bases while hitting safely in 23 of those 26 games. Ellsbury will have more chances to win this award again next year as he will maintain his rookie eligibility.

Congratulations to both Big Papi and Ellsbury. Good luck in the playoffs and let’s go Red Sox!!! 

American League Division Series:

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Wednesday October 3^rd, 6:37 PM on TBS

John Lackey vs Josh Beckett

Friday October 5^th, 8:37 PM on TBS

Kelvim Escobar vs Daisuke Matsuzaka

Sunday October 7^th, 3:07 PM on TBS/TNT

Curt Schilling vs Jered Weaver

*Monday October 8^th, 9:37 PM on TBS

Josh Beckett vs John Lackey

*Wednesday October 10^th, 8:37 PM on TBS

Daisuke Matsuzaka vs Kelvim Escobar

* If necessary.

Ted Robinson and Steve Stone will have the call on TBS.

The Sox finished the sixth month of the season 16-11 for an overall record of 96-66 .592 they finished tied with Cleveland for the best record in baseball and won the American League East title by 2 games over the New York Yankees. It is the first division crown for Boston since 1995 when the team was lead by Mo Vaughn, Mike Greenwell, Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens. The month started at home with the Orioles (2-0) in a series that featured Clay Buchholz no-hitter. They then took on Toronto (2-1) before going on the road for four in Baltimore (3-1). The headed back home to face the Rays (2-1) and Yankees (1-2) before going on the last road trip of the season. That featured stops in Toronto (0-3) and Tampa Bay (2-1) where they clinched a playoff berth. Then it was back to Fenway to close out the season and try for a division title. They swept Oakland (2-0) and split with Minnesota (2-2) to close out the year. The Sox were 11-6 at home and 5-5 on the road in season’s final month.

Now it’s time to look at the season as a whole and issue my final grades. I am issuing the final grades now because I don’t think it’s totally fair to base the entire body of work on (up to) three weeks of playoff baseball.

The Front Office: This includes ownership (John Henry, Tom “TV Boy” Werner, Larry “Double L” Lucchino), the general manager, Theo Epstein and his baseball operations staff. Overall I think they had a successful year. They won a division title, had what appears to be a good draft and had past draftees not only come in and play but make large contributions during the year and possibly have the AL ROY in Dustin Pedroia. They seemed to make the right moves when they needed to and corrected earlier errors. Knowing how good the team was they went out and at the trade deadline made a big deal for a pitcher but fell short on a bat. Final Grade B+

Manager Terry Francona: Tito becomes the first Boston manager to get the Sox to the post season three times. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again he’s the best manager I have seen in a Red Sox uniform. Some chooch in his blog actually asks if Tito should be fired and compares him to other past Sox skippers who had success and were let go. He compares his to Kevin Kennedy, Grady Little, Jimy Williams and Joe Kerrigan. After I got done laughing I found something different to read. I refuse to list the link here because quite frankly his blog doesn’t deserve the hits. Final Grade: A-

Starting Nine:

Short Stop Julio Lugo: Didn’t turn out to be the lead off threat they had hoped. Only hit .237 but had 8 HR’s and 73 RBI also contributed a team leading 33 stolen bases. Not nearly the fielder of Alex Gonzalez or even Orlando Cabrera or Nomar Garciaparra. Makes you wonder if they feel he’s their shortstop for the long term as he has three more years left on the contract he signed last off season. With Alex Rodriguez available, and presumably wanting to play short, and draftee Jed Lowrie flying through the systems farm chain there are other options. Final Grade: D+

First Baseman Kevin Youkilis: He dropped off offensively as the year went on and his strikeouts increased also. Defensively though he was a gem not committing an error at first base all season. He had three and those all came at third base. Good OBP guy but they need to find a line up spot for him. Is he your #2 hitter or the #6 guy? Overall he gets better each year and I think next year he grows and improves as he has since he got here in 2004. Final Grade: B-

Designated Hitter David Ortiz: This guy just amazes me. Even hurt he goes out and performs. He didn’t have the HR number he had in 2006, when he hit a team record 54, but he had 117 RBI and the hit .332 plus he had 52 doubles, 1 memorable triple and once again when the team needed him most he came through with multi-hit games down the stretch. Final Grade: A

Left Fielder Manny Ramirez: Not your regular Manny year offense wise. He had some of his lowest HR and RBI totals in 10 years. Missed nearly a month with a strained oblique in his side. It was the same injury a few years ago that kept Trot Nixon out a long-time. Once again surprises many with his outfield assists and his “Manny being Manny” little boy charm. 2008 is the final year of his contract (there are two option years for what is now cheap money) so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Does Manny want to stay or go? Do the Sox want him to stay or go? Next year will be interesting. The team needs Manny to hit like he did in the last week during the post season. Final Grade: B-

Right Fielder J.D. Drew: J.D. ‘effin’” Drew. Where do you start with this guy? Is he the guy who started and finished on fire? Or is he the guy who struggled from May to September? No one, not even Julio Lugo or Eric Gagne, frustrated diehard fans more than Drew. He has all five tools and can be spectacular at times but he rarely shows it. ESPN’s Bill Simmons joked about writing a new book and calling it “Just Looking: J.D. Drew’s Top 100 Strikeouts”. Even after September I am not sold on him especially at $14 million a year for 5 years. Final Grade: D-

Third Baseman Mike Lowell: He is my choice, along with many others, for team MVP. Had a great season hitting .324 with 21 HRs and 120 RBI. When Manny went down in late August he went into the 4th slot and performed. His defense also came back in the second half after a rough first half. Free agent after the season someone is going to pay him let’s hope it’s the Red Sox. Final Grade: A

Catcher/team captain Jason Varitek: Hit 5 HR’s in September and came up when the team needed him. Handles the pitching staff exceptionally well and earns every penny he is paid. Finished at .255 17 HR’s and 68 RBI. Final Grade: B

Center Fielder Coco Crisp: After an awful start he really came around. He didn’t get to where he is expected to be but made a nice recovery. Defensively he is a human highlight reel. Stole 28 bases too. With the emergence of Jacoby Ellsbury it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Coco and Drew. Final Grade: B-

Second Baseman Dustin Pedroia: If this guy isn’t the AL ROY he got robbed. Started awful and had fans calling for Alex Cora to play instead of him but management hung with him and they were rewarded with a great season. He made only 6 errors all year and set a major league record for rookie second baseman when he hit .3173 breaking the old record of .3171. Added 39 doubles, 8 HR’s and 50 RBI.

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The Red Sox finished up the regular season with a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins yesterday. The game didn’t really matter in the standings all though it would have been nice to head into the playoffs with a win. The Red Sox will take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS, starting Wednesday. The game time hasn’t been announced yet nor has the pitching rotations. It does look like it will be Josh Beckett vs John Lackey in Game 1 though. Once the times are announced, I’ll be sure to post them. The Sox will have an optional workout today and a full-team workout on Tuesday. So while Theo Epstein and the Sox coaching staff is making roster decisions, let’s take a look at the headlines from the Boston area and Twin Cities media on this “Rally Monday” in Red Sox Nation.

Ortiz has bounce in his step [Boston Globe]

Out on a winning note, hoping for a better day [Star Tribune]

In Sox’ opinion, eight’s great [Boston Herald]

Hunter, Twins close with win [Pioneer Press]

Pedroia is second to none [Pro Jo]

Ortiz, Red Sox Seem To Be In Good Shape [Hartford Courant]

Timely hits send Hunter and White out in style [Star Tribune]

Ballclub’s mentally tough [Boston Herald]

Bull session proved very productive [Boston Globe]

Season over; talk isn’t [Pioneer Press]

Cash looks like odd man in for the Sox in ALDS [Pro Jo]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, Star Tribune, and Pioneer Press websites.