Sox: 4 Halos: 1
I called it! Jon Lester kept the Angels guessing last night in Anaheim. After a first inning where he struggled a bit with command, Lester settled down and limited the Halos to one unearned run over seven innings, fanning seven. He got stronger as he went deeper into the game, striking out the side in order in the sixth. The Angels touched him for some hits, but only one of their men would cross the plate, due to an error by Jed Lowrie at short in the third inning. Masterson took over in the eighth and had a scare that was put to rest by Youk throwing Vladi Guerrero out at third. Paps gave up one hit, but otherwise made quick work of the home team, sewing up the 4-1 Sox victory.
The Sox offense struggled to put a run across early in the game and it looked like it was going to be one of those gut-wrenchingly futile outings for the seemingly frozen bats. Until, with two outs in the sixth, Jason Bay, in his first post-season hit after whiffing twice before, stroked a two-run dinger that put the Sox ahead of the Angels 2-1. Two more insurance runs were added in the ninth, off the bats of Jacoby "3-for-5 with 2 SB" Ellsbury and a previously thwarted Big Papi. Jake resembled the Jake of last post-season, getting on base and keeping the Angels pitching and defense on their toes. His three hits and two snagged bags showed that he has caught fire at the right time again, in effect continuing the hitting streak he had amassed during the last weeks of the regular season (18 games). Jacoby's presence on the basepaths is key to the Sox' success in the post-season, so here's hoping he keeps it up.
Friday night is Game 2 with Dice-K on the mound. Key for him will be going deep into the game and saving the bullpen. His road record this year has been dominant, so let's hope he continues this trend into the post-season.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment