October 3rd, 2007-Fenway Park, Angels(94-68) at Red Sox(96-66) Game 1 Of The 2007 ALDS

Beckett vs. Lackey, Boxscore:

ScoreboardFinal123456789RHEL.A. Angels (0-1)000000000040Boston (1-0) «10300000x490

Los Angeles AngelsHittersABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVGChone Figgins, RF-CF4010010.250Orlando Cabrera, SS4000010.000Vladimir Guerrero, DH4020001.500Garret Anderson, LF4000023.000Maicer Izturis, 3B3000001.000Casey Kotchman, 1B3000010.000Howie Kendrick, 2B3010000.333Mike Napoli, C2000010.000   a- Erick Aybar, PH-RF1000001.000Reggie Willits, CF2000010.000   b- Kendry Morales, PH1000011.000    Jeff Mathis, C0000000.000Totals3104008

Boston Red SoxHittersABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVGDustin Pedroia, 2B4000011.000Kevin Youkilis, 1B4221010.500David Ortiz, DH3122100.667Manny Ramirez, LF3110111.333    Jacoby Ellsbury, LF0000000.000Mike Lowell, 3B3011002.333J.D. Drew, RF3010003.333Jason Varitek, C3010011.333Coco Crisp, CF3000001.000Julio Lugo, SS3010020.333Totals2949426

Los Angeles AngelsPitchersIPHRERBBSOHRERAJohn Lackey (L,0-1)69442426.00Ervin Santana20000200.00

Boston Red SoxPitchersIPHRERBBSOHRERAJosh Beckett (W,1-0)94000800.00

Gamechanger- Josh Beckett making the Angels look blind with his ridiculous pinpoint control.

Play Of The Game- David Ortiz sending another ball to the chaos that is a Fenway Park crowd(I mean that in a good way). A 2-run nail in the coffin.

What Happened?-

This game was not really a surprise. Beckett did what he usually does in a postseason game. Shutdown the other team without mercy.

The Angels got off to a good start, getting the pesky Chone Figgins on with zero out. The Angels, playing NL ball once again, got him to 3rd base with 2 out but Garrett Anderson struck out to end the mini threat. Youk homered to leftcenter to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. After this, Beckett got in the zone. He retired 19 batters in a row, looking like Nolan Ryan in his prime. Lackey on the other hand, wasn't doing great but also not terrible. In the 3rd, Ortiz continued his clutch ways with hammering a 1-0 pitch to right with Youk on to give the Red Sox a very comfortable 3-0 lead.

That would be more then enough for Beckett. The Angels would finally get another hit from Vlad in the 7th inning. Vlad is very important to this team with Gary Matthews out for the DS. Vlad has pretty bad career postseason #s which is not good for the Angels. They need that big run producer against this deep Red Sox pitching staff. Beckett went on to pitch a complete game shutout, his 2nd career shutout in the postseason. And the...

Red Sox 4, Angels 0

This game went better for the Angels then I thought it would. I was thinking a 10-0 meltdown of Lackey. But he was better then that. He didn't pitch great, but by no means did he pitch bad. The only problem was the Red Sox can hit very well and Beckett was...Beckett.

Next Game-

Escobar(18-7, 3.40) vs. Dice-K(15-12, 4.40), TBS @ 8:30 pm

Pick- The Angels will even up the series. The Angels are 0-4 in Game 1 of the DS the last 4 years. So once again, it's not a shock they lost this one. You have no idea what you're gonna get out of Dice-K and he has never experienced postseason better. Add the fact that Dice-K looked tired as the season ended and Escobar has had a comeback year of sorts after a disappointing 2006. I think the Angels take Game 2. I'll say 5-2, Angels.

I'm done.