Angels/Sox Game 1 Reactions

The Red Sox take game one in Anaheim by a score of 4-1. Jon Lester gets the win, John Lackey takes the loss, and Jonathan Papelbon gets the save.

Reactions & Thoughts
*John Lackey pitched his ass off tonight and threw one bad pitch to Bay for a 2-Run HR that the Red Sox never gave back. Lackey proved once again that he is the ace of the Angels staff, and just got no run support.

*How good has Jon Lester been? Kid was throwing 96 mph in the 7th inning. He pitched one heck of a ball game, and the one run he gave up was an unearned run due to a Jed Lowrie error (his first in 50 games at SS). Final line: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 117 pitches.

*Jason Bay looked awful in his first two at-bats against John Lackey tonight, striking out on two curveballs way out of the zone. However, that all changed in the 6th inning with a 2-run HR to give the Sox the lead. Kudos to Bay.

*Jacoby Ellsbury played his ass off tonight. He lead off the game with a double to deep right center that almost cleared the wall for a home run. He ended up 3/5 with 2 SB's, and made a spectacular catch in center field to rob Mark Texieria of a lead off single in the bottom of the 8th (which ended up being a huge play).

*The player of the game I feel is Justin Masterson. Terry Francona put him in a huge spot in this game. Francona brought Masterson in to pitch the 8th inning with Texieria, Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and Howie Kendrick coming up, in a 2-1 game. Masterson got through the inning unscathed and the Sox proceeded to score 2 more runs in the top of the 9th. Some of his outs were due to luck (Ellsbury's catch, Youk throwing Vlad out at 3rd), and the at-bat Kendrick put on was admirable, but in the end, the kid got the job done. Which leads me to my next point.

*What on earth was Vlad Guerrero thinking trying to get to 3rd base on that bloop hit by Hunter in the 8th? Not only was he too far off 1st base to begin with considering Youkilis almost made the play, but there was no way he could have made it to 3rd base. Granted Youkilis did make one hell of a throw, but that's just boneheaded baseball in a tight game.

All in all, a very fun, exciting, entertaining game to watch. Deffinately the best game of the day. Both teams had a few opportunities to score some runs and the opposing teams pitching bailed them out. I'm glad the Sox won, and I cannot wait for Friday.

Check back tomorrow for my final preview of the divisional round, which is the series between the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Chicago White Sox.

Goodnight everyone.