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SWEPT AWAY BY A "RALLY MONKEY" ...
October 9, 2009 ... The much-mocked Los Angeles Angels, easily erased three times by Boston this century, beat the Sox again last night, this time 4-1 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five bakeoff. The Sox' fortunes appeared promising, with Josh Beckett matching Jered Weaver through the first six innings. But by the end of the seventh, that was all gone, the Angels taking lead on a Sox team that could only dream of the Mendoza Line in this series. And while the spectacular comebacks of the 2004 American League Championship Series and the 2003 Division Series are well known in New England, including by those few leftover members on the Sox, coming back from the brink of elimination is daunting. It had seemed as though Beckett would get the Sox on track, get them back to Fenway Park with a split at Angel Stadium. That didn't happen. But it took until the 18th batter of the game to get a base runner. Weaver cut down three innings' worth of Sox hitters, extending their postseason scoreless streak to 12 innings, and Beckett went 2 2/3 hitless innings until Erick Aybar lined a single into left field. Aybar was stranded when Chone Figgins flied to left. Then the Red Sox went to work. Snapping an 0-for-24 postseason skid dating to last season, Jacoby Ellsbury tripled beyond the reach of Torii Hunter in center field. After Pedroia grounded to third, Victor Martinez knocked in Ellsbury with a single to center. That ended a streak of 20 consecutive postseason scoreless innings for the Sox, dating to the first inning of Game 7 in last season's ALCS. The lead, however, was short-lived. Bobby Abreu led off the fourth with a single to left-center, then third baseman Mike Lowell robbed Hunter with a diving stab of his line drive. But the Angels put on the hit-and-run and as Pedroia moved to cover second, Vladimir Guerrero bounced a single to the very spot Pedroia vacated. Kendry Morales followed with a sacrifice fly to right, tying the score at 1. Beckett needed just 64 pitches to get through five innings, holding the Angels to three hits and one run through six. Weaver matched him, giving up only two hits and one run through six. Perhaps that could have been predicted, given how the Sox performed against John Lackey the night before, and given how Weaver had pitched against the Sox in the regular season. He held the Sox to one earned run (two total) over 13 2/3 innings in two starts for a 0.66 ERA. Beckett faltered after his two best innings of the evening, a leadoff walk to Guerrero in the seventh inning yielding to a 3-and-0 count to Morales. Beckett had lost the strike zone after demonstrating stellar command through the first six innings. But even starting Morales off with three balls, Beckett got the count full, and got Morales to fly to left on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. And then the Angels used their speed. They had utilized it earlier on a hit-and-run with Abreu and Guerrero. Now Howie Kendrick, running for Guerrero, stole second with one out. Juan Rivera grounded to third base, leaving it up to Maicer Izturis. Izturis singled past a reaching Beckett and a diving Pedroia and the stadium erupted. The Angels were ahead, 2-1, and the Sox offense hadn't done much in two games. It got worse. Izturis stole second and Beckett hit Mike Napoli with a pitch, then Beckett watched as Aybar blasted a pitch over the head of Ellsbury for a triple. Two more runs were in, Beckett was out, and the 4-1 deficit seemed insurmountable. After being blanked by Lackey in Game 1, the Red Sox could only muster two hits in the first seven innings last night, including their first extra-base hit of the series. They rarely had a base runner, making far too many right turns at first base for a team that needed to get back in the series.
So, the Red
Sox are reeling. Two games, two punches to the face. They can't hit (one run,
eight hits in 18 innings) and both aces were beaten at the Big A. Yeesh. The
2009 Boston baseball blueprint did not call for us to watch the Angels beat us
so badly.
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