Angels @ Red Sox, ALDS Game 1

I did not realize this, but Gary Matthews, Jr. is not on the ALDS roster for the Angels. Reggie Willits will play center and Chone Figgins will play left.

Excuse me, Figs is in right, and Vladdy is DH'ing, with Macier Izturis at 3rd.

I kind of miss Orlando Cabrera...

Garrett Anderson has pinkeye, apparently. Chone Figgins is a fast M&f#

Beckett gets out of the first unscathed around Figgins' leadoff hit. Here come the BoSox bats!

Pedroia, leading off, grounds out into a nice play by Izturis at 3rd.

Start printing the World Series tickets!!!

yoooooooouk! Home run over DA MONSTAH, 1-0 Sox.

Lackey is 0-2 with an ERA over 8 at Fenway this season.

Kevin Cueballis over the Monstah

Base it by Papi to the left side. "Shift? We don't need no /stinking/ shift!"

Oh come on. "Gotta polish the helmets" ridiculous.

Good thing Lackey brought his tits today... so he could get them ripped off

It is a rule, you know.

Nice piece of hitting by Manny, and right off of Izturis's glove. That's what they're going to miss not having Figgins at third. The A's play good defense generally, but Matthews' absence is gonna hurt them bad.

Not to worry, J.D. Dickless is up. At least he can't hit into a double play

Oh come on Drew, what a pitch to hit. Man looks like he has velcro on his bat usually.

Drew has all this natural talent but wouldn't know a good pitch to hit if it came up and bit him in the ass. He swings at ugly crap and watches beautiful fastballs right down the middle just itching to be smacked onto Landsdowne street.

Beckett's velocity is really there tonight... that 2-0 fastball to Izturis was at 97.

Gold Glover Mike Lowell to should-be-a-gold-glover Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis hasn't made an error at first this season. Ridiculous.

That's because he has no range.

Some nice acting by Howie Kendrick there on that "foul ball"... not sure that really hit him.

Truthfully, I'm not sure Schilling's wife and kids like him much. Once the gravy train stops, they're gone.

Well, I was going to make a comment about how poorly Tek has been hitting and how his numbers compare to Drew's, but there he goes and gets a nice single and ruins my point.

OK, clarify this for me because I don't know. This Dane Cook guy is a comedian??? Don Rickles would kick this guy in the nuts for besmirching baseball.

Beckett's averaging +18 between his fastball and breaking ball. That's Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax territory. Ridiculous.

Woof... Tek and Crisp were 6-58 against the Angels this season. that's brutal. and case in point on the DP from crisp. 2 out.

Salty, you're such a rookie. Pine tar helps the batter grip the bat, how do you think it gets there? Duh!

BULLHONKEY! No way Lugo was out on that steal!

Cabrera did a GREAT job of shielding the ump's view. Gotta love the human element!

See, Lackey starts off Lugo with two breaking balls, has to come back with a fastball and even a stiff like him knows what to do with it. Pitchers are so dumb sometimes. Right, Manny?

HEY! Wtf, TBS? No more missing outs for commercials. That's completely unacceptable. Has anyone else noticed that networks are cutting it closer and closer in coming back to the center field camera?

The Angels are kind of the anti-stathead team. Giving up outs is supposed to be the worst thing ever, and yet there you are.

Seven straight fastballs, all 95+, and the kid still couldn't get around. Welcome to the big leagues, rook.

Apparently this home plate umpire had the 2nd-tightest strike zone in all of the majors this year.

13 pitches that inning, all fastballs. 96-98 with movement. It's just not fair.

TB$$$$$ - where every inning automatically starts with one out.

Youk is clearly seeing the ball well today, and there's some aggressive baserunning as well. Good stuff.

GOOD BYE!

He hit that ball half way to Cooperstown!

Trivia question

• What is another name for a hanging breaking ball?

• A Big Fly. Homer. Tater. Yard Ball.

Pick one, they all mean the same.

I'm sorry, back to the pine tar for a moment. I guess what bothers me the most is that the play-by-play guy feels obligated for some reason to put his opinion into the mix. Joe Buck is obviously the worst at this, but it seems to be spreading.

When they show closeups of some of these guys, I'm glad I don't have an HD TV. I once caught a salmon that looked an awful lot like John Lackey.

Who says Manny doesn't pay attention!

His breaking ball is all over the place. He can't find the corners clearly... it's either in the dirt or right over the center of the plate.

Let's see that bullpen Scioscia! ...(or spelled something like that.)

Manny, you have that People Magazine "sexiest fan alive" contest wrapped up!

Baseball is about matchups. I know Lackey is the Angels best pitcher, but with a record of 1-6 and an ERA higher than the Anaheim zip code in Fenway, why the f*ck is he pitching? I guess Scoscia didn't learn everything from Lasorda.

D J Dickless gets his double play after all

Oh Nancy. The idea is to *NOT* make outs.

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! Way to go, RK!! God, you suck.

KD: Several F-bombs. And by several I mean a kajillion and seven.

Or you know, down here. Swingandamiss, strike three.

You think Cabrera was looking breaking ball there? I think not. First one after 19 straight fastballs.

Beckett is really dominating this lineup. They look completely overmatched. 49 pitches, 36 of them strikes.

Holy Shit!!! Is this game suddenly on FOX? "Red Light Curt" gets some camera time!!! (from the Red Light on the camera)

Seeya! It's like in NBA Jam, when the basketball is on fire and you drain threes from near the half court all the time with Detlef Schrempf.

Manny on fire today....

Ahh, that's the Lugo we remember. Striking out looking. He and Drew must bunk together on road trips.

Comment of the day.

Izturis here has had one of the best at-bats against Beckett her, meaning that he's actually making some contact.

Another 0-2 count for Beckett... will it never end!?!?!?? The whole city of boston hopes not.

It's one thing to have great stuff, but eventually the hitter's will catch up. Varitek is calling a great game so far.

98 on the gun for K number 5. Casey Kotchman has NCIH. No. Chance. In. Hell.

Gotta go clean up the bedroom for a few mins... my gf's mother is staying for the weekend starting tomorrow. Be back in a bit! Keep it going, folks!

Beckett's only had one three ball count, and that was on the first batter of the game. He's had only three two ball counts. It's like Varitek is telling the Angels hitters what's coming and they still can't hit it. Just nasty stuff tonight.

pedrioa not too goo today, all at bats were outs, either ground out or pop out loool

john leackly loves to throw full counts in this game, 50 strikes 30 balls het got a K

Lackey seems to be getting his first wind..to bad the game's half over.

ortiz got single, hommer now a walk looool nice job

There's something you don't see every day. Ramirez rarely (if ever) swings at the first pitch no matter what.

Sign of a good hitter. Lackey is struggling, trying to throw strikes. Manny realized it and took a rip.

Ok. Poor balls and strikes here. That was really effing borderline.

ouche manny got striked out

Wifey got home and decided it was more important that we watch Friends.

There's several ways to play this - go to another TV, tell her to cook dinner, bang her brains out while she watches Friends. being that I did all the laundry and dishes...

I'll be back for the Cubs - D-Backs game... (after Friends, sex, dinner, sex, sex and more Friends)

I really don't care who wins this game!!!

Little too much info there, Manny. Tell the missus I said hi. Preferably during Friends.

Seems to be the only way Drew can get on base tonight, the infield single off of Lackey.

Really hit the shit out of that one, JD.

I know that I've said that the basestealing has been an asset mathematically for the sox this season, but it's still real strange to see them attempting two or three steals a game. That was really a hit and run, but my point remains.

Three double plays for the Angels, one each from Drew and Varitek. I guess my point from earlier wasn't entirely moot. Varitek really has not hit the ball very well for months.

Wow... Beckett is pitching a classic.

The Red Sox attempted 120 steals as a team this year, which was the third fewest in the American League.

Hey Yankees fans: Are you rooting for your arch rival or the team that you can't seem to beat?

7 K's for Beckett, and Anaheim hasn't had a baserunner since Chone Figgins led off with that seeing-eye single off of Pedroia. No walks, one hit.

I'm watching at work on MLB.TV, the picture isn't that great. I did DVR the game, I can't wait to get home and watch. This has the potential to be one of the best pitched postseason games ever.

there's that second hit from LA... good AB from Vlad. Damn but it's fun to watch to watch him hit.

Time to stretch! What a game for Beckett so far!

Ervin Santana on the road! Game over. Sox win.

Strike 3 my ass! Good lord blue! WTF?

Here's another sign the Angels are overmatched. Eighth inning, down four, and they're up there hackin' at the first pitch. Sure fire sign of a team that knows it has no chance.

Here's a question. Do the Sox bring in Papelbon for the ninth if the status quo continues? That curve to Kendrick was definitely the worst that Beckett has thrown so far, so I guess it depends on the rest of the inning.

Not gonna catch Aybar on that... he's a fast "emepher" (to channel mr. stiles).

Yeah boy! What a pitch. Absolutely dominant performance from Josh Beckett!

I'm here and ready to comment on a baseball game!

so good! so good! SO GOOD!

Boy, Santana's up there at 97. No idea he could throw that fast.

Terrible matchup for the Halos...if they played the Yankees or Indians, they would be facing contact pitchers and bad defenses (Sabathia excluded), which would have fit their high-contact, low-patience offense perfectly. But the Sox starters can miss bats, and the Sox can play defense. Angels will be lucky to win a game this series.

Looks like Beckett's out for the ninth. Right call.

Beckett in to close it down in the ninth for the top of the order.

the ROOK with the fantastic catch! Thanks for letting us know he was in the game, TBS.

Thanks for the 2nd out, O-Cab. I'm standing up.

Ok, I'm sitting back down now.

Two different styles of offense in this game. Effective and over-matched.

What a performance by Beckett!!!!!

GO SOX!!!

Taking care of business baby...

And Josh Beckett finishes out the shutout! What a fantastic outing. C.C. Sabathia, the ball is officially in your court.

Beckett must like pitching in the playoffs... because he is darn good at it...

GO SOX!!!

all the way...

Well I looooove that dirrrrrty waterrrrr....

Player of the game: Josh Beckett

Complete game shutout, 8 strikeouts, 4 hits allowed, and no walks allowed on only 198 pitches.

• Dice-K can't get through the sixth inning without throwing over 108...

What a performance.

• 108 pitches, only 25 balls.
• 31 batters faced, first pitch strikes to 25 of them.
• From the third inning on, 24 batters faced, first pitch strikes to 22 of them.
• Threw 82 fastballs, seven sliders and 19 curveballs.
• Allowed only seven balls hit in the air all game, four in the infield, and five of the seven to the opposite side. Rightfielder JD Drew did not have one fielding chance the entire game.

The amount his two-seam fastball was sinking at 94-95 mph was just disgusting.

This is Beckett's seventh year in the bigs and he won't turn 28 years old until after next season starts. He's 25 games over .500 for his career. I have the feeling that towards the end of last season was the turning point in his career, and what he did this year he's liable to do for the next 10-12 years.

1 down, 10 to go. Nice win but the bottom half of our lineup looked like crap. Beckett pitched perfectly, but we can't be leaving runs on the field the way we did tonight and hope to do much this post-season.

Great game by Beckett.

Man a live blog i should have been here, Wondering will their be one friday i might be able to be their