A Promising Turn of Events
ALDS Game 1
Red Sox 4
Angels 1
What a difference a day (or night) can make.
Maybe I’ll never appreciate Jason Bay as much as I did Manny Ramirez. He certainly will never come close to accomplishing anything close to Manny’s legacy on the baseball field, and he won’t deliver nearly the amount of key hits as Manny did in a Red Sox uniform. Last night, however, all of that was brushed aside for a split-second. In the sixth inning, Jason Bay was the guy. He might just be the guy in Boston for the next month, and the next season after that. He’s not Manny, but he might be good enough for whatever the coming situation dictates.
Notes:
- Jon Lester is building up an impressive post-season resume. He now has a 1.10 ERA in 16.1 career playoff innings.
- Jonathan Papelbon’s dominance was a pleasant surprise. Apparently, he’s been saving the split-fingered fastball in his back pocket for these critical moments. A wise decision…
- Tonight’s starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, has only had 1 career start against this Angels team, and it was a stinker: 5 innings, 6 earned runs.
- Last, but not least, the best news from last night (aside from the actual game result): J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell are both relatively pain-free.
