The Boston fans near the on-deck circle just sang Happy Birthday to Dustin Pedroia, who turned 24 today. At the moment, I'd have to say he is your AL Rookie of the Year, but as we've seen with Reggie Willits, things can suddenly take a detour.

In each of the past two innings the Angels have got the leadoff man on only to see another hitter ground into a double play, erasing any sort of threat. Knowing their failures here in Fenway (24-52 since 1993), and considering they will face Josh Beckett tonight and Curt Schilling tomorrow, there is a chance they might not come out of this four-game set with a victory.

And, now it looks like this rookie, Clay Buchholz, is settling into his game.

Lackey's pitch count through three innings is 80.