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Lackey Found Lacking in Fenway, Again »
October 3, 2007
By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON _ As last night’s Red Sox starter Josh Beckett began to warm up in the bullpen prior to Game One of the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, it was appropriate that the musical group The Standells were playing their popular song “Dirty Water.”
The song has become an anthem for the Boston Nine as it plays over the sound system at Fenway Park, following a victory. But, it was very fitting for Beckett because he was filthy in his first postseason outing for the Red Sox.
The Cy Young candidate and 20-game winner, Beckett tossed a gem to lead Boston to a 4-0 victory over the Angels. From the first Angels batter he faced, he was clearly pumped up with his typical here’s-my-best-see-if-you-can-hit-it scenario. The answer was no.
The Angels had no shot at consistently connecting on any one of Beckett’s pitches from the get-go. He blew the fastball by them and changed things up a bit when he broke off some nasty curveballs en route to a 108-pitch outing.
Beckett surrendered a lead-off single to the Angels’ Chone Figgins that ricocheted off Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s glove and into center field. After that Beckett retired the next 19 batters he faced before losing a seven-pitch at-bat against Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero, who singled to left field with one out in the seventh inning.
Anaheim’s Howie Kendrick collected a one-out single in the eighth, and Guerrero added a two-out single in the ninth. But other than those four hits, the Angels could not muster any offensive threat on the powerful and in command Beckett.
On the other side, Angels’ starter John Lackey hasn’t had the best of luck at Fenway Park this season, and his skid continued tonight.
His last time here (Aug. 17) he allowed a season-high 11 hits in a season-low four innings, so the Red Sox made sure to jump on him early last night thanks in part to a Kevin Youkilis solo homer into the Monster Seats in the bottom of the first inning.
Youkilis kept things moving in the third with a one-out double before David Ortiz smashed a two-run homer into right right-field seats. Manny Ramirez followed with a walk, reached second on a wild pitch before Mike Lowell provided an RBI-single for a 4-0 Boston advantage.
Lackey exited after six innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
With that four-run cushion, Beckett was clearly dialed in and he did the rest.
As a result, Boston takes a 1-0 lead in this five-game series, and 36,597 fans sang “Dirty Water.”
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