Same as it Ever Was

(Cue the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime”)

Hey, I know that song, it’s a good one.  It certainly is a familiar tune.  It must be October (there’s only one, you know!), because the Boston Red Sox just wrapped up another postseason smack-down in Los Angeles Anaheim, California.  Even though the final score was only 4-1, this loss seemed to be especially demoralizing for the Angels, who for the tenth (!) straight time lost to the Red Sox in the postseason.

As the title of this post suggests, tonight’s “contest” was a familiar rehashing of both recent and (the over 40 crowd’s gonna kill me for this) not so recent postseason history.  Jacoby Ellsbury found last season’s October stroke, going 3 for 5 (he also reached base on a fielder’s choice and on an error) with two stolen bases, one phenomenal catch in centerfield and a correspondence of at least 5 text messages between sis and myself discussing how cute and handsome he is while he’s doing all of this.  And while Ellsbury certainly was the best looking part of tonight’s game, his stat line is just the beginning of a complete portrait of dominance on a baseball diamond.

Squarely in the center of tonight’s game was Jon Lester.  The lefty from Tacoma (something I like came from Tacoma?) was dominating, pitching seven strong while striking out seven and surrendering only an unearned run in the third.  Seemingly getting better as the game went on, Lester was working both sides of home plate with all of his pitches, showing great command in addition to overpowering velocity and movement on his fastball. 

Lester wriggled his way out of a few tough spots, including a bases loaded jam early in the game (he gave up six hits and walked one batter through his seven innings of work), however he was able to bear down and masterfully execute his pitches to get the outs he needed.  Only once, after Jed Lowrie booted a gimmie grounder that would have ended the third inning, did Lester allow a run to cross home plate, after Torii Hunter dropped a flare into left field for a single.  After that, Terry Francona’s ace in the hole shut the door on Anaheim and completely blew the Angels’ biggest bats out of the water (Lester didn’t even give up an extra-base hit). 

The Red Sox were only down temporarily, as playoff virgin Jason Bay delivered big time in the sixth inning, smashing a John Lackey fastball deep into the bullpens in leftfield for a two run home run.  Bay’s shot was a no-doubter, and quite frankly, I was surprised that Lackey even gave Bay a fastball to swing at (Bay had struck out twice on the curveball and had looked absolutely terrible every time Lackey threw it).  It would be all Lester would need for the evening. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give due credit to the Captain, Jason Varitek, for calling an excellent game from behind the plate (and for a sacrifice in the ninth inning that set up Boston’s insurance run).  His control of the game is reminiscent of a conductor’s command over an orchestra, and Varitek directed all of the action and guided his team to victory in a truly harmonious fashion.  After working with Lester through seven, Tek guided young gun Justin Masterson through a jam in the eighth and shut the Angels out in the ninth behind the smoking fastballs of Jonathan Papelbon.  It seemed as though every pitch call was the right one, and the Angels hitters that weren’t simply overpowered were often downright fooled (good show, chap!). 

As dominant as the Red Sox were tonight (the icing on the cake was a David Ortiz RBI single), the Angels were equally bad, making some costly errors and coming up short every time they had a chance to catch a break.  The Angels’ breakdown was also reminiscent of series past, as Vladimir Guerrero’s postseason woes continued.  Although the Dominican slugger had two singles tonight, he made a critical blunder on the base paths that killed any momentum the Angels had. 

In the eighth inning with one out (it was Ellsbury’s diving catch in centerfield), Guerrero singled and was followed by Torri Hunter.  The score was still 2-1 Boston, and Lester was out of the game, replaced on the bump by Justin Masterson.  Hunter popped up a pitch to shallow right field, dropping in under the glove of a sliding Kevin Youkilis for a hit.  Guerrero, who had stalled between first and second to see whether or not the Greek God of Walks would make the catch, then proceeded to round second and head for third, despite the fact that his third base coach had put up the stop sign.  Youkilis came up firing, and Gierrero, running like his cleats were two sizes too small, was out by a mile at third base.  Instead of having runners on first and second with one out and the momentum of catching a lucky break, the Angels were left with one runner on and two out, and the bad taste of a base running error to cope with.

Adding to the Angels’ frustration was John Lackey, who pitched a great game into the sixth inning, surrendering only four hits while striking out five.  Like Lester, Lackey seemed to get a little bit better after the first few innings, and it seemed as though the Red Sox line-up (and especially Jason Bay) were in for a long night.  But the three walks that Lackey surrendered came back to hurt him, as Kevin Youkilis got a free pass in the sixth and was then brought around by Bay’s blast into left field.  Much like last year, Lackey pitched a decent game, but was simply bested by the Red Sox pitchers.  Last year, Lackey had the dubious honor of facing Josh Beckett in game one of the ALDS, who pitched a complete game, four hit shutout in front of a raucous Fenway Park crowd.

At this point, it’s hard to see a bright horizon or any kind of silver lining on the dark cloud that’s settled over Anaheim this October.  On Friday, the Red Sox will send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound, who has been nothing short of brilliant this year after an up and down rookie campaign in 2007.  Matsuzaka is 18-3 this year with a 2.90 ERA and has held opposing batters to an impressive .211 batting average against him.  On the road, Daisuke has been even better, going 9-0 while posting a 2.37 ERA and holding opposing batters to a paltry .178 average and a WHIP of 1.15.  Though Daisuke struggled mightily against Anaheim during the regular season (so did the Sox, losing eight times to the Angels and only beating them once), I still like the Sox’ chances for another victory on Friday.  And with Beckett on track to pitch game three at home, I get the feeling that the 2008 ALDS will go much like 2007 and 2004, with some convincing Red Sox victories and a berth into the ALCS to face off against the Yankees Rays (that still doesn’t sound right).