Projo Sox Blog

After one of the least exciting Septembers that Red Sox fans have seen this decade, there was hope that some some sense of baseball drama would return last night, when the Red Sox faced the Angels in Game One of the American League Division Series.

For much of the first half of this season, the Red Sox were widely regarded as one of the best -- if not the very best -- team in baseball. The club won eight straight games against the Yankees, held first place in the American League East for most of June and July, and then found itself in the middle of high intrigue as the July 31 trade deadline approached.

Boston was known to covet Toronto's Roy Halladay; that didn't happen, but the Sox ended up pulling off an even better deal (as it turned out) by getting catcher Victor Martinez. Just a week after the Martinez signing, though, all the air seemed to come out of the balloon as Boston got swept in a four-game series in Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox fell to six and a half games out of first place as a result of the sweep and never again got closer to five games from first place.

Meanwhile, what seemed likely to be a three-way battle to the finish for a wild-card playoff berth between Boston, Texas and Tampa Bay never materialized as the Rangers and the Rays stumbled badly down the stretch. The Rays went 11-17 in September, and the Rangers were 13-15.

In the end, the Red Sox finished eight games out of first place and eight games out in front for the wild card, with the regular season ending in a progression of rainy, meaningless games.

Then came last night, which for a while had the makings of a classic postseason pitcher's duel between Jon Lester and John Lackey. Lester wasn't dominant for the first four innings, but he made the big pitches when he had to, especially in striking out Vladimir Guerrero to end the third inning with the bases loaded.

But when Torii Hunter slammed a three-run homer in the fifth inning to put the Angels on the scoreboard, Red Sox fans may as well have turned off the television. Because the Boston offense managed only three base runners the rest of the way, and no one got past second.

Tonight, the Red Sox will have to do better. Although Boston has a history of rallying in do-or-die situations, this team has not inspired much confidence that it will be able to come back from a two-games-to-nothing lead, particularly against an Angels team that seems -- like its fan base -- to have so much more passion and spark right now.

 Tags  Los Angeles Angels

Comments

Constant Gina said:

wow...nice they looking at the World Series..!!!

Link | October 9, 2009 6:37 PM
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