3 down ... 8 to go

first team to win 11 games wins the world series

so on to tampa bay is it ... from alds to alcs ... this after a dramatic end to another nail-biting october baseball game between the los angeles angels of anaheim and boston red sox ... the angels were favored to win this series ... the angels finished the regular season with the best record in baseball ... the angels won 100 games (albeit in the al's worst division) ... the angels play exciting, aggressive baseball ... the angels have a fearsome heart of the batting order ... garrett anderson, mark teixeira, vladimir guerrero and tori hunter ... the angels have strong starting pitching ... and an even better bullpen ... shields in the 8th ... k-rod in the 9th ... and the angels have manager mike scioscia ... so, how did the los angeles angels lose this series ... defense ... or lack thereof ... plain and simple ... the angels (except for 1st baseman teixeira) did not play anything close to championship level defense in this series ... and the red sox did ... add in some aggressive but not so bright baserunning (vladi in game #1 and tori hunter in game #3) ... and you have your answer

game 4 <> american league division series (alds)
boston red sox 3 .. los angeles angels of anaheim 2
winning pitcher <> manny delcarmen (1-0) ... losing pitcher <> scott shields (0-1)

boston red sox win series 3-1

#1 star of the game <> shortstop jed lowrie
4 at bats <> 2 hits <> 0 runs scored <> 1 run batted in
julio lugo started his last game at shortstop on 7/11 ... gone for the season with an injured and then reinjured quadracept tendon ... 24 year old jed lowrie was recalled from pawtucket to replace the disappointing lugo ($9,250,000 for lousy hitting and worse defense) ... jed got off to a slow start with the bat ... hitting just .222 in july ... but august was a breakthrough month for the rookie ... 102 at bats ... 12 doubled ... 24 runs batted in ... how many mornings in august did we look at a box score to see lowry had a double and two rbi's the night before ... oh yeah, did i mention lowry's flawless defense at both shortstop and 3rd base (replacing mikey lowell) ... during his 3 months with the big club ... lowrie has convinced many red sox fans he is the shortstop or 3rd baseman (post lowell) of the future ... we shall see ... time will tell ... but, on this night in october ... rookie jed lowrie's bottom of the 9th inning ... jason bay's scoring ... tie breaking ... walk off ... game winning ... series clinching ... first pitch base hit thru the hole into right field ... grew the "lowrie for shortstop" bandwagon a whole lot
#2 star of the game <> starting pitcher jon lester

7 innings pitched <> 0 runs <> 4 hits <> 2 walks <> 4 strikeouts <> 109 pitches
do they select an mvp for this round of the playoffs ... whether they do or don't ... jon lester is the mvp of this alds ... he's also probably the real #1 star of this game ... but how do you deny a rookie who wins the game with a walk-off base hit ... lester's alds totals ... 14 innings pitched ... 10 hits ... 0 earned runs ... 3 walks ... 11 strikeouts ... 0.00 earned run average ... anyone else notice the johann santana for jon lester and justin masterson and jed lowrie and coco crisp bandwagon finally crashed and burned from lack of credibility sometime in july ... that's why theo epstein is making the decisions over on yawkee way ... thankfully ... rather than media assclowns and moron sports talk callers ... the red sox have known for at least 4 years they had something very special in jon lester ... now we are all being treated to just how special the big strong lefthander from tacoma is #3 star of the game <> left fielder jason bay

3 at bats <> 2 hits <> 1 run scored <> 1 base on balls <> 1 double

bottom of the 9th inning ... potential elimination game tied at 2-2 ... jd drew strikes out to lead off the inning ... jason bay drives a ball down the right field line ... angels right fielder reggie willits decides to try and catch the ball on the fly ... rather than let the ball drop in front of him and field it on the first bounce ... willits dives but doesn't come close to catching the fly ball ... that defensive decision turns a likely single into a sure one out double and possible triple ... fortunately for willits ... the ball bounces high into the stands for a ground rule double ... two pitches later ... after a kotsay screaching line drive out to teixeira ... and a bounding base hit to right by jed lowrie ... bay is sliding safely across home plate with the game winning run ... bay touches home with his left hand ... and is accidentally spiked by catcher mike napoli ... watching jason bay's postgame interview speaks volumes about how this kid is loving playing in october ... as the interview progresses you can see the blood spots appearing and multiplying from jason wiping his bleeding hand on his white jerseyhonorable mention #1 <> first baseman mark kotsay

4 at bats <> 1 hits <> 1 run scored

offensive output is not the story of mark kotsay's night ... it is this career outfielder's defensive play at 1st base that is recognized here ... aquired from the atlanta braves on 8/27 to provide outfield depth in case jd drew's bad back didn't respond to treatment ... kotsay has played almost as much at 1st base in place of gold glove starter kevin youkilis ... who has moved to 3rd base to replace the injured mikey lowell ... and tonite his play at 1st base was gold glove calibar ... a 6th inning sliding catch of a vladi foul pop up was spectacular ... and his 7th inning catch of a howie kendrick foul fly down the right field line is only made by the best at the position