Josh Beckett had blanked the Angels through six innings, but the seventh was a different story.
A solo homer by Vladimir Guerrero and a three run triple by pinch hitter Erick Aybar busted the game open for the Los Angeles win.
Goat of the game: Beckett or Terry?
It is tough because Beckett was cruising but where do you cut him short and allow your bullpen to go to work.
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This team sucks so bad on the road. They were hitting well, until someone got on base and then they hit into DPs. There were 3 or 4 chances to legitimately put this game out of reach and they came up empty each time. I don’t know what it is with Beckett, but he seems to be hitting a wall around 90 pitches every time out. That said, I think one thing will cure these road problems soon and that’s Papi. I just read the piece below and I’m really encouraged. With him back, the lineup becomes truly lethal because we don’t have to see the likes of Coco Crisp. Look for the Sox to go on a run when Ortiz is back, it looks like he’s hungry and ready.
“Goat” is a strong word for a close, low-scoring game, but if I had to choose one it’d be the offense collectively. 12 LOB, two runs scored: not good.
Beckett was a ground-ball triple away from pitching a great game. As for Francona, if you can’t trust your ace to get out of a jam when he’s pitching well, who can you trust? Did we really have a better chance with Delcarmen or Okajima in that spot? Sometimes you make the right decision and it doesn’t work; that’s exactly what happened to Francona.
Perfect summary jv. In the meantime, Youk looks to be maturing as a full season All-Star .300BA, 25 – 30HR, Gold Glove 1st baseman, still helping to carry the team with just 63 games to go. Pedroia proves neither ROY nor All-Star status were flukes. Lowrie looks like he can grow into the SS position with better range and arm than some critics anticipated, and his bat will be fine. Those two wierd games simply got away, and we will be glad to get away from Anaheim for awhile.