"[Sunday] night Scot Shields struck me out on three straight curveballs, so in the back of my mind, I was thinking curveball," said Lowrie. "He left one up in the zone enough for me to find a hole. I never really lost my confidence. That's kind of the game of baseball."
Last night's win was yet another demonstration of how the Red Sox have changed their October modus operandi. This was the type of game the Sox always lost. Now it's a game the Sox always win. When it comes to Red Sox history, there's the Curse Universe, pre-2004. And there's everything since.
A crucial part of this new world order, lefty Jon Lester has emerged as Boston's playoff stopper for 2008. He smothered the Angels twice in a week, allowing zero earned runs over 14 innings, which makes him a worthy successor to Josh Beckett (2007), Curt Schilling (2004), Pedro MartÃnez (1999), and Bruce Hurst (1986). On the heels of his Game 1 victory last week, he blanked the Halos on four hits over seven innings before Hideki Okajima took over in the unfortunate eighth.
The Angels scored a pair primarily because of a cross-up between 23-year-old rookie righty Justin Masterson and captain catcher Jason Varitek. In the old days, the Sox would have folded. No more. Now it's the other guys who cave.
The Angels blew it in the top of the ninth when manager Mike Scioscia called for a suicide squeeze with Reggie Willits on third and Erick Aybar at the plate. Aybar couldn't get his bat on Manny Delcarmen's 2-and-0 pitch and Willits was a dead man running. Varitek ran Willits back to the bag, tagged him, and tumbled over the base.
"Erick's a pretty good bunter and he feels bad he didn't get it down," said Scioscia. "It was a buntable ball. I thought it was going to be a pitch Erick could handle. It didn't work out."
