ANAHEIM, Calif. - By the end of the night - a long, angry night for the Red Sox - the enduring image was one of frustration. They had lost the first game of the American League Division Series against the Angels, lost it on a fastball that sailed beyond the fence in left-center.
That they could live with. Home runs happen, even against Jon Lester, even in Game 1 of the postseason against a team the Sox had handled over and over again.
The calls, though - that was where their ire was raised. Their blood pressure, too, though both had cooled by the time the game ended. But not before the manager and the first baseman let first base umpire CB Bucknor in on their feelings. Loudly.
But after last night’s 5-0 loss was over, the Sox were left with the fact that their ace had been outpitched, their bats had done little, and they had opened the doors to a much-improved Angels club that was called out by its center fielder in recent weeks about its tendency to play tight in close games.
It was that center fielder, one Torii Hunter, who battered Lester with the three-run, game-winning home run in the fifth inning, while Angels starter John Lackey was giving up nothing to the Red Sox, who have struggled this season against top-flight pitching.
“By and large, we’re a pretty good offensive team,’’ Jason Bay said. “Lackey shut us down, with four singles. Four singles and three errors isn’t going to win too many ballgames.’’
So while it was the same two franchises meeting again in the postseason, most everything was different.
Only an hour before game time, Sox owner John Henry was standing to the left of the visitors’ dugout in Angel Stadium. He was making small talk, shaking hands, when Angels owner Arte Moreno approached. They shook hands, and Moreno said, “Well, here we are again.’’
“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?’’ Henry replied.
So was the game, at points. It shaped up in the beginning as a duel, with Lester and Lackey in lockstep, but it ended with only one of them waving his cap to an adoring crowd of 45,070. That, of course, was Lackey.
As Sox manager Terry Francona said, “Lot of life on his fastball. Looked like he was moving both ways. Threw enough breaking balls, we had to respect that, and he was able to locate his fastball again in two different directions. He was good. He was real good.’’
And Lester wasn’t quite good enough, as the fifth came around and his pitch count mounted. He allowed a double to Erick Aybar to begin the inning, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Chone Figgins. After he walked Bobby Abreu for the third time, Lester let go of a pitch to Hunter that was blasted out toward the rocks in left-center, putting the Angels up by three.
