10 in a Row!

C/O Joe @ Baseballisms
\

\
Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels Game 1 American League Division Series
\

\
10 Post Season Wins in a Row!
\

\
The Red Sox continue to have the Halos number in the post season as the Sox win Game One 4 -1, behind a masterful performance by John Lester.\’a0 Angels fans came into this series banking on the fact that they had won 8 out of 9 games this season, and were putting the playoff losing streak behind them, but after losing game one at home, the proverbial rally monkey is still on their backs.
\

\
In typical Lester fashion, he started a bit shaky but did not break as the Angels could not capitalize on early baserunners, particularly in the 1st inning when they loaded the bases only to see the inning end with a weak grounder to third by Howie Kendrick.\’a0 Lester didn’t give them much more after that, in fact the only run the Angels scored was unearned after a boot by rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie extended the inning for a Torri Hunter RBI single.\’a0 Lester craftily worked around two hits apiece by the impressive offense that the Angels bring to the plate in spots 2 through 5, to pitch seven innings and set the tone for this series.
\

\
The Sox received all the production they needed with one swing of the bat from Jason Bay, who ruined an impressive performance by Angels starter John Lackey.\’a0 With Kevin Youkilis on base, the newest Red Sox left fielder took Lackey’s only mistake of the night deep.\’a0 The twitterverse and TBS announcer Chip Carey immediately blurted out “Manny Who?” as Bay tossed his bat aside for the round trip.
\

\
Jacoby Ellsbury continued his post season heroics right where he left off in the 2007, by contributing to the offense by getting on base five times on 3 hits, a three base error by Gary Mathews Jr., and a fielder’s choice.\’a0 Plus, he made the single most memorable defensive play of the game in the 8th inning with a sprinting, diving catch to take away a leadoff hit from Angels firstbaseman Mark Texeira.
\

\
Sox middle reliever Justin Masterson was a little shaky in his appearance in the 8th and needed the highlight catch by Ellsbury and a base running blunder by Vlad Guerrero to survive.\’a0 At this point the score was still 2 -1, Guerrero had singled, and on a bloop hit down the right field line by Hunter, Vlad ran through a stop sign tried to go first to third, and on a quick heads up play by Youkilis he was thrown out at third by yards.
\

\
After some insurance runs were pushed across in the top of the 9th to make the score 4 -1, it was time to turn the game over to closer Jonathan Papelbon who struck out the side in front of those that remained of the dazed crowd.\’a0 Angels fans who were abuzz with anticipation that this was going to be their year to get past the Red Sox had to put their clappers / thunder sticks / rally monkeys back in their cases and look to Game Two.
\

\
Game two is Friday night in Los Angeles showcasing Daisuke Matzusaka (18-3) looking to extend the RedSox winning streak to 11, versus Ervin Santana (16-7).
\

\
Visit Joe and see all that’s going on at Baseballisms or follow Joe on Twitter.
\