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Angels, Lackey get monkey off their back in win

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Sean McAdam

Updated Oct 10, 2009 9:49 PM ET
     
 

ANAHEIM, Calif.

Until Thursday night, the last time John Lackey won a postseason start — the seventh game of the 2002 World Series against the San Francisco Giants. The Angels were still owned by Disney, the ballpark in which he pitched was named Edison Field and Barry Bonds' biggest issue was his failure to come through in the postseason. Yes, it had been awhile. Lackey's postseason winless streak wasn't the only thing that came to an end in Game 1 of the ALDS. Dating back to 2004, the Angels were 0-5 in the playoffs at home against Boston and had failed to win the first game of their three most recent postseason meetings with the Red Sox.
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That all changed with the Angels' 5-0 domination of the Sox, and Lackey was the primary reason. He pitched into the eighth and limited the Red Sox to four hits — all of them singles. Through the first five innings, Lackey pitched to two batters over the minimum; by the end of the seventh, he pitched to four over the minimum. Powerful and efficient is a tough combination in October. "He was good,'' said Red Sox manager Terry Francona admiringly. "He was real good.'' "John made pitches,'' said his manager Mike Scioscia, "and that's a long way to pitch against that lineup, to get us 22 outs like that. That's a tremendous effort.'' The knock on the Angels was that while they could boast of a deep rotation — so deep that Ervin Santana was exiled to the bullpen — they lacked a true No. 1 ace, one capable of shutting down the opposing team's top starter. Last year, when the same two teams met in the ALDS, Lackey had fooled Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay with nine curveballs before inexplicably throwing him a fastball, which Bay hit out for a two-run homer, erasing what had been a 1-0 lead. Thursday night, there were no such mistakes as Lackey consistently got Red Sox hitters to roll over on grounders to the right side of the infield — five of the first 10 outs were recorded on harmless balls hit to first baseman Kendry Morales. "I really felt like my arm was pretty live tonight,'' said Lackey, who thrust his cap skyward to acknowledge the rousing ovation when he left with one out in the eighth. "I had a pretty good fastball.'' Lackey got all the backing he needed when Torii Hunter launched a Jon Lester fastball to straightaway center with two on in the fifth. "That guy,'' said Hunter, shaking his head, "he was throwing 95- 96-mph fastballs and a cutter on your back leg as a righthander. He was pretty tough, man. I guess I was lucky or blessed that he threw a fastball down the middle and I was able to capitalize on that mistake.'' It was fitting that Hunter provided the big blow. The outfielder had called out his teammates last month after they dropped three straight — one to the Yankees and two to the Red Sox — on a trip East, hinting that the Angels were intimidated by playing the elite teams. Over his two seasons in Anaheim, Hunter has subtly attempted to change the culture with the Angels and instill them with some swagger. His big blast in Game 1 backed up his talk. "You go out there and you play the game,'' explained Hunter. "You don't know if you're going to get it done. You just try your best and have some heart about yourself and go out there and play the game the best way you know how.'' The loss, while hardly catastrophic, puts the Red Sox in unfamiliar territory. Since being swept by the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 ALDS, Boston had won Game 1 in its last five postseason series — until Thursday.
For the first time in four postseason series meetings with the Angels, the Red Sox find themselves playing from behind. "I don't think it's that bad,'' said first baseman Kevin Youkilis. "If we come out (Friday) and win a game, it gives us an opportunity to go home and play where we play the best. In these short series, it's always good to play home. So, for us, it's about bouncing back and trying to win and going back to Fenway, where we love to play.'' "We've been here before,'' added Dustin Pedroia. "We lost the first game. You don't win one and series over. That's not how it goes.'' But unless the BoSox can get a strong start from Josh Beckett in Game 2 and gain a split in Anaheim, they'll be forced to repeat their 2003 ALDS magic when they survived two cross-country plane trips to win three straight elimination games.
Tagged: Josh Beckett, Giants, Torii Hunter, Red Sox, Angels, White Sox, Ervin Santana, John Lackey, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Dustin Pedroia, Yankees, Jason Bay

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