One Down, Ten to Go
Wow.
What a way to start the playoffs. In four career postseason starts, Josh Beckett now has three complete game shutouts, and he managed this one with eight strikeouts, no walks, and only four hits (none of them for extra bases). After giving up a lead-off single, he proceeded to retire the next 19 batters. He was consistently throwing two-seam and four-seam fastballs at 96-98 mph, and throwing his curve ball for strikes.
And he had great defense behind him. Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury both made outstanding catches in the outfield, and Lowell made a great diving stop in the third that we had to see in replay because TBS was still showing commercials when the inning started.
And on the other side, John Lackey didn’t miss a lot of bats. Kevin Youkilis (now tied with Manny Ramirez for Sammy’s favorite player) got his first postseason hit in the first inning, a home run that turned out to be the only run the Sox would need. Big Papi continued to demonstrate that he’s back in fine form, hitting a two-run shot in the third. And two batters later, Mike Lowell drove in another run to top it off.
Not bad, eh? I like it.
“because TBS was still showing commercials when the inning started.”
I am so not impressed with TBS. They didn’t tell us Ellsbury had come into the game until he made that catch, either. I know the playoff thing is new to them, but shouldn’t they have a handle on how to do baseball games by now? We seem to have drawn the worst of their broadcast teams for this series as well. It’s almost enough to make one look forward to Fox.
Comment by Jennifer — October 4, 2007 @ 11:47 am
True, although we did notice that the TBS announcers don’t seem to be nearly as biased against the Red Sox as the Fox and ESPN announcers always seem to be. I’d say they were fair but uninspired. And I don’t understand why TBS hired Don Orsillo to call National League games when he could be covering the Sox…
Comment by Matthew — October 4, 2007 @ 11:55 am