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Red Sox power outage spells Game 1 defeat
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(Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)
Pitching wasn't the issue in the ALDS Game 1 defeat of the Red Sox last night in Anaheim. The issue was the lack of hitting on the part of a team that supposedly has one of most feared one-through-nine lineups in baseball. Maybe the Sox felt they were so close to Hollywood that they had to make a cinematic reference through their performance -- you know, "Raiders of the Lost Offense."
Jon Lester was rattled by a few bad umpiring calls, but none of them factored into the ultimate decision. Sure, maybe he had to deliver more pitches than he should have in his "stressful" 100 or so deliveries. But when he hung a pitch to Torii Hunter with two men on, the game was, for all intents and purposes, over. Hello, "rock-pile," goodbye "mo-mentum."
Red Sox hitters (and I use the term advisedly) made John Lackey look like his 2002 World Series persona -- not the shakable, quirky guy the Sox have reached in their playoff past.
So, the loss puts a world of heat on tonight's Game 2 starter, Josh Beckett. Forget the mini-controversy over who was the real "stopper" on the staff. The time for stopping the skid is now. And Beckett has the ball.
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