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Table Turner

Game 1 sort of snuck up on me.  So I figured I'd cover a few quick things first.

Playoff Roster:

C (3)- Jason Varitek, Kevin Cash and David Ross

IF (7) - Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie, Mike Lowell, Alex Cora, David Ortiz and Sean Casey

OF (5) - Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, Coco Crisp and Mark Kotsay

SP (3) - Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett

RP (7) - Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Paul Byrd and Tim Wakefield

Notable left off:  Mike Timlin - Great teammate, but not viable option anymore.

The 10 man staff is all that is needed given the Red Sox have 2 long/extra long relief options in Byrd and Wakefield.  Let's hope they don't need them.

Red Sox players making playoff debuts:  Jason Bay, Justin Masterson, Jed Lowrie and Kevin Cash (yet to appear).

Last night's win was a great start for Boston.  Winning game one on the road gives them home field advantage and proves they can beat this Angels team despite going 1-8 against them during the regular season.

That being said, this series is far from over.  Josh Beckett threw an "aggressive" side session today and threw all of his pitches without limitation.  That is very good news for Boston.

Much was made of the blooper over first where Vlad Guerrero was thrown out at 3rd base.  Great play by Youkilis and a poor play by Guerrero to be sure.  But even if Vlad had stayed at 2nd, the inning would have ended on a double play.  Yes, I'm assuming all post-Guerrero blunder events would have stayed the same.

Jason Bay looked absolutely terrible in his first 2 at bats but sure made up for it with one swing.  Glad he got a couple of big hits in game one to get that potential "first game in the playoffs" monkey off his back.

Lowrie's error, which led to the Angels run, was his first error as a Major Leaguer at shortstop.

Lastly, the Angels fans look utterly deflated last night.  Granted losing game one in any playoff series is a bad idea, but they look as though it was a one game playoff.  Game 2 tomorrow night Angels fans.  Cheer up, your team is good and this series ain't over.  But have some respect, keep cheering until the end and support your team.  No sulking until the game is over.

Comments

the thing that pops out to me is the number of homegrown guys

I could 11 above, 12 if you count Dice K

that is pretty good, granted the second and third catchers are not likely to play significant roles in the postseason and are 2 of the 11

Still an nice thing to see 3/4 of the infield as homegrown guys

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