Angels vs Red Sox (8/17-8/19)

Game 1: Clay Buchholz made his first career start for the Boston Red Sox on Friday afternoon in the 1st game of the doubleheader with the Angels. In the first inning, Buchholz was visibly nervous as his first 5 pitches were balls and he threw a curveball to the backstop. Buchholz quickly settled down after that despite a fielding error by JD Drew which would have ended the inning. Buchholz ended up allowing an unearned run in the 1st inning and 3 ER throughout the rest of his performance. He finished with 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 5 Ks. Buchholz made his final pitch to Reggie Willits to end the 6th inning on a nasty 12-6 curveball with incredible movement. Red Sox nation was impressed with their 1st look at what is potentially a future ace in the big leagues.

The job done by Buchholz allowed the Red Sox to take the 1st game of the doubleheader from the Angels as their offense tacked on 6 runs in the 1st inning against Cy Young candidate John Lackey. Lackey ended up going 4 innings before giving way to the bullpen.

Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez had 2 hit performances. One of the hits by Ortiz was a 2-run homer that gave the Red Sox an early lead. JD Drew collected 3 hits in the contest.

The win moved the Red Sox to 6 games in 1st place ahead of the New York Yankees.

Game 2: The nightcap was an emotional rollercoaster to say the least for the Red Sox and their fans. It appeared to be an easy game to win with Ervin Santana squaring off against Boston's ace, Josh Beckett. Beckett pitched very well, but Santana was surprisingly able to top him as the Angels carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th inning.

In that frame, the Red Sox were able to come up with some clutch hits against Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez. The big blows came from David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who have seemingly disappeared in close and late situations this season. Ortiz had a 2-RBI double to tie the game and Ramirez followed with a double that scored Ortiz.

Papelbon and Okajima had been used in the day game so it appeared that Francona had to go with Eric Gagne. Gagne started the inning strong to retire Reggie Willits but it all came undone from there. The Angels tied it on a hit by Orlando Cabrera and took the lead when Vladimir Guerrero followed it with a hit of his own.

The Red Sox were unable to come back in the bottom of the 9th. Kevin Youkilis was the victim of a horrible call. Youkilis was called out on strikes after foul tipping what the umpire believed to be strike 3. Terry Francona came out to argue and was ejected, Youkilis was ejected soon after. Julio Lugo was the final batter of the game and he flied out to Gary Matthews Jr. in center field.

The loss combined with a Yankee win brings the Yankees to within 5 games.

Game 3: The Red Sox had not been very good at rallying up until recently, and they were able to do it again on Saturday evening against one of the better pitching teams in baseball.

The Sox fell behind 5-0 early as Curt Schilling struggled through 6 innings, however, he was able to pick up the win thanks to some clutch hitting. The big blow came on a grand slam by David Ortiz in the bottom of the 5th inning. The homerun put the Red Sox up for good.

They ended up scoring a total of 10 as the Angels were unable to put any more runs on the board once Schilling left the ballgame. Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon each pitched scoreless innings to finish out the game.

Game 4: After an encouraging offensive night, the Red Sox bats fell silent on Sunday afternoon in Fenway Park. Joe Saunders of the Angels held the Red Sox to 1 run in 7.2 innings of work. Julian Tavarez pitched very well for the Red Sox (6 IP, 2 ER), but it wasn't enough to deliver a victory.

The lone bright spots in the offense on Sunday afternoon were David Ortiz (2/4) and Bobby Kielty (2/3). It was Kielty's first start in a Red Sox uniform. He also robbed a 3-run homer in the 1st inning to keep the Red Sox close.

The loss, coupled with a Yankee win brings the Yankees to within 4 games of the AL East lead.

On Deck: The Red Sox begin a 3-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday night. Tim Wakefield and Scott Kazmir will square off in the opener.