ALCS GM 1: Sox crush Tribe behind Beckett and boppers

Sox 10, Cleveland 3
WP: Beckett (2-0)
LP: Sabathia (1-1)
HRs: BOS-None; CLE-Hafner (1)

Perfect 10: As Manny & Papi reach base all 10 times, we are left to wonder, is there no limit to what these two can do?

RECAP
Josh Beckett came one step closer to entering the pantheon of legendary postseason performers with yet another masterful victory, although this time he proved he was human by allowing a couple of runs, and the dynamic duo of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez reached base in all ten of their plate appearances as Boston throttled the Tribe in the opening game of the ALCS.

#1 STUNNER Beckett 6IP, 4H, 2ER, 0BB, 7K
Boston's All Star ace and 20-game winner once again put his team on his back and carried them to another huge victory. He wasn't as electric as the opener of the ALDS, but he was plenty good enough to get the win tonight.

Let's face it, it's come to the point when he's on the mound, everybody expects him to win.

GAGME C.C. Sabathia 4.1IP, 7H, 8ER, 5BB, 3K
Cleveland's All Star ace failed to get out of the fifth inning as the 19-game winner was got hammered by the relentless Boston attack. The Sox scored one in the first, four in the third and then three more in the fifth against the supposed Cy Young contender, and by the time he left the game Boston was well on its way to its first ALCS win since Game 7 in 2004.

RECAP
On a night when Boston batters bludgeoned a potential Cy Young candidate like he was a rotting pinata, the talk of the town has to be the continued excellence of starter Josh Beckett.

The moody Texan, who saw his postseason shutout streak come to an end at two games, was far from the near-unhittable maestro that he was against the Angels in Game 1 of the ALDS, but there are plenty of hurlers who would think a game like this in an ALCS game was a career achievement.

For Beckett it was just another night at the office.

But besides the brilliance that is Beckett, the other big story to come out of this game is the power surge the offense is experiencing, especially the twin towers of power, Ortiz and Ramirez.

The two amigos reached base 10 times this evening, a miraculous feat for any pair of players to achieve in a playoff game against a stellar starting pitcher, but with both of these guys hurting a bit due to some persistent, nagging injuries, the accomplishment becomes all the more sweeter.

The linescores for the duo went like this:
-Ortiz 2-2, 2R, 2BI, 2BB, HBP, 2B
-Ramirez 2-2, 2R, 3BI, 3BB

As if that kind of damage wasn't bad enough, the rest of the offense would chip in eight more hits and five more walks off five Cleveland pitchers.

Professional Hitter/RBI machine Mike Lowell contributed a trio of ribbies, Kevin Youkilis notched a pair of hits and scored three runs, and late lineup insertion Bobby Kielty made sure Francona looked like a genius again when his two-run single broke the game open and drove Sabathia from the game in the bottom of the fifth.

But that's the kinda shit that happens when your team is rolling at just the right time, an occurrence that isn't experienced too often in the Nation, but one that is certainly savored (and shared) when it does.

Ironically the night that ended so splendidly began on an ominous note as Travis Hafner deposited a 1-0 pitch from Beckett into the seats beyond the Cleveland bullpen for a solo home run with two outs in the first that silenced the rowdy-yet-frosty Fenway Faithful.

But Boston tied it up in the bottom of the inning on three consecutive singles to center field by Youk, Papi and Manny, and even though Lowell grounded into a double play to squelch that rally, the early advantage disappeared from the Indians' side and the Sox soon made sure they would not get it back again.

Julio Lugo led off the third with a ground-rule double into the right field seats, was sacrificed to third by Dustin Pedroia, then stood there while Youk (4-4, 3R) drew a walk and Ortiz was hit on the jersey by a Sabathia fastball, loading the bases with one out for Ramirez.

Instead of living up to the 'GrandSlamManny' nickname my son has coined for him, the second all-time leading slammer added a new wrinkle to his sacks-packed stats: the bases-loaded walk.

Ramirez climbed out of an 0-2 hole to work the free pass from C.C., which forced Lugo in with the go-ahead run, and like the proverbial seal opening after the first piss on a night of drinking, Boston's offensive onslaught would gush forth like an undamed wall of water from there on out.

Three pitches later Lowell (1-3, 3BI, BB) squirted a shot down the right field line and that bounced just out of the reach of Franklin Gutierrez and into the stands for a two-run ground-rule double to make the score 4-1, and after Kielty was intentionally walked to load the bases for Varitek, the Captain grounded sharply to third to score Ramirez with Boston's fifth run.

And the rout was on.

Following a 1-2-3 fourth, Beckett danced into and out of trouble in the fifth when he hit Ryan Garko with a pitch and allowed a double to Kenny Lofton, but a double play and a strikeout of Gutierrez ended any hopes of an Indians rally.

Then in the bottom of the fifth, Boston busted the game wide open when they loaded the bases on a walk by Ortiz, a single to center past the diving second baseman by Manny and a walk to Lowell, setting the stage for Kielty's money shot.

Francona made the decision a day earlier to sit starting rightfielder J.D. Drew in favor of the seldom-used Kielty due to the redhead's moderate success (9-29, 2HRs) against Sabathia from his days with the Twins.

But to the delighted Nation it felt more like a deserved snub of the man who has been the biggest disappointment of the season for the Sox, well aside from Gagne of course.

Except once again Francona proved to be a budding LaRussa, a master strategist whose moves pay off time and time again, when Kielty stepped in against the Indians starter and dropped a solid single into right field to push the score to 7-1 Boston, and even though Lowell got trapped coming around second and was tagged out for the second out of the inning, with Sabathia knocked out of the game and Beckett on the mound, it was all over but the celebrating.

Tek greeted reliever Jensen Lewis with a lined double to right center to make the score 8-1, and when Cleveland got one back off Beckett in the sixth, Boston made sure there would be no comeback thoughts for the Tribe when they turned the game into an official blowout with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame.

For the fourth time on the night Boston loaded the bases, this time on singles by Pedroia and Youk and a walk to Big Papi, and for the second time on the night Manny practiced patience and drew the bases-loaded walk, and then Lowell launched a sac fly to deep center to get the Sox to the double-digit mark in runs for the first time since--you guessed it--Game 7 of the 04 ALCS.

Which reminds me, I wonder what Judas Demon is doing about now?

Anyway, the 10-2 lead combined with the chilly temp was enough to get Beckett out of the game, and although Cleveland scratched a run off Javier Lopez in the seventh and then loaded the bases against piece of shit reliever Eric Gagne in the ninth to give us a little scare, anyone who was watching could only come away with one conclusion:

the best team in baseball is playing its best baseball at the perfect time of the season.

The sign in the stands late in the game said it all- "7 more wins."