It is a series, not one game

This Angels team is not going to just roll over because they lost one game. While I question whether it was appropriate for John Lackey to call out his offense (can you imagine Beckett, Dice-K, Wakefield, Byrd, or Lester ripping his teammates like Lackey did?) and wonder whether anyone on that team wants to join him for dinner, I do not question their ability to come back tonight and play well offensively and defensively. Ervin Santana is good. Really good. Happily, the Red Sox know full well that winning game 1 or having any sort of lead in a series does not guarantee anything and they will come out tonight focused and ready to play as though it is a must-win situation. We should all have confidence that Dice-K will pitch effectively over 6 innings tonight. He may throw a lot of pitches (as Lester did, I might point out), but when he leaves the game the Red Sox will be in position to win.

Much of the joy I get out of October baseball is the anticipation of the games. The games themselves are pretty stressful, making my living room a bit tense at game time and leading to sudden outbursts that wake up my children. Three such outbursts occurred on Wednesday night. The first, with Bay's bomb. The second with Jacoby's catch. And the final one with Papelbon's strikeout to end the game.

Here's hoping Dice-k can throw strike one, and the offense can battle Santana, wearing him down and scoring some runs. I'm hoping for at least 3 more outbursts, preferably 20. We will all sleep better tonight up 2-0 heading back to Fenway.