Sports Redux: Hard To Handle

The Boston Red Sox have scored one run in 18 innings against an Angels pitching staff that has been too hard for them to handle. The 2-0 deficit the Sox are in is even harder to deal with. We'll find out Sunday. We do know that the Red Sox have overcome a 2-0 deficit twice in a five-game series, most recently in 2003 against Oakland.

Friday's 4-1 loss featured great pitching from the Angels and some textbook small-ball examples like stolen bases and hitting and running that produced runs.

Jared Weaver kept the Sox off the bases for the first three innings. Jacoby Ellsbury tripled in the fourth and scored the Sox first postseason run in 20 innings on a Victor Martinez single. They got nothing else from Weaver who pitched 7.1 innings and allowed two hits and one run. The bullpen closed the Sox out without allowing a run.

Josh Beckett started out strong, and showed no signs of any injury, by retiring the first eight batters he faced. He dominated the Angels for six innings. Despite Mike Lowell's spectacular defensive play that stole a double from Torii Hunter, the Angels tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth when Bobby Abreu scored on a Kendry Morales line-drive out.

Beckett's potential gem evaporated in the seventh inning when a walk and a stolen base led to the game-winning single and RBI from Maicer Izturis. After Beckett hit Mike Napoli with a pitch, Erick Aybar tripled to put the Angels up 4-1. Beckett was good, not great. But, he wasn't good enough.

Pedroia being Pedroia

The Red Sox return to Fenway with a literal must-win situation Sunday. All that stands between them and tee times is Clay Buchholz and a torrent of cliches. Dustin Pedroia offered up a lot of those: "You have to win three games in the first series. You don’t just win two. We still have life and we’re going to go out and play as hard as we can. We’ve proved we can do that in the past. We’re definitely not giving up. We’ve got a lot of baseball ahead of us. There’s a lot of character here. That’s what we’re built on. A lot of us have been underdogs, and now we definitely are as a team."

For the most desperate Sox fans, Pedroia even went Manny on the Nation. Steve Buckley quoted Pedroia as saying "It’s not the end of the world, as someone said. And we’re coming out and we’re going to play as hard as we can."

Playoffs Update

Mark Teixeira's 11th-inning home run delivered a crushing blow to the Minnesota Twins. A 4-3 win to go up 2-0 in a five game series is one thing. Having the bases loaded with no outs and not scoring at all and losing on a walk-off home run in Yankee Stadium would appear to be hard to come back from.

Minnesota also led the Yankees, 3-1, in the ninth, before A-Rod belted a Joe Nathan pitch over the fence in center to tie the score at 3-3. Alex Rodriguez is now 4-8 with five RBI in the 2009 playoffs. With A-Rod now seemingly able to hit in October and strong starting pitching (three runs in 12.2 innings) from CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, the Yankees look strong.

Both National League series resume today. The L.A. Dodgers look to close out the St. Louis Cardinals at 6:07 p.m. In Colorado, the Rockies and Phillies are tied at 1-1 in their 9:37 p.m. game. Pedro Martinez starts for the Phillies, assuming it's not too cold or snowy to play.

Celtics

The Celtics returned to the Garden for preseason game two on Saturday and beat the Knicks, 96-82. Kevin Garnett had a triumphant return to the Garden. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Rasheed Wallace had a game free of technical fouls. Hopefully not the last one of those. Sheed finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Yes, it was the Knicks. But, these performances from two key players are good signs.

Another good sign: KG's post-game comments. He seemed at ease with the focus on his fitness for the regular season. "What do you mean I'm not in shape? You got to be careful how your word this homie...I see I'm getting a lot of leg questions tonight, " he said.