Nothing like John Lackey getting shelled in a game that he has to give the Red Sox innings

Let me be upfront with the fact that I was never excited about having John Lackey on the Boston Red Sox. I thought he was an overrated product of the AL West that wouldn't do anything in the AL East.

It's not like most fans didn't have these same feelings but who could have expected him to be this much of a disaster?

Yesterday he had one task: give the Red Sox innings since they had lost to the Los Angeles Angels in 13 innings on Wednesday night in a game that ended at 2:45 a.m. Making matters worse, they had an afternoon game for the series finale.

Lackey (4 innings, 10 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout) got completely shelled as the Angels (18-14) won their second straight at Fenway Park, 11-0, and left on a good note.

For the Red Sox (14-17), it capped off a bitter mini-stretch as they lost a brutal contest that took forever and then got blown out.

Los Angeles put up 18 hits in this laugher. Former Red Sox pseudo closer Joel Pineiro (1-0) went 5.2 innings, giving up three hits, four walks and two strikeouts in the easy win.

Erick Aybar led the Angels with four hits, two runs, two stolen bases and an RBI. Peter Bourjos had four runs and three hits while Howie Kendrick put up three hits, two RBIs, a stolen base and a run. If that wasn't enough, Bobby Abreu had three RBIs and two hits with Alberto Callaspo adding two hits and two RBIs.

David Ortiz (3 hits, walk) was the only positive for Boston's neutered lineup that put up three runs in the last 22 innings against the Angels.

Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler were sent to the DL with fake injuries. Rich Hill and Scott Atchison took the Pawtucket shuttle and both made appearances in yesterday's debacle. Atchison was knocked around for seven hits and three earned runs in 3.2 innings but Hill threw 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

Lackey's day was over quickly as he gave up three runs in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth before Terry Francona mercifully gave him the hook.

Kendrick had an RBI groundout in the third, followed by Callaspo's two-run single. Kendrick, Abreu and Torii Hunter all had RBI singles in the fourth. Then Mark Trumbo hit a two-run bomb off Lackey. Aybar's infield single made it 9-0 against Atchison and Abreu closed out this nightmare with a two-run double in the seventh.

The good news is that the Minnesota Twins limp (six players including Joe Mauer on the DL) into Boston with a four-game series starting tonight. Tim Wakefield gets the spot start since Dice-K pitched in the 13 inning game (he'll start on Sunday) and Scott Baker takes the ball for the Twins.

Nobody will be paying attention since the Bruins are one win away from the Eastern Conference finals (a place they haven't been in 19 years) and the Boston Celtics are fighting for their playoff lives tomorrow night but the Red Sox need to wake up this weekend against a team that's playing even worse than them.

Oh Dreamweaver

Yikes. In a carbon copy game of the night before, the Boston Red Sox got another decent start by its starting pitcher but couldn't get anything going offensively against the Angels' starter and as a result lost 4-1 in game 2 of the ALDS.

Through two games, Boston has combined for eight total hits and one run. It's baffling. Most expected this to be a tough series since the Angels had to beat the Sox in the playoffs at some point but this is just pathetic.

Victor Martinez actually gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the fourth as he singled home Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits), who had led off the inning with a triple.

Other than that, Jered Weaver was lights out. The lanky, stereotypical Southern Californian went 7.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Josh Beckett was cruising until the seventh inning. The Angels tied it in the fourth when Kendry Morales knocked in Bobby Abreu with a sacrifice fly.

Maicer Izturis gave his team a 2-1 lead in the seventh with an RBI single but Erick Aybar (2 hits) had the big play of the night. He hit a two-run triple to center over Ellsbury's head and the Angels grabbed a three-run lead (4-1). Just like in game 1, once Los Angeles went up by more than a run, you had a feeling that was goodnight.

Boston's bats can't get anything going. They're seeing a lot of pitches but they're not working walks or starting rallies.

Jonathan Papelbon threw a scoreless ninth (hopefully its not the last time he's used in the series) but the Angels bullpen was better. Darren Oliver got a strikeout, Kevin Jepsen recorded two outs and Brian Fuentes notched the last two outs in the ninth for the save.

The 2009 Red Sox season could end tomorrow afternoon at Fenway. It's crazy to think that a team that many considered a dark-horse to get to the World Series has been so lifeless. Still, it's only a 2-0 deficit which is doable (four teams have come back from it; including the Sox in '99 vs. the Indians and '03 vs. the A's) if Clay Buchholz pitches well tomorrow and they start making a couple big plays.

Former Rays pitcher Scott Kazmir gets the start for the Angels tomorrow as they try to move on to the ALCS.

When does the ALCS vs. the Yankees start?

As I texted to three of my friends, who were all (seperately) at the game last night, "the Red Sox own the Angels."

Sure that looked stupid when Anaheim (86-59) took a 7-5 lead in the seventh or an 8-7 lead in the top of the ninth.

At Fenway Park and against the Angels, the Sox (86-58) are world-beaters and they proved that once again with a thrilling 9-8 walk-off win courtesy of Alex Gonzalez. It was their seventh straight win overall and tenth in a row at home.

With Paul Byrd on the mound, the Angels built a 3-0 lead on a Erick Aybar (4 hits) infield single in the third, a Bobby Abreu (3 hits, 2 RBIs) RBI double in the fifth and solo bomb by Torii Hunter in the sixth.

Boston finally got to Angels starter Joe Saunders in the sixth, with a big assist from the usually reliable Angels defense.

Jason Bay (2 hits, steal) cut it to 3-2 with a two-run single and Rocco Baldelli tied it with an RBI single of his own.

Foreshadowing his walk-off bloop to win it, Gonzalez gave Boston a 5-3 lead with a flare to shallow right field which scored two.

Anaheim kept battling and scored three times in the seventh: Howie Kendrick RBI single, two-run double by Juan Rivera (3 hits) and an RBI double by Mike Napoli.

Both bullpens had their major troubles on the night as Boston scored twice more in the eighth. A run came in on Casey Kotchman's groundout and Jacoby Ellsbury's RBI single tied it at 7.

Abreu's RBI single in the ninth off Daniel Bard (2-1) (Papelbon and Wagner weren't available) looked like the game-winner with the bottom of the lineup due up in the home half of the inning.

In one of the most improbable comebacks you'll ever see, Nick Green walked with the bases loaded (after taking a pitch for ball four that was clearly a strike) and then Gonzalez hit a broken bat single to left off Brian Fuentes (1-5), who threw 27 pitches.

Josh Beckett faces Ervin Santana tonight in the series finale and I think after the craziness of the first two games, you can expect a perfect game or at the very least a no-hitter from Beckett, who has not been himself for over a month.

Texas lost again last night so they're 6.5 games back in the wild card. Good night Rangers and thanks for playing.

Stop the presses: Angels win a game and stave off elimination

The Boston Red Sox had a perfect opportunity to put away the Anaheim Angels last night in game 3 of the ALCS but the Angels survived by winning 5-4 in 12 innings.

Big game ace Josh Beckett was not his usual dominant self as he labored through five innings of work. He gave up four runs (all earned) on nine hits with four walks and six strikeouts.

Out of all the Angels' bats, catcher Mike Napoli would never be considered the most feared Anaheim hitter. Yet last night he came through when his team needed it the most. He hit two homers off Beckett and added another hit, driving in three and scoring three runs on the night.

Anaheim led 1-0 in the first as Beckett walked Juan Rivera with the bases loaded.

Boston responded with three gift runs in the second as Erick Aybar and Torii Hunter let a Jacoby Ellsbury pop up fall between them, scoring three runs.

Angels starter Joe Saunders had bad numbers but it wasn't his fault since his team made that terrible mistake. He went 4.2 innings, giving up four runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

Napoli tied it at three in the third with a two-run homer then put Anaheim ahead in the fifth with a solo shot.

Kevin Youkilis' RBI double scored Ellsbury in the fifth before the bullpens surprisingly both pitched six shutout innings in a row.

I lost track of how many times the Sox relievers escaped trouble in the top of the inning, only to see the hitters fail to produce the walk-off hit that would clinch the series.

Aybar was the other unlikely hero in the win as he made his first hit of the series count. He knocked in Napoli with an RBI single of Javier Lopez.

Jered Weaver got the win as he pitched two scoreless frames.

The teams get back at it tonight in game 4 as Jon Lester faces John Lackey, a rematch of game 1. Boston faces pretty much a must-win as it can't go back to Anaheim after choking away two chances to end this against a clearly frazzled team.

Sox in desperate need of some mango salsa

Since David Ortiz injured his wrist on May 31, the Red Sox have played over .500 but it's clear to see that they lack a certain punch in their lineup, particularly late in games.

Ortiz is the most clutch hitter in baseball so it's no surprise that Boston continues to lose close games without him.

Yesterday afternoon, the Angels defeated the Sox, 4-2, in a game that Boston led, gave away then had a chance to take back before falling short.

Josh Beckett (9-6) went the distance and was lights out, except for the seventh inning. Beckett gave up all four runs in the seventh. For the afternoon, he gave up nine hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Angels (59-38) all-star Joe Saunders didn't pick up the win but he gave his team a quality start: 6.2 innings, six hits, two runs, three walks and a strikeout. He turned it over to the normally lights out Angels bullpen and they didn't disappoint the home crowd.

Rookie Jose Arredono improved to 4-0, after recording just one out. The Sox (57-42) had set-up whiz Scot Shields on the ropes, ditto for the immortal K-Rod in the ninth, but each time Los Angeles escaped without allowing any runs.

Boston scored its only two runs of the game in the second as Manny Ramirez doubled, followed by Kevin Youkilis's 17th home run (career high) of the season.

Vladimir Guerrero opened the seventh with a solo shot off Beckett and pinch hitter Erick Aybar came through with the hit of the game-a bases clearing triple. The Sox played it by the book, walking Howie Kendrick with one out and runners on first and third to get to Aybar. Unfortunately, the utilityman ripped a grounder down the line in right past Youkilis.

In the eighth, Boston loaded the bases with rookie Jed Lowrie coming to the plate. Shields walked two in the inning but he quickly regained his control, whiffing Lowrie on three pitches. Thanks for playing.

With one out in the ninth, Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) singled to right before J.D. Drew worked a walk. Just like they'd prefer, Manny and Mike Lowell came up with the chance to tie it up or put the Sox ahead. Didn't happen though as Manny popped to second and Lowell flew out on the first pitch to left.

K-Rod now has 39 saves and is well on his way to breaking Bobby Thigpen's record of 57.

Tim Wakefield pitches against Jon Garland this afternoon as Boston tries to avoid the sweep.