Beckett v. Mussina (Game 17)

That was just what they needed. Josh Beckett pitched well. They had offense. And the bullpen pretty much had the night off.

Beckett went eight innings and threw just over one hundred pitches (105.) He struck out five, walked only one, and gave up six hits. He was pitching shut-out ball until the fifth inning when he allowed three runs. He then went back to pitching shut-out ball through the eighth. He had eleven ground ball outs and eight fly ball outs.

Papelbon came out to finish the game and wasn't his usual kick-ass self. He struck out Giambi for the first out and Matsui for the last out but ran into some trouble in the middle. He gave up a double to Posada and a homerun to Cabrera sandwiched around the ground out by Cano.

The story of the night, though, was Manny. In his first at bat, he hit number 494 to center field which give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. In his second at bat, he hit number 495 (a two run shot) to left and opened up their lead to 4-0. In his third at bat, he got a base hit and would eventually cross the plate (on a Drew double) to make the lead 6-0.

The rest of the scoring happened thusly:

In the third inning, Ellsbury was almost hit by a pitch-so they awarded him first base. He then proceeded to steal second and took third on the bad throw-effectively giving him a one out triple. Pedroia got a base hit and knocked Jacoby home (2-0). Ortiz hit into a fielder's choice and they took the force out at second. At this point, Manny hit the second home run (4-0). Youkils got a base hit and Drew got a base hit. Varitek got a base hit and Youkilis came around to score (5-0). Then Casey flew out to shallow left to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, Manny got his base hit after Ortiz flew out to right. Youkilis got a base hit right behind him. Then Drew knocked them both in with a double. The inning ended with the strike outs of Varitek and Casey.