Red Sox, game 3

4/5/2006 - Boston 2, Texas 1

That's a good one, in so many ways. There aren't going to be many nights when Boston is held to 2 runs, so it's always great when one of those nights comes along and they win it anyway...

- Josh Beckett struggled in his Red Sox debut. He had trouble with his control, and allowed the first batter of the night to score. He threw 81 pitches in the first 4 innings. But he kept working out of trouble, and ended up going 7 innings, throwing 109 pitches, and allowing only the 1 run. He was throwing 95, and touched 97 a couple of times on the gun. A very, VERY encouraging outing from Mr. Beckett. If this is the kind of game we see from him on a regular basis, then it wasn't a good trade - it was a great trade....

- Nixon had a big hit. The offense was doing nothing against Kameron Loe. When they did get baserunners, they were getting erased in double plays. Crisp hit a one-out triple in the 6th, and they couldn't get him in. But when Loe finally left a pitch up, in the 7th, Nixon drove it into the right-field stands for the 2-1 lead, that would end the scoring for the night.

- The Red Sox caught a huge break in the bottom of the 8th. Mike Timlin was making his season debut, and he was shaky, to put it generously. With 2 on and 1 out he gave up yet another hit, and the tying run moved up to 3rd, loading the bases with 1 out. Or, at least, that's what should have happened. Fortunately for the Red Sox, when Texeira reached 3rd, he got waved in, and thrown out. Never should have been sent, and a major break for Boston.

- John Papelbon pitched the 9th instead of Keith Foulke. And he was dominant. Two strikeouts and a pop-up. 11 pitches, 8 of them for strikes, and 95 on the gun. An outstanding performance for his first Major League save.