This game’s thread is guest-hosted by Samuel Goldman of Postmodern Conservative, one of my oldest and closest friends. Hardcore for the hardcore.

So it didn’t go well last night. Not so much the pitching: Lester was pretty good, notwithstanding Hunter’s homer in the 5th. The problem was the offense. Not one extra-base hit all night. Sure, Lackey pitched a great game. What’s got to concern Sox fans is the way he pitched it: fastballs that looked well-aimed, but nothing filthy. Dudes, you’ve got to hit those. It’s disturbing that not one of the highlights reels I watched this morning showed the Sox at the plate.

It’s too soon dismiss Michael’s premonition that we’re headed for 2003 redux. But tonight will be the test. Despite his back problems, I think Beckett can be counted on for a solid start. Will the bats show up? Frankly, I think the Sox hitters look better on paper than they have throughout the season. The stats average out well, but they’ve been very streaky. Last night gave no reason to believe that they’re on the upswing following their pretty uninspiring September.

Then there’s the matter of the calls. Courtesy of C.B. Bucknor (the worst umpire in baseball according to the SI players’ poll): Youk got screwed on a tag in the 4th. Youk got screwed touching the bag in the 6th. Courtesy of Joe West: a strike zone about as generous as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Tonight, Bucknor takes over at the plate. What mischief should we look forward to?

Last night’s win was huge for the Angels, who’ve broken their "curse" (but what do they know about curses?). Still, it’s just one game. I’m predicting another low scoring game, with the Red Sox winning by one or two runs. Note that the Sox are going with Martinez as catcher even though Beckett prefers Varitek. He has good numbers against Weaver, and every hit is likely to count tonight.

I should add that I’ve really just described the game that I want to watch. Whenever I do that, it’s usually a blowout.