Francona sits aching Lowell
But he will be back for Game 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Clearly suffering in the field and at the plate, Mike Lowell was assigned a place on the bench in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
It was not a decision made easily, but it was necessary in order to have Lowell ready to play in Game 3 tomorrow at Fenway against lefthander Joe Saunders.
"That was a hard one for me," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "Under a lot of circumstances you just throw Mikey Lowell out there because of who he is. I thought in this case I needed to step in and kind of be the manager. I guess I always try to arrive at the right decision. Some decisions are harder than others, and that was a hard one."
Francona said Lowell has not had a setback since Wednesday's Game 1, though Lowell said that day he had never experienced worse pain. He had trouble on a checked swing in Game 1, as well as getting down the line and at third base, though he mostly had balls hit right at him.
Francona said there might have been a situation in which he could use Lowell last night. "There might be an instance where you can hit where there's not a force at first, or something like that where it's just hitting," Francona said before the game. "But you won't see him in a position where he can hurt himself.
"I definitely think this is the right thing to do, and I don't mean Mikey Lowell can't help us win. We've got a lefthander coming in [tomorrow] in Boston. I think it's pretty obvious Mikey's hurting when he's moving. I don't have all the answers, but I'm trying to have as many as I can."
The Sox shifted Kevin Youkilis to third base, and started Mark Kotsay at first. Kotsay was one of the few Sox who had seen quite a bit of Angels starter Ervin Santana before last night, going 7 for 18 (.389) with two RBIs. He added another hit in the 7-5 victory.
Francona also started Alex Cora at shortstop instead of Jed Lowrie. Cora had two hits (double, triple) and two RBIs in three at-bats against Santana. Last night, Cora added another hit (double).
Beckett fine
Josh Beckett, who is scheduled to speak to the media today for the first time since straining his right oblique Sept. 26, is still on target to pitch Game 3. Beckett was fine yesterday after his aggressive side session Thursday when he threw 67 pitches."I think we kind of needed to go about it the way we did rather than hold him down and hope - or maybe I should say, pitch him today hoping," Francona said. "His week is important to him, the long toss, the side [session]. I mean, he threw a 67-pitch side, [which] is pretty extensive. But he needs to know in his head or in his mind that he can go out and do what he needs to do to win, and now he does. So, I think we all feel better about it."
Beckett went through his normal conditioning drills yesterday, and played catch. He elected to remain with the team rather than fly to Boston early.
Measure of trust
Going to Justin Masterson out of the bullpen instead of fellow righthander Manny Delcarmen in the eighth inning of Game 1 demonstrated how far Masterson has come this season, and he was called upon in the seventh inning last night. He started the year with Portland.And though he allowed two singles in Game 1, thanks to Vladimir Guerrero's trouble on the bases and an excellent play by Youkilis, Masterson made it out of the inning unscathed.
"We thought when he came back and pitched that game in Seattle [2 2/3 hitless innings with three strikeouts July 23], his first outing back from Triple A and being converted to the bullpen, and the power that he showed and the swing and miss, just the mound presence and relaxation, we felt right then that we had a standout reliever and someone who could definitely pitch late in the game," said pitching coach John Farrell.
Masterson allowed one run in one inning last night.
Defensive gem
No Lowell at third base, no problem. Even with Kevin Youkilis playing at his secondary position, the third baseman helped out Jonathan Papelbon with two stellar plays in the ninth inning. Not only did Youkilis make a nice bare-handed play on Torii Hunter's bunt to lead off the inning, he also went into the photo well to snare Gary Matthews Jr.'s foul pop. "Those are key for this team, to pitch well and play defense," Jason Varitek said. "He makes the bare-handed ground ball play on the bunt, and then he comes up with a beautiful catch in the stands. Those are two big outs." Said Youkilis "I thought I had [the pop up] the whole time. Thirty or 40 feet from coming down, I knew I was going to have to jump up and get it, so luckily it came to me."Bay watch
Jason Bay's first-inning home run was his second in two career postseason games. Bay is the first Red Sox to homer in his first two postseason games. He's the 14th player in history to do it, following Matt Holliday last season . . . Jacoby Ellsbury now has hits in his last 20 games, including the regular and postseason. He also stole his third base of the ALDS . . . David Ortiz extended his ALDS hitting streak to 13 games, tied for the second longest in Division Series history.Running the option
The Sox will have an optional workout at Fenway this afternoon . . . Francona said he talked to Mike Timlin, who was left off the ALDS roster. "I've spent a lot of time with Mike, he's had a long career," Francona said. "To be able to have the ability to talk through something with somebody after you've made a decision, I think helps everybody. I think he left yesterday feeling better. You can't expect guys to compete, then just turn a switch off when you make a decision. I understand that. But I also think that his season's not over." . . . Since Oct. 17, 2004 (Game 4 of the AL Championship Series against the Yankees), the Sox have won 11 of their last 13 home playoff games. The Sox went 7-1 at Fenway in the 2007 playoffs, including wins in the final four games after losing Game 2 of the ALCS to the Indians . . . Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli was at Angel Stadium last night, escorted by Sox general manager Theo Epstein . . . Francona was asked yesterday if he got enough credit for managing the Sox to two World Series titles in four years. Between chuckles, he said, "I think when we win I hope we win as an organization. The winning for me is enough. I really get a kick out of it. There is no way you ever win anything without really good players. I think when you couple that with having a really good organization, it certainly helps. If I said I don't care, that sounds flippant, and I don't mean it like that, but I guess what I care more about is us winning. That's enough for me."Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com. 