Ready to go again

I haven't been ignoring the Red Sox first loss of the postseason; six hours of sleep and work took priority.

Last night was disappointing. I feel like I wasted five hours and 19 minutes of my life waiting for a payoff that never came. Maybe it will tonight. I wanted to turn the game off, but I kept thinking, "No, you've put this much time into it, keep going." I should have turned it off.

It was an ugly game early. Josh Beckett didn't have it, and the Angels gift-wrapped three runs when a Jacoby Ellsbury pop-up landed untouched in the middle of three fielders.

And then there was the warrior Mike Lowell. Last year, I didn't understand the clamor to bring him back. Yes, he's a great fielder and clubhouse guy, but his bat is replaceable and he didn't look like he'd last much longer. But watching Lowell grit out the pain last night made me understand why the fans love him. The Globe's Tony Massarotti has a good but sad portrait of what was probably Lowell's last game of the season. He was out of the lineup and replaced on the roster before tonight's Game 4, which is about to start.

So the Sox will forge on trying again to end the Angels' season and move on to the much-anticipated ALCS showdown against the Eastern Division champion Rays. I have faith Jon Lester will get it done tonight - if only because the prospect of Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game 5 scares the bejesus out of me.

[Photo credit: Boston Globe]