Josh Beckett knows how to make a 14 hour flight a lot more bearable. From one man who has atrocious facial hair to another, it was quite entertaining to watch him mow down Indians hitters. The Sox needed somebody to step up big, and Beckett made it look like no big deal. Sure, it was a little nerve racking in the beginning, but Beckett settled down to take care of business. (The truth is, every pitch is nerve racking now. That’s what happens when you’re on the brink of elimination.)

Youks got things started like he did in Beckett’s first start with a solo shot to give the Sox the lead. Problem is, they couldn’t keep it for long. Beckett gave up one of those bloop doubles near the line in the Bermuda triangle between 3rd, short and left field. A single later and the Tribesmen (that’s Indians, not Jews) had 1st and 3rd with no outs and Hafner up. Beckett used a perfect 2-seam fastball to get Hafner out in front of the pitch and a nice 6-3 double play.

A couple innings later the Sox got the lead thanks to a 2 out walk by Papi followed by a long fly ball from Manny that hit off the top of the wall, scoring Papi from 1st. Somehow Manny only ended up at 1st base which lead to a two inning bitch-fest by McCarver about how Manny doesn’t hustle. Fox must have replayed that play 30 times in the game, and each time I reached a different conclusion. Yes, Manny didn’t bust out of the box. But when the ball bounced off the top of the wall, the Indian’s RF Guiterez bare-handed the ball on the fly and fired it into the infield. Gutierez had already thrown out Manny at the plate in the 1st inning with a perfect rocket. If Manny was running hard he might have made 2nd. But, more importantly, he very easily could have been thrown out there…before Papi crossed the plate. In other words, Manny probably saved us the run by staying at first.

Also, in response to Buck saying that Manny hit the longest single in baseball, he’s wrong. Remember Robin Ventura’s “grand slam single” in game five of the 1999 NLCS? Oh, sorry, that game wasn’t on Fox, so I guess it doesn’t count for Joe.

Beckett had one more test in the 5th when Casey Blake hit a 2 out single which was followed by a questionable “infield single” by Sizemore that sent Blake to 3rd. Now here’s where Beckett is different from Schilling: three pitches. That what it took to get out of the inning. Fastball in, curve ball in, fastball on the outside black, strike three.

Also, for those who have been watching the games with me know that I’ve been bitching about Kenny Lofton the entire series. Not so much for his on-field work, but for some of his “extra-curricular” activities. Well, they finally boiled over last night. It sounded like he and Beckett had a few words and then, after popping out, Lofton decided to charge the mound from first. People got in the way, and order was restored but I have to ask, why was Lofton not ejected? He obviously wanted to either (a) have a physical confrontation or (b) at least try to get in Beckett’s head when he was dealing. This should not be tolerated by MLB. I know it will be because Selig is a wimp, but we’re not playing hockey here (much to Keith Foulke’s dismay), this is baseball and baseball has rules about fighting. Charge the mound, get ejected. It’s that simple.

Now we head back to Boston, in the same situation we were in in 2003 and 2004. It’s not going to be easy facing Carmona, but the Sox have dug themselves into this hole, so they’ve got to get out of it the hard way. I’m hoping the playoff beard is still alive on the flight home.

The playoff beard from the Hong Kong airport: