While Manny's hitting meaningless homers with the Dodgers already up a hand full of runs, Jason Bay continues to come through in the clutch when the Sox need it most. Bay homered in the first to give the Sox a commanding 4-0 lead (and he became the first Sox player to hit homers in each of his first two postseason games), but it would not stand as the Angels clawed their way back to tie the game 5-5 in the eighth.

Enter J.D. Drew, who hadn't hit a homer in over a month. Manager Mike Scioscia wisely handed the ball over to his record breaking closer, but Drew cared not for K-Rod, his stupid fist pumps, ugly Oakleys and 62 regular season saves. J.D. crushed a hanging change to center, showing off what Chip Caray for some reason constantly refers to as his "Mickey Mantle-like power." Not sure if the analogy is appropriate, but a combined six hits from the J's was certainly more than appropriate tonight.

Other observations: Dice-K (5 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K)  looked good, not great. He gave the Sox five strong innings, but in postseason ball (even more so than the regular season), you'd like to see your starters last at least six... Papi's (2-5, 2B, R) swing looks great and he's batting .300 so far through the first two games. He may still not be 100%, but Papi at 80-90% is more than enough... Although Pap (2 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) technically blew the save by letting Figgins score on a sac fly in the eighth, it was great to see him out there pitching two strong to get the win. Francona was adamant about not using him for more than three outs per game for much of the regular season, and now it's clear that that decision has paid off... His lack of hitting hasn't hurt the Sox yet, but Dusty (0-5, 6 LOB, .000 BA through two games) has to get the bat going. There will be a game when Bay and Drew don't combine for six hits and six RBI and when that happens, the Sox will need Dusty's production out of the two-hole... Beckett in Game 3 with a two-games-to-none advantage - have you ever felt more comfortable in a postseason Sox series in your entire life? Me neither.