Red Sox take ALCS opener, 2-0

Posted Oct 10, 2008 by Aaron Knox

Updated Oct 11, 2008 at 08:18 PM

ST. PETERSBURG—Daisuke Matsuzaka was nearly unhittable and Kevin Youkilis provided just enough offense as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Rays, 2-0, in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series tonight at Tropicana Field.

Matsuzaka, known as Dice-K since joining the Red Sox from the Japanese League two years ago, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and wound up allowing just four hits while striking out nine Tampa Bay hitters.

Youkilis went 3-for-4 with two doubles, including a critical RBI double off the glove of a diving Carl Crawford that put the Red Sox ahead 2-0 in the eighth inning. Jed Lowrtie drove in the other run with a sacrifice fly.

Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth to get the save.

Starter James Shields was solid for the Rays, allowing two runs on just six hits while striking out six in 7 1/3 innings (see previous posts), but Dice-K was better and rookie Evan Longoria continued his struggles at the plate after an historic start to the postseason (see previous post) and saw his playoff batting average dip to .211.

The Rays won 97 games during the regular season and beaty Boston 10 out of 18 times to win the AL East for the first time in franchise history and gain home field advantage for the ALCS. They lost that edge in one hard fought, closely contested game Friday night in front of a sold-out stadium that included a fair number of Red Sox fans, but was dominated by Rays supporters.

One more thing you couldn’t have said about this team, or this place, before this season.