ALDS Game 1 thoughts

Last night with the Red Sox losing their game 1 opener of their ALDS series with the Angels didn't go as all of Red Sox Nation planned. For four days Red Sox Nation has been waiting with anticipation for 9:37pm est to come. All the hype that was made from ESPN Sports Center, MLB Network to all the great Red Sox blogs on the net time passed as it was in slow motion for Soxtober to begin.

Last night Jon Lester started out strong in the 1st and 2nd inning and got out of a huge jam in the 3rd inning with the bases loaded with Vladimir Guerrero at the plate. Lester came up huge getting "Vlady" to chase a high heater up out of the zone to get out of the inning. To me it seemed that the home plate umpire definately squeezed the plate up on Lester. Quite a few pitches that looked to be on the outside corner or near the bottom of the strike zone didn't get the call. John Lackey of the Angels seemed to me had a more lenient strike zone. However, you can't win any games and you can't make contact with the ball and put runs on the board.

The talk today is of the 2 blown calls by first base umpire C.B. Bucknor. The first blown call came in the fourth inning when Alex Gonzalez’ throw drew Kevin Youkilis off the bag, forcing Youk to make a swipe tag on Angels baserunner Howie Kendrick. Replays showed that Youkilis did tag Kendrick before the LA second baseman reached first, but Bucknor didn’t see it that way.

“He said I tagged him, but he said he was on the base when I tagged him,”
Youkilis said. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

The second blown call also came on a grounder off the bat of Kendrick, who this time led off the sixth by hitting the ball to third baseman Mike Lowell. Lowell tossed the ball wide to Youkilis, who scurried to get his foot back on the bag before Kendrick arrived, and he did so successfully, according to replays. Again, Bucknor saw it differently.

After the game, crew chief Joe West was asked about the controversial plays at first, which also included Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia gathering a wide throw from pitcher Jon Lester after a Chone Figgins bunt and getting back to the bag in time for the out.

“They were three bang-bang plays at first base. It seemed like two of
them went against the Red Sox, one of them went against the Angels. I
mean, they’re all bang-bang plays,” West said. “From where I was, it’s the
kind of play, they hit the bag at the same time. I’m sure that the camera
slowed everything down and they deciphered it the way they did. These are
professional umpires, and they get in the best position they can to make
the call. He was in great position on all the plays. If he got blocked out,
he got blocked out. He was there to make the call. It didn’t appear that
any of them were real routine plays, either. Those were all tough plays.
They were all bang-bang plays. And tomorrow, there are going to be some
more. These two guys always go at it, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

West stated he did see the controversial plays after the game on replay and still wouldn't say if he agreed or not to Bucknor's calls.

“Well, I had my impression. And you see them, you’re going to have yours,” West
said. “They were bang-bang plays. The guys were pulled off the bag on all three
of them. I’m going to tell you, from my heart, I think he was in the
best position he could be.”

Bucknor is scheduled to be behind the plate for the second game of the ALDS.