BOSTON — The Los Angeles Angels might have thought they caught a break when they didn’t have to face Boston Red Sox ace Josh Beckett in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Turns out, they’ll have to get past him to keep their season alive.
Beckett said Saturday he’s ready to pitch in Game 3 of the best-of-five American League series against Los Angeles. That means that if Angels lefty Joe Saunders is going to force a Game 4 on Monday, he’ll have to do it against Beckett, one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball history.
“He loves that pressure situation,” Red Sox reliever Justin Masterson said. “When you have a 2-0 lead on the board and Josh Beckett on the mound, it’s a great feeling. He’s one of my favorites to watch.”
Beckett has won five consecutive postseason starts dating to Game 6 of the 2003 World Series, when he pitched a five-hit shutout on three days’ rest to help the Florida Marlins eliminate the New York Yankees. He won all four of his postseason starts last year, when Boston swept the Angels in the first round en route to its second championship in four seasons.
In all, Beckett is 6-2 with a 1.73 ERA in the postseason — the third-lowest playoff ERA ever for pitchers with at least 40 innings.
“The stage, or the size of the game, he doesn’t shrink from that,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “I think he looks forward to the challenge. He has pitched in some unbelievable games — not just in the postseason. But when you get to the postseason, he has been some kind of pitcher.”
Beckett was the only 20-game winner in the majors last year, going 36-18 in his first two seasons in Boston as he became the ace of the staff. But this season he was just 12-10 with a 4.03 ERA while fighting off right elbow tendinitis in August and a strained oblique muscle that scratched him from the regular-season finale.
With Beckett pushed back from his presumptive series-opening start, Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka filled in and staked the Red Sox to a 2-0 lead in the series. Now Beckett will have a chance to eliminate the team that had beaten Boston eight straight times while going a major league-best 100-62 in the regular season.
“We haven’t seen what won us 100 games in the regular season out there. We haven’t seen our team on the field,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “That’s what’s been frustrating for us. It’s going to take contributions from everybody in the lineup to do that.”
That will include center fielder Torii Hunter, who hyperextended his left knee in Friday night’s game, a 7-5 loss. Scioscia said Hunter would skip batting practice Saturday but be ready to go today.
Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, who played in the first game but sat out the second, is planning to play in Game 3 (and any other games in the series).
Boston right fielder J.D. Drew, who hit the game-winning homer Friday, said he was still trying to figure out how his back would respond.
