Let’s be honest.  The Red Sox did not beat an Angels team playing at their best.  Game 4 offered a lot of evidence to support that.

• Howie Kendrick still looked totally overwhelmed by the moment
• Bad baserunning by Torri Hunter
• And the fatal blow, the failed squeeze play

I give Scoscia tons of credit for trying the squeeze play.  I like that kind of aggressive baseball and thats’s the way his team plays.  I think it was a good call.  Sure, there were other ways of getting that run in from third, but he had the right players in the right spot to execute that play.  It’s not like he was asking Garrett Anderson to get a bunt done.

Quite honestly, if you’re an Angels fan looking for blame…blame it all on Erick Aybar.  C’mon now…you have to get a bat on the ball on that situation.  Even hitting it off the bat into your face is better than missing outright with a guy charging in from third.

But enough with the Angels.  There’s a lot to feel good about from game 4.  Benching Lowell and moving Youk to third is the right thing to do.  Especially after seeing what Kotsay can do at first.  Lowrie getting the game winning hit and Bay scoring the game winning run seems fitting.  Those two improved (arguably) two major weak spots in the Red Sox roster.  Do you think Lugo would have come through with that hit?  Would Manny have made that great slide to score the winning run?  Or would have lost time rounding third while geting rid of his helmet?

Nevertheless, can’t  help but think that the Sox got away with one in this series.  They got zilch from Pedroia and Ortiz.  But they still won.  Beckett was not Beckett.  But they still won.  In the beginning, If I had said that Pedroia, Ortiz, and Beckett really weren’t going to perform like they are capable of, would you believe that they could win this series?  Me, neither.

In 2004, one of the best things about the championship run was that it took the entire roster to make it happen.  The 2008 run is shaping up that exact way.