Angels-Red Sox notebook: Teixeira stoked for playoffs

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They said it

“The first thing Torii said was that you don’t need to drink coffee in the morning on the day of a playoff game.”

| The Angels’ Mark Teixeira, on the advice he got from teammate Torii Hunter for his first postseason appearance.

Player of the game

Boston starter Jon Lester allowed only one unearned run in seven innings in a dominant outing. After Boston took a 2-1 lead on Jason Bay’s homer in the sixth, Lester struck out Howie Kendrick, Mike Napoli and Gary Matthews Jr. in succession in the bottom of the inning.

Lester capped his performance in the seventh by reaching the mid- to upper- nineties on his fastball despite being well over 100 pitches. Royals fans know how unhittable Lester can be at times. Literally. Lester no-hit KC on May 19 of this season.

Play of the game

The Angels were still only down by a run when a baserunning gaffe by Vladimir Guerrero effectively snuffed out an eighth-inning rally. Guerrero singled with one out off Red Sox reliever Justin Masterson. Torii Hunter followed with a blooper down the first-base line that just eluded Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis.

Guerrero, who had stopped between first and second, failed to notice the stop sign thrown up by his third-base coach. Instead, he loped toward the third-base bag and was out by 15 feet on Youkilis’ throw to third baseman Mike Lowell.

Another chance for Byrd

Former Royal Paul Byrd is getting another chance at a title this fall with the Red Sox, who knocked out Byrd’s Indians one win shy of the World Series last season. Boston rescued Byrd from the scrap heap in a trade with the Indians on Aug. 12.

| Star news services

Posted on Wed, Oct. 01, 2008 10:15 PM

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