Dice-K, Red Sox Shut Out Rays In ALCS Opener

One game into the American League Championship Series, the home-field advantage the Rays carved out over a six-month season is gone.

It can happen that quickly in the postseason, as the Red Sox know. And the 2-0 victory Boston constructed Friday night on dazzling work by Daisuke Matsuzaka and three relievers swung the momentum decidedly toward the defending world champions.

"Tough night," said Cliff Floyd. "We don't like losing at home. You lose home-field advantage, it's not a good thing. But we're not out of this, and tomorrow's a new day."

The Rays will be left to cling to that as they hope their hitters have more answers against tonight's starter, Josh Beckett, than they did against Matsuzaka. The first pitcher out of the gate for the Red Sox was so good that he needed only a swing and a half's worth of offense in the fifth inning to hand James Shields a difficult setback to swallow.

Tampa Bay couldn't muster a hit through the first six innings against Matsuzaka, his hold on the Rays' bats rendering moot a strong performance by Shields. The backbone of the Rays' rotation more than held his own through 7 1/3 innings but was left to absorb one of the toughest losses of his career. He was charged with both Boston runs despite handling himself with aplomb in a few tight situations and looking downright dominant at times.

"It's a mortal sin to waste good pitching, always," said Rays manager Joe Maddon, "and he pitched really well."

Still, the enigmatic Matsuzaka was better. The right-hander looked every bit his 18-3 record, pitching far more effectively than he did at times in compiling such a gaudy regular-season mark. He matched his season high with nine strikeouts, four of them called third strikes as the Rays struggled to get a good look at what he was doing after he walked three batters in a 27-pitch first inning.

His work was more than sufficient to hand over a lead to the Red Sox' bullpen, which he did after Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton collected back-to-back singles leading off the eighth. Those hits got the full house of 35,001 going, but most in a more Rays-leaning crowd than usual for a game against the Red Sox were left disappointed once again.

Hideki Okajima got Carlos Pena to fly to right on a 3-0 pitch, and Justin Masterson entered to deepen Evan Longoria's slump by inducing an inning-ending double play.

It was Jonathan Papelbon's turn in the ninth, and there was no miracle finish for the Rays this time. The demonstrative closer handled the Rays in order, extending his career scoreless string in playoff games to a major league-record 20 2/3 innings.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Rays will have to rebound today against Beckett, who is 6-2 in 11 career postseason appearances. And they'll be hard-pressed to get the kind of pitching they got Friday.

Shields could lament his bad luck for the way the Red Sox opened the scoring in the fifth, as a checked-swing double down the left-field line by Mark Kotsay put men on second and third and Jason Bay scored on a Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly. But it was Shields who put Bay on base to open the inning with a walk.

That tally loomed larger as the game unfolded, with the Rays unable to manage even hard contact against Matsuzaka's wide-ranging repertoire until Carl Crawford singled to right leading off the seventh. The Rays appeared to have broken through at last when Floyd followed with a solid single to left-center that sent Crawford scurrying around to third.

But neither runner budged from that point before the end of the inning. Dioner Navarro's fly to shallow left wasn't nearly sufficient to prompt even a try for the plate by the speedy Crawford, and Gabe Gross followed by working the count full before striking out on a bad swing against a 91 mph offering from Matsuzaka. Jason Bartlett kept the score where it was by grounding to short.

"He looked unbelievable," Boston third baseman Kevin Youkilis said of Matsuzaka. "We wish he wouldn't put himself in those jams, but it's amazing how he does it, and that shows how great a pitcher he is."

Youkilis drove home a huge run in the eighth as Crawford couldn't corral his sinking liner, watching it kick away for a double that allowed Dustin Pedroia to score a run charged to Shields with J.P. Howell on the mound. Grant Balfour entered and got the Rays out of if after loading the bases by hitting J.D. Drew with his 95-mph first offering, but the Red Sox had the insurance they needed against their comeback-hungry opponents.

"They've still got to win three more to put us away," said Upton. "This game's behind us. Obviously we didn't like the outcome, but it's definitely behind us."