Red Sox Start -- And Close -- Strong

Place a second tally mark in the winners column for those Boston Red Sox. The 2-1 Sox outpitched the Texas Rangers last night in Arlington to earn a 2-1 win. Josh Beckett gave the fans of Red Sox Nation a glimpse of his awesome potential. The newest member of the Boston rotation pitched seven strong innings, striking out five Rangers while only allowing one run. He was handed the lead in the top of the seventh on a two-run homerun by Trot Nixon. Mike Timlin survived the eighth inning, thanks to Manny Ramirez. Ramirez fielded a one-out single and nailed cut-off man Mike Lowell; Lowell turned and tossed the ball to Jason Varitek who tagged out Mark Teixeira. In the ninth, manager Terry Francona turned to Jonathan Papelbon instead of shaky closer Keith Foulke. It took Papelbon just eleven pitches to end the night for the Rangers. After the game the Sox clubhouse seemed to be a happy place -- at least that's how it looked on NESN. Beckett pitched well, Nixon hit the clutch homerun and Papelbon was electric in recording his first career save. Even when asked why he didn't close, Foulke was diplomatic. One of the heroes from the 2004 World Series, Foulke stated the obvious -- he missed time in spring training because of lingering effects from offseason knee surgery and is currently not as strong an option as Papelbon. His skipper said basically the same. Now it is off to Baltimore to start a three-game weekend series with the Orioles before returning to Fenway for the home opener on Tuesday.