ESPN MLB Playoffs 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Inevitably, the 2008 Boston Red Sox will be remembered as two different teams: their Manny incarnation, a rankled group of controversial dugout brawlers and clubhouse bickerers; and the non-Manny version, far more boring, but perhaps a better team.

Ramirez loomed as a presence even before the Red Sox had played an inning of their 4-1 win in Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Angels on Wednesday.

Ramirez's playoff game with the Dodgers against the Cubs was simulcast on the Angels' large video board while Boston took batting practice. Shortly after David Ortiz had taken a looping swing in the cage, Ramirez whacked a low pitch for a home run against the Cubs that elicited cheers from the crowd at Angel Stadium, either eager Angels fans wishing for a freeway World Series or appreciative Red Sox fans, many of whom had gathered to watch batting practice. While standing next to the batting cage, Ortiz, Mike Lowell and Jason Bay chuckled while watching a replay of Ramirez's home-run swing, which had started near the top of his toes and ended near his head, sort of like an old Vladimir Guerrero cut.

"I think Mike Lowell said, 'Jeez, did you see that pitch he hit out?'" Bay said. "I was trying to see what he did."

So yes, the Red Sox are still keeping tabs on their former left fielder.

With Manny being Manny somewhere else, could the Red Sox be their reliable old playoff beasts without him? Surely Jon Lester's pitching, Jacoby Ellsbury's fielding and eventually Bay's power answered that question for the time being.

"We're stubborn," Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who recorded a save in Wednesday's win, said of his team. "We don't give in."

Bay's first two at bats against John Lackey had not made anyone forget Ramirez. Bay led off the second inning with a strikeout. In the fourth, he looked at one strike and flailed at two others, striking out on three measly pitches.

"I had never faced Lackey and he has that good breaking ball and he got out ahead of me," Bay said. "Out of his hand it was looking pretty good, and finally at the third at-bat he threw me one that wasn't getting over and I felt I got into a better rhythm."

In that third at bat, Bay pounded Lackey's hanging curveball over the fence in left for a two-run home run that gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.

The loss undoubtedly puts the Angels in a terrible hole. There is hardly any breathing room in a five-game series, and certainly not with the Angels' checkered history against Boston.

The Angels' loss marked their 10th consecutive playoff loss to the Red Sox, including three-game sweeps in the 2004 and 2007 ALDS, plus Games 5-7 in the 1986 AL Championship Series. Los Angeles' 8-1 record against Boston this season hardly seems to matter now.

When asked if there could be any carryover from the previous two Boston ALDS sweeps, Angels first baseman Mark Teixeira said, "We've got a lot of new guys here, a lot of guys that have won playoff games and World Series, young and old."

The Angels may rue this day because the game seemed in reach. No bigger heartbreak came than from Guerrero's baserunning gaffe in the eighth inning. Trailing 2-1, Guerrero reached base on a trickling ground ball to left field against reliever Justin Masterson, who had relieved the stellar Lester, who allowed one unearned run in seven innings and struck out seven.

Torii Hunter followed by looping a ball over first baseman Kevin Youkilis' head. Youkilis turned around and ran toward the ball as it sank toward the first-base line, but he could not make the catch.

(More than an hour later, while Youkilis was sitting on the couch in the clubhouse watching the replay, Boston general manager Theo Epstein told Youkilis of his attempt, "That was a good post pattern.")

Guerrero seemingly had gambled that Youkilis would not catch the ball. He had advanced almost to second base by the time the ball hit the ground. Thinking the ball had trickled further than it had, Guerrero mistakenly took off for third base. Youkilis quickly shuttled the ball to Lowell, who easily tagged out Guerrero for the second out of the inning. Guerrero said he simply didn't see third-base coach Dino Ebel put up the stop sign.

"I didn't think he was going to third," Lowell said. "He was out by a mile. Without that play, the scope of the game changes. … I think Vlad just gambled. If he got to third, it's a great play. If he's out, then he's second-guessed."

Hunter slapped his hands in frustration at first base. Guerrero sulked on the bench after discarding his pine-tar-stained helmet.

"I was upset at myself and not at Dino at third," Guerrero said.

While the Red Sox may not have a player in the outfield who is as good a hitter as Ramirez, the combination of Bay and Ellsbury, power and speed, appears to make them more formidable. Ellsbury reached base all five times he came to the plate, stole two bases and made a diving catch on a looping fly ball from Teixeira in the eighth that might have made Guerrero's baserunning gaffe irrelevant.

"I thought it was dropping in," Teixeira admitted.

So the lesson to be learned from Game 1 is that perhaps the Red Sox are more boring without Manny, but they are doing just fine.

Jorge Arangure Jr. is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.