George bracket: Red Sox (09) defeat Padres (09) in six games

Game One: 09 Red Sox 10, 09 Padres 3
WP: Beckett (2-1)
LP: Correia (1-2)
HR: A Gonzalez (2), Ortiz (1), Drew (2)

Game Two: 09 Red Sox 2, 09 Padres 1
WP: Saito (1-0)
LP: Peavy (0-1)
Save: Papelbon (4)
HR: Youkilis (2)

Game Three: 09 Red Sox 3, 09 Padres 1
WP: Lester (2-0)
LP: Gaudin (2-1)
Save: Papelbon (5)
HR: Bay (3)

Game Four: 09 Padres 10, 09 Red Sox 4
WP: Geer (1-0)
LP: Matusazka (0-1)
HR: Bay (4), Baldelli (2), A Gonzalez (3)

Game Five: 09 Padres 8, 09 Red Sox 7
WP: Mujica (1-0)
LP: Papelbon (0-1)
HR: Drew 2 (4), Blanks 2 (2)

Game Six: 09 Red Sox 5, 09 Padres 1
WP: Wakefield (1-0)
LP: Stauffer (0-2)
HR: Drew (5)

The Red Sox overpowered the Padres in a 2009 matchup heavy on bullpens and multi-run homers.

The Sox opened with an easy win in Fenway. Josh Beckett allowed a second-inning run on three singles, but his teammates scored two in the bottom of the inning, then added two in the third and two more in the fourth, getting six doubles and a homer in those three innings against Kevin Correia. Boston really opened it up with four runs in the seventh off Luis Perdomo, with two more doubles, a triple and a homer.

Game Two was much more sedate. Tim Wakefield and Jake Peavy each allowed a run in the second inning, and the next run game in the bottom of the eighth, when Kevin Youkilis led off with a homer off Peavy. Wakefield allowed eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Takashi Saito got the last out of the seventh after Wakefield had loaded the bases and then pitched around a two-out triple in the eighth to get the win. Peavy went the distance in his loss, allowing just one earned run in eight innings on seven hits.

The series shifted to San Diego and Petco Park, where Jon Lester and Chad Gaudin provided another pitchers duel in Game Three. The Padres scored in the first but left the bases loaded, an opportunity they would regret. Jacoby Ellsbury doubled home Lester in the third to tie the score, and Jason Bay homered in the sixth for the lead. The Sox added a third run in the eighth off Edward Mujica. Lester allowed just two hits after the first inning.

With the Sox up 3-0, the Padres pounded Daisuke Matsuzaka for five runs in the third inning of Game Four and and Paul Byrd for four more in the fifth. Clayton Richards gave up four runs in five innings, and Josh Geer threw four innings off shutout relief to get credit for the win in a scorer's decision. Evereth Cabrera went 4-for-4 with a walk, two doubles and two RBIs but didn't score a run for the Padres, who lost their number four and five hitters, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headley, to injury.

Those injuries forced Kyle Blanks into the lineup and the cleanup slot, and he came up big in a dramatic Game Five slugfest. Blanks clubbed a three-run homer off Beckett in the first inning to give the Padres a 3-0 lead. The Sox responded with six runs in the third off Correia, with J.D. Drew bopping a grand slam. Drew added a solo shot in the fifth off Mujica to make it 7-3. But Blanks hit another three-run homer in the bottom of the inning to pull the Padres within a run. The bullpens trades scoreless innings (Mujica going four innings in total for San Diego) until the bottom of the ninth. Jonathan Papelbon got the first two hitters, but then Cabrera walked and stole second, David Eckstein singled him home to tie the game. Gonzalez walked, and Blanks ripped what would have been an extra-base hit had it not brought home the winning run from second base.

The Padres' big-inning magic ran out there. Back in Boston for Game Six, Wakefield had his second quality start, allowing one run in six-plus innings on four hits and three walks. By the time he departed, his teammates had put up five runs against Tim Stauffer, highlighted by Drew's three-run homer. Four of the five runs the Sox scored were unearned.

Player of the series: J.D. Drew hit four home runs and had 11 RBIs. He gets the honor in a narrow decision over Wakefield.

Player availability: Lester and Beckett are available for the first two games of Round Three. The bullpen will be fully available.

Projected rotation: Lester-Beckett-Brad Penny-Clay Buchholz-(Lester)-(Beckett)-(Penny)