8:46 p.m. - First-pitch swinging, Pedroia flies out to shallow left. That ends Boston's streak of two straight World Series games with a leadoff homer (Damon hit one in Game 4 in 2004).

8:49 p.m. - Youkilis flies to center, and Ortiz grounds out to first in a quick first.

8:50 p.m. - It's the first time since 1986 that the Red Sox have trailed in a World Series Game. They scored first-inning runs Wednesday and in all four games against St. Louis in 2004.

8:51 p.m. - One aspect of Schilling's game that's truly underrated is his ability to hold runners on. He's given up one stolen base every 31 innings over the course of his career. Would-be basestealers are 105-for-184 against him 3,261 innings.

8:52 p.m. - Hawpe, the worst player on the field last night, leads off the second with a single up the middle.

8:54 p.m. - Tulo, who bunted foul for strike one, looks bad on a splitter for a strikeout.

8:55 p.m. - I didn't realize it, but they're calling the Rockies' run unearned because of an error on Lowell. The error was on Schilling for not getting over to cover third base. Instead, they're using the weak excuse of Lowell making a poor throw to Lugo, who was trying to get over and cover the bag. Maybe they'll change that later.

8:57 p.m. - Torrealba grounds into a 6-3 double play to end the top of the second.

9:00 p.m. - Manny grounds hard to third on the second pitch he sees. Eight pitches, four outs for Ubaldo.

9:02 p.m. - Lowell grounds out to third, and Drew gets hit on the right ankle by a a slider. Now that's a HBP.

9:04 p.m. - J.D. "The Gamer" Drew shakes off the bruise and takes first base, becoming Boston's first baserunner of the night.

9:06 p.m. - Varitek fans on four pitches to end the second. 1-0 after two. If the Red Sox don't come up with better at-bats the second time through, this could be a quick one.

9:11 p.m. - Schilling fans Spilborghs to start the third. Still, it took him an additional four pitches after he got ahead 0-2.

9:12 p.m. - Schilling gets ahead of Taveras 0-2 and gets a quick out this time, as Taveras grounds to third.

9:13 p.m. - Another first-pitch curveball and another 0-2 count. Matsui fans on four pitches as we go to the bottom of the third.

9:17 p.m. - Ellsbury, the only player in Boston's lineup without a hit last night, grounds out with a 2-2 count, leaving him 0-for-5 in the Series.

9:19 p.m. - Lugo gets put into an 0-2 count by a great curveball and the a slider a tad off the plate that gets called a strike. A harmless groundout follows.

9:21 p.m. - Pedroia, who popped up the first pitch he saw in the first, walks on four pitches. The rest of the Red Sox need to look at that as a lesson.

9:23 p.m. - Youkilis takes the first three pitches he sees, but two of them are ruled borderline strikes. The fourth barely misses drilling him in the helmet. A high slider brings the count full. McCarver says he'll get a fastball here. It's a slider fouled off. McCarver doesn't bother noting that he was wrong. Youkilis walks to bring Ortiz to the plate.

9:30 p.m. - Strike one is a fastball that appeared to be off the plate. Ortiz doesn't like it. Fastball high and outside. Slider (?) inside to make it 2-1. Ortiz pulls a homer a couple of feet foul. He takes a late swing at a curveball, fouling it off to stay alive. Papi goes too far on a check-swing at a slider for strike three. 1-0 after three.

9:35 p.m. - Holliday singles to start the fourth, and Helton drives the next pitch to the warning track in center. It's just a long out.

9:36 p.m. - Another pitch, another flyout, this one from Atkins.

9:37 p.m. - Ditto. Hawpe pops out the first pitch he sees to end a very quick fourth. Hawpe is 8-for-29 with seven walks in the postseason, but he doesn't have an extra-base hit and he's driven in just two runs.

9:41 p.m. - Now that's pitching. Jimenez starts Manny with a first-pitch curve for a strike and finishes him with an 0-2 fastball on his hands. A popup to third results in the first out of the fourth.

9:43 p.m. - Lowell works a walk on five pitches. Jimenez has put three of the last five batters on.

9:44 p.m - Drew doesn't wait around to see whether it'll be four out of six. He delivers a line-drive single to right. Lowell goes from first to third, and Drew takes second on Hawpe's throw. Very good baserunning there.

9:45 p.m. - Varitek is also quick to jump on the first pitch. A long fly to center becomes a sac fly. Drew advances to third, which could help Ellsbury's chances of getting fastballs here.

9:46 p.m. - First-pitch curve, but it's well high. Ellsbury ends up walking on five pitches. Now Lugo is up. The Rockies need to watch out for the bunt hit bid.

9:54 p.m. - Lugo pulls a double literally two inches foul. That would have scored two runs. Ellsbury steals second base on the 0-2 pitch. Lugo somehow ducks out of the way of a 1-2 curve. A slider well off the plate makes it 3-2. A slow roller to first ends the fourth with the score 1-1. The Rockies have had all of the luck tonight.

9:59 p.m. - Schilling wants the 2-2 pitch to Tulo but doesn't get it. The 3-2 offering isn't close, giving the Rockies their first walk of the night. They've had the leadoff man on in four of five innings.

10:00 p.m. - Torrealba sac bunt. An odd choice with Spilborghs and Taveras coming up. Even if Taveras gets a hit, there's a real chance it wouldn't be enough to score the runner from second.

10:01 p.m. - Spilborghs fans on four pitches. The last strike appeared to be inside.

10:02 p.m. - Taveras grounds out on the first pitch. The first batter of the fifth ends up seeing more pitches than the other three guys combined. Schilling at 66 pitches through five.

10:06 p.m. - Pedroia grounds out to third on the fifth pitch of the inning. Atkins runs all of the way around the ball before grabbing it just so that Buck will say more nice things about his defense.

10:08 p.m. - Youkilis hits a 3-2 pitch hard to center, but Taveras runs it down. Still just one hit allowed by Jimenez. However, he's now up to 75 pitches. Unless he gets some quick outs, he might be done after six.

10:10 p.m. - Ortiz gets geared up for the fastball on a 3-1 count, but he sees a curve instead and fouls it off. The next pitch is ball four. 81 pitches for Jimenez.

10:12 p.m. - Ramirez's eyes light up when he sees a slider down the middle, but he misses it completely. Affeldt and Herges up in the pen as Ramirez fouls off a 97 mph fastball to stay alive. He singles past a diving Atkins to give the Red Sox two on with two out. 86 pitches for Jimenez.

10:17 p.m. - Lowell's doubles to left on Jimenez's 91st pitch of the night. Ortiz scores to make it 2-1. As long as that ball stayed in the corner, Manny should have had a chance of scoring from first. However, he's head at third. That's it for Jimenez, as Affeldt will come on to face Drew.

10:19 p.m. - Under other circumstances, I could see going with Kielty here. But it won't happen. Drew is 1-for-4 with four walks versus Affeldt. Kielty is 1-for-6 with three walks.

10:21 p.m. - Torrealba saves a run by going to his left on a bad curveball to start the at-bat. A second curveball makes it a 2-0 count. A third curveball, this one a strike. The fourth pitch is a fastball, well outside. A curveball for a strike brings the count full. Fastball down and away for a walk.

10:24 p.m. - It's one and done for Affeldt. Tek was 3-for-5 with two doubles against him. Herges enters with the bases loaded.

10:25 p.m. - I'm really not sure about the quick hook with Jimenez. I don't think he was tired. He was struggling with his command, but his curveball was still working, and with the base open, he could have thrown a few of them to Drew. I don't see Herges as a better bet to retire Vartiek here than Jimenez would have been. Varitek can be gotten out on high fastballs, but probably not on Herges fastballs.

10:30 p.m. - A weak at-bat from Varitek finishes the inning. He gets four straight fastballs, and hita s routine fly with a 2-1 count. That's not unusual for him. He's been just about the worst hitter in baseball with the bases loaded the last five years.

10:33 p.m. - Tek with the bases loaded the last five years: 4-for-24, 4-for-19, 3-for-16, 5-for-23 and 5-for-25. Add it up and it's a .196 average with two homers in 107 at-bats.

10:35 p.m. - The sixth begins with Okajima and Delcarmen up in the pen. I imagine that has something to do with the long bottom of the fifth. Schilling's pitch count is great. Matsui pops up a 1-2 pitch for an out.

10:36 p.m. - Holliday improves to 3-for-3 with a first-pitch single through the left side of the infield.

10:41 p.m. - Schilling loses Helton for his second walk. The key pitch there was a 2-2 splitter that missed badly. Another quick hook, as that's it for Schilling. Okajima comes in to face the righty Atkins.

10:44 p.m. - More than any other pitcher in the series, Okajima should be able to take greater advantage of the opponent's lack of familiarity with him. He didn't face the Rockies when they played in the regular season.

10:47 p.m. - A routine grounder to first at least serves to advance the runners. Now the Rockies really need something from Hawpe, who hit .214 against lefties this season.

10:49 p.m. - Okajima fans Hawpe on three pitches, ending the inning.

10:50 p.m. - With Okajima stranding the runners, Schilling's postseason ERA drops ever so slightly to 2.23 in 19 starts. He can only win tonight. If he does, he'd be 11-2.

10:51 p.m. - Okajima should stay in for the seventh after that. If he gets through that one scoreless, it will be interesting to see what happens in the eighth. In a similar situation in Game 7 against the Indians, Okajima started the eighth and let the first two runners reach before Papelbon came on. I still get the impression that the Red Sox would prefer not to have Papelbon begin the eighth unless it's a must.

10:53 p.m. - Herges still in. Ellsbury picks up his first hit of the series with a single up the middle. Lugo up, which could mean a bunt.

10:54 p.m. - Lugo shows bunt on ball one. I'm with McCarver: I'd much prefer a steal attempt from Ellsbury. Lugo gets the next pitch down. It's a poor bunt, but it gets the job done.

11:00 p.m. - Pedroia ends a long at-bat with a grounder to short. Ellsbury advances to third with two outs. It'll be a wasted opportunity for Boston unless Youkilis does something here.

11:06 p.m. - Another very long at-bat. Youkilis goes down 0-2 and fouls several off before working the walk. That means Fuentes will replace Herges with Ortiz coming up. I liked Boston's chances better with Youks up.

11:10 p.m. - Ortiz flies out to center on a 1-0 pitch. 2-1 after six. The sac bunt has been a losing strategy tonight.

11:14 p.m. - Tulo pops out vs. Okajima for the first out of the seventh.

11:16 p.m. - Torrealba grounds out. Now Spilborghs finally gets to face a lefty.

11:18 p.m. - Spilborghs goes down looking to end the top of the seventh. Okajima is up to nine scoreless innings in the postseason. As quick as the inning was, he'll probably get the begin the eighth, at least to face Taveras and Matsui (or Carroll).

11:20 p.m. - It's a paradox. Boys 2 Men is singing, which must mean it's 1995. But if it were 1995, GBA wouldn't be a seventh-inning staple. And aren't they from Philly anyway?

11:26 p.m. - Tulo bobbles Manny's grounder a bit, but he still gets the out at first. Lowell then flies to right on the first pitch he sees.

11:29 p.m. - Drew singles through the right side. Papelbon is just starting to warm now and no one else is up, so it's a given that Okajima will start the eighth.

11:32 p.m. - Varitek fans, leaving him hitless tonight after he was 5-for-8 with three doubles in the previous two games. It scarcely feels as though Boston is winning, but it's 2-1 after seven.

11:35 p.m. - Taveras shows bunt before taking an Okajima fastball right down the middle. He fouls off the second pitch and strikes out looking on the third. Taveras is 0-for-6 in the series and 3-for-25 overall in the postseason.

11:40 p.m. - Matsui gets to face the lefty even though he usually sits against them. He fans on a 3-2 fastball. Seems like something of a quick pitch from Okajima. He departs in favor of Papelbon with Holliday coming up.

11:41 p.m. - There's certainly still a ways to go, but if the score ends up 2-1, Okajima should be the player of the game. After entering with two men on in the sixth, he retired all seven batters he faced.

11:43 p.m. - Papelbon vs. Holliday. If only it were an inning later and there were a couple of men on. As is, Holliday can still tie it. First-pitch fastball at the knees for a strike. Second pitch fastball at the letters, swing and a miss. 97 mph on that one. More heat coming up. Papelbon doesn't get it nearly as high as he should have, and Holliday hits a shot back up the middle. Pedroia falls on top of it, but he can't make the play. Holliday gets his fourth single in four at-bats.

11:45 p.m. - Pedroia tweaks his wrist on the play, but he stays in after a brief visit from the trainer.

11:46 p.m. - Incredible. Holliday gets picked off before Helton even sees a pitch. And it wasn't even close. Terrible, terrible play from Holliday.

11:49 p.m. - That may have been worse than Jeff Suppan in the 2004 Series.

11:50 p.m. - FOX says it's the first pickoff of Papelbon's career. I thought it might be, but they beat me to the stat. Not one that's particularly easy to look up.

11:51 p.m. - Ellsbury grounds out versus Fuentes. Lugo tries to bunt for a hit and is called out when it comes back up and hits him. I think he was still in the box. An argument from Lugo and Francona does the Red Sox no good. Corpas is coming in to replace Fuentes with Pedroia up.

11:54 p.m. - It'll be Helton, Atkins, Hawpe and Tulo versus Papelbon in the ninth. Papelbon has pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings in the postseason. He last allowed a run on Sept. 19.

11:56 p.m. - Pedroia singles off Corpas for his first hit since the leadoff homer Wednesday.

11:59 p.m. - Youkilis grounds out. 2-1 after eight.

12:02 p.m. - Manny stays in with the one-run lead. He'd probably be out in favor of Crisp if it were three or maybe even two.

12:04 p.m. - Helton fouls back a 2-2 fastball at the letters. He goes down swinging on a perfect fastball outside and at the knees. 98 mph on the FOX gun.

12:06 p.m. - Atkins up. Papelbon gets a high slider called for a strike on a 1-0 pitch. The next pitch is a fastball driven into center field. Ellsbury gets a late jump on it, but he still runs it down for the second out. Hawpe up.

12:08 p.m. - Fastball fouled off. Fastball swung through. Splitter down and away for ball one. 97-mph fastball swung through. Red Sox take a 2-0 series lead, as the pen faces the minimum through 3 2/3 innings.

12:20 p.m. - Okajima gets player of the game honors -- a rare good call from FOX.

With the win, the Red Sox have put themselves in a position where they really only need to win one in Colorado. It's hard to imagine the Rockies winning the last two games at Fenway. They have a reasonable shot of winning the next two, but even if that happens, Boston has the big edge in the best-of-three to finish it off.

Until Saturday...