8:37 p.m. - First pitch is a 96 mph fastball from Beckett.

8:38 p.m. - Tavarez goes down looking on the fourth fastball he sees.

8:41 p.m. - Beckett falls behind 3-0 to Matsui, but comes back and strikes him out. 11 pitches so far, all fastballs.

8:43 p.m. - Holliday goes down swinging on four fastballs. Beckett starts the World Series by striking out the side on 15 straight heaters.

8:45 p.m. - If the Rockies win tonight, it's match the longest postseason winning streak since 1971. The 2004 Red Sox and 2005 White Sox both won eight in a row. The all-time record is 15 straight wins, held by the Yankees.

8:47 p.m. - Pedroia has a hole low and in, huh? He takes the second pitch of the game off the very top of the Monster for a homer. He's the 32nd player to homer in his first World Series at-bat.

8:48 p.m. - Youkilis follows with a double to gap in right-center.

8:49 p.m. - Ortiz tries to bunt against the shift. It'd be one thing if it was something he truly worked it on one spring. However, he has just about the worst bunting technique in baseball. The bunt ends up going into stands by third base. Ortiz advances the runner anyway with a grounder to first on a 1-2 pitch. Infield in with Manny up.

8:52 p.m. - Manny lines the first pitch over the shortstop's head for an RBI single. There's a slight chance Tulo would have had it had he been playing back, but it was probably a hit either way.

8:54 p.m. - Lowell thinks he walks, but he gets a rude surprise from Ed Montague. He flies out to right-center on the next pitch.

8:55 p.m. - The Pedroia comment was based on Ken Rosenthal's article today: "Dustin Pedroia, scouts say, has the same hole as the Yankees' Derek Jeter — down and in." (Thanks for adding the Yankees there. I would have assumed he meant the Derek Jeter that works down at Sears.)

8:57 p.m. - Varitek singles through the left side. Two on, two out for Drew, who probably would have been sitting against the lefty tonight if not for his slam in Game 6.

8:59 p.m. - Now Drew rips one to right for an RBI double. Varitek could have tried to follow Manny in, but he was held at the last moment. 3-0 Boston. Lugo can really blow it open with a single.

9:02 p.m. - But, of course, he is Julio Lugo. A grounder to third ends the inning as Atkins makes an awkward play. 30 pitches for Francis.

9:07 p.m. - Another strikeout for Beckett. He finally mixes in his curve before retiring Helton on a fastball.

9:08 p.m. - Beckett's second curve comes a couple of feet away from being a homer for Atkins. It hits high off the wall for a double.

9:10 p.m. - Hawpe was hoping Beckett would throw another hanger. He goes down on the worst at-bat of the night so far.

9:11 p.m. - Tulo picks him up with a double off the wall on a first-pitch fastball. That's his first RBI since the second game of the NLDS. For all of the accolades, he entered the night hitting .179.

9:12 p.m. - Torrealba's one-hopper to Lugo is the third out of the inning.

9:13 p.m. - "That's only half the story," Joe Buck says after comparing the triple crown stats of the Rookie of the Year contenders. Actually, it's closer to a quarter of the story. Throw the triple crown stats out the window: the difference is whether Tulo's glove offsets Braun's big advantage in rate stats. It probably does, but FOX isn't exactly furthering the conversation.

9:18 p.m. - Ellsbury goes down on strikes. Poor at-bat against a lefty there, though at least Francis had to work for the out. Pedroia grounds out on the second pitch of the at-bat.

9:21 p.m. - Youkilis walks. Ortiz probably won't bunt here.

9:23 p.m. - Ortiz pushes a double just foul. Now he strokes another one just by Tulo. Youkilis scores all the way from first. A great relay would have had him, but the throw was wide,

9:25 p.m. - Manny is walked intentionally.

9:27 p.m. - Lowell pops up the fifth pitch of his at-bat. 4-1 Red Sox after two. Francis at 57 pitches.

9:32 p.m. - Beckett falls behind 3-0, but Spilborghs lines the 3-1 pitch to Pedroia for the first out.

9:35 p.m. - Taveras fouls off a bunt attempt on the first pitch. The second pitch is a fly to left center barely caught by Manny Ramirez. Matsui pops up for the third out. A quick inning for Beckett.

9:38 p.m. - The Rockies allowed 16 runs while winning their first seven postseason games. The only time they gave up more runs than the Red Sox have already was when they beat Philadelphia 10-5 in Game 2 of the NLDS.

9:40 p.m. - Varitek strikes out. Drew gets three straight curves. He looks bad swinging and missing at the first two before delivering a weak grounder to first for an out. Lugo gets ahead 2-0 and finds himself confronted with a very hittable fastball. As usual, he fouls it off. He drops down the next pitch for a bunt single.

9:44 p.m. - Ellsbury hits an easy grounder to second on a 1-0 pitch. 4-1 after three.

9:49 p.m. - Halladay grounds an 0-2 curve to Lowell. Helton takes the next pitch off the Monster for a double.

9:51 p.m. - Helton's career home OPS: 1128. Helton's career road OPS: 897. Helton's 2007 home OPS: 997. Helton's 2007 road OPS: 868. He's a great player, but to say Coors has little to do with it is completely silly.

9:52 p.m. - Beckett thinks he fans Atkins on a 1-2 pitch, but he doesn't get the call. He does set him down on a 2-2 curve for his sixth K of the game.

9:54 p.m. - No, Beckett does not rely more on his curve versus lefties. He throws it more versus righties. C'mon, Timmy, get into the game.

9:56 p.m. - Hawpe fans to stands Helton. All three of the Rockies' hits have been doubles off the Monster.

9:57 p.m. - The Red Sox have gone 22 straight innings without issuing a walk. They've received 12 in that span.

10:01 p.m. - Tulo bobbles Pedroia's grounder, but he finds the handle and loads the cannon in time. Youkilis has a foul popup for an out. Ortiz lines one to left for a single.

10:07 p.m. - Ramirez doubles to end a long at-bat. Ortiz can't attempt to score. It looked like Francis might turn in a quick inning and get back into the dugout at 80 pitches. Now he's up to 91.

10:08 p.m. - I'm not even going to bother with McCarver's suggestion that the Red Sox won't take Youkilis out of the lineup for Ortiz. I mean, really.

10:11 p.m. - Lowell is walked intentionally. Varitek plates two runs with a shot down the left-field line. Off the line. It hops right into the stands for a ground-rule double.

10:13 p.m. - Drew goes down on strikes to end the inning. 6-1 Red Sox. Morales appeared set to enter the game if Drew reached. With Francis up to 103 pitches, he'll probably be in to begin the fifth.

10:17 p.m. - Red Sox have five doubles tonight. The single-game World Series record is eight by the Pirates in Game 7 in 1925.

10:20 p.m. - Tulo grounds out to short. Beckett gets his eighth K on a 1-2 curve to Torrealba.

10:21 p.m. - Beckett gets ahead of Spilborghs 0-2, but he ends up walking him. It's the first walk from a Boston pitcher since Papelbon issued one in the ninth inning of Game 5 against the Indians. It's just the second from Beckett in four starts.

10:24 p.m. - Beckett falls behind 3-1 before getting Taveras to pop up to second, ending the inning. It's now an official game, though that doesn't seem to matter much with the rain having tapered off. Beckett's at 69 pitches through five.

10:28 p.m. - Morales in for his first major league relief appearance after eight regular-season starts and two more this month. Command is likely to be a problem.

10:30 p.m. - Lugo lines a single into center for his first multihit game of the postseason. He's 10-for-38, with two of his hits coming on bunts.

10:31 p.m. - Ellsbury bunts into a forceout at second. The Red Sox don't let the fact that they're lousy at sacrificing stop them from doing it. It's especially stupid when the pitcher who just entered the game has control problems, and the guy on first was successful 33 times on 39 steal attempts this year.

10:33 p.m. - Pedroia pops out.

10:34 p.m. - Ellsbury goes to second on a balk call.

10:36 p.m. - Youkilis delivers Boston's sixth double of the game, scoring Ellsbury. As fast as he is, Ellsbury almost surely would have scored from first on that.

10:38 p.m. - An Ortiz double makes it 8-1. That's seven doubles, one short of the single-game WS record.

10:39 p.m. - The last team with eight doubles in a postseason game was the Yankees in the 19-8 drubbing of the Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALCS. No team has ever had more.

10:40 p.m. - Ramirez singles over Tulo's glove to score Ortiz from second. 9-1 Boston. Ryan Speier up in the pen.

10:42 p.m. - Those 1925 Pirates also have the WS record for most extra-base hits in a game: 9. The Red Sox are already up to eight, with seven doubles and Pedroia's homer.

10:43 p.m. - Lowell doubles, advancing Manny to third. The Red Sox have tied both the doubles and extra-base hits record for a World Series game with eight and nine, respectively.

10:44 p.m. - The Red Sox don't need any additional hits tonight, but pounding Morales here could pay off later. He has a chance to be a real weapon in middle relief for Colorado, but how much confidence can he have after this one?

10:45 p.m. - Varitek walks.

10:48 p.m. - Drew's grounder up the middle goes off the glove of a diving Tulo. Even if Tulo grabs it, he's not going to throw out Drew. One more run in for Boston. Morales done, Speier in.

10:49 p.m. - Under normal circumstances, getting deep into Colorado's pen would be a good thing for Boston. However, I don't think it matters much here. The Rockies will probably want to get a couple of their top relievers an inning anyway just so they can shake the rust and get some Series experience under their belts.

10:51 p.m. - On the other hand, getting a look at some relievers they haven't seen before can't hurt Boston. They've faced Fuentes before, but with his unusual delivery, the more looks, the better. Speier is another guy with an odd motion, and Hawkins has added a hitch he didn't have back in his AL days.

10:52 p.m. - Bases-loaded walk for Lugo. 11-1 Boston.

10:53 p.m. - The Rockies had won 21 of 22, right?

10:55 p.m. - Ellsbury walks. I thought he went around for the strikeout on the previous slider, but Speier didn't get the call. 12-1.

10:56 p.m. - Fun fact - Pedroia tonight became just the second player ever to hit a leadoff homer in a World Series Game 1. The other was Don Buford of Baltimore against Tom Seaver and the Miracle Mets in 1969.

11:00 p.m. - With Herges up in the pen, Pedroia draws a third straight bases-loaded walk. I hope that's another postseason record. Speier is done. At least he's left plenty of room for improvement.

11:01 p.m. - Last World Series game decided by 10 runs or more was Game 5 in 2002, when the Giants trounced the Angels 16-4.

11:02 p.m. - Actually, that was also the last World Series game decided by more than five runs. Not a lot of blowouts lately.

11:03 p.m. - Herges gets Youkilis to pop up to end the fifth. 13-1 Boston. All seven runs are charged to Morales, giving him a 94.50 Series ERA.

11:05 p.m. - You could make a case for taking out Beckett now and trying to get him ready for Games 4 and 7. Still, it's not going to happen. Even if Beckett pitched Game 4, the Red Sox wouldn't want to use Schilling and Dice-K the next two games on short rest.

11:07 p.m. - Matsui reaches on an infield single after winning a race with Beckett to the bag. Youkilis does a nice job handling the bad hop.

11:08 p.m. - Holliday smashes one right at Pedroia. Once Pedroia catches it, it's an easy double play. The first of the game so far. Perhaps the biggest upset tonight is that the Red Sox have yet to hit into one. They've already set a postseason record by hitting into 20.

11:09 p.m. - Helton picks up the second single of the inning with a hot shot through the middle.

11:10 p.m. - Atkins flies out to right. Beckett is through six innings at 78 pitches. He's fine to go seven, but there's not much point to sending him back out there. Get Delcarmen, Gagne and Lopez an inning apiece.

11:23 p.m. - Ortiz flies out. Lowell walks. I have some sushi. Some other stuff. 13-1 after six.

11:26 p.m. - Crisp in, Ellsbury over, Manny out. Beckett remains in to pitch the seventh. It's no surprise, as Francona has displayed this same tendency before, but I'm not a big fan of the decision.

11:32 p.m. - Hawpe fans. Tulo doubles down the left-field line. Torrealba grounds out to short. Spilborghs flies out. With Delcarmen up in the pen, that has to be it for Beckett.

11:35 p.m. - I think it's safe to call this for Boston. Beckett improves to 6-2 with a 1.74 ERA in 72 2/3 career postseason innings. He has an 82/14 K/BB ratio.

11:43 p.m. - Lugo colects his third hit, but the Red Sox otherwise go down quietly against Affeldt in the bottom of the seventh. Still 13-1.

11:44 p.m. - Obviously, the Rockies didn't want to look this bad. Still, this is a game the Red Sox were supposed to win. The best Colorado could reasonably hope for was a split in Boston, and that's still a possibility no matter how many runs they lose by tonight.

11:47 p.m. - Cora in for Lugo. Timlin, not Delcarmen, comes in to replace Beckett. Taveras becomes Colorado's 10th strikeout victim.

11:52 p.m. - Matsui pops out and Holliday fans. Holliday has four homers in eight games this month, but he also has an 11/1 K/BB ratio in 32 at-bats.

12:08 p.m. - A quiet finish. After LaTroy Hawkins' scoreless bottom of the eighth, Eric Gagne came in and retired the side in order in the top of the ninth. Boston wins 13-1. It's the biggest Game 1 margin of victory. The Red Sox, though, didn't add to their totals after collecting nine extra-base hits and eight doubles through five innings. That tied WS records held by the 1925 Pirates. Over the final three innings, Boston managed only a single and a walk.

12:10 p.m. - Game 2 on Thursday. It's not a must win for the Rockies, as they could always go 3-for-3 at home, but I don't see them bouncing back if they get blown out again. It's imperative that Jimenez hit his spots and prevent the Red Sox from giving him the Carmona treatment. He's good enough to hold the team to one or no runs over seven innings. The Red Sox would happily take six innings of three-run ball from Schilling on four days' rest.

Until then...