First base umpire C.B. Bucknor was in the middle of two controversial calls that went against the Red Sox in their 5-0 loss to the Angels on Thursday night at Angels Stadium in the opening game of the American League Division Series. The first came in the fourth inning when Alex Gonzalez' throw drew Kevin Youkilis off the bag, forcing the first baseman to make a swipe tag on Angels baserunner Howie Kendrick. Replays showed that Youkilis did tag Kendrick before Kendrick reached the base, but Bucknor didn't see it that way. “He said I tagged him, but he said he was on the base when I tagged him,” Youkilis said. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

The second instance also came on a grounder off the bat of Kendrick, who this time led off the sixth by hitting the ball to third baseman Mike Lowell. Lowell tossed...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Angels starter John Lackey delivered a dominating performance, shutting out the Red Sox for 7-1/3 innings to lead his club to a 5-0 victory over Boston in the opener of the best-of-five American League Division Series. The right-hander threw 114 pitches and allowed just four hits (all singles) while walking one and striking out four.
 
Lackey outpitched Sox starter Jon Lester, who matched zeros with the Angels starter through the first four innings. But in the fifth, Lester allowed a leadoff double and walked Bobby Abreu before giving up a three-run homer to straightaway center field to Torii Hunter. It came on a fastball up and over the middle of the plate. In absorbing the defeat, Lester allowed three runs in six innings.
 
The Angels tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seventh against relievers Ramon Ramirez and Takashi Saito, aided in part by a sloppy Sox defense that committed three errors on...