OPINION

By Ryan Fagan

updated 3:40 a.m. ET Oct. 2, 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. - We've seen the Red Sox as the cowboys, and we've seen them as the idiots. But what about the 2008 Red Sox? What characterizes this team; what is it about these Sox that makes them raise their game during the playoffs?

There's no better person to ask than Jonathan Papelbon, the young, dominant closer who isn't afraid to share his opinions — or love of the game — on and off the mound. "I guess we're just a bunch of stubborn mo-fos," he said. And, that's exactly how he said it, with the cleaned-up version of an expletive that would have made George Carlin or Richard Pryor proud.

Let's wait and see if that catches on like the other nicknames did, eh?

Two young stars were born during the Red Sox's run to the 2007 World Series title, and if those players' Game 1 performances were any indication, the Red Sox are going to be very tough to knock off their throne atop the baseball world.

Speedy outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury had a .500 on-base percentage in Boston's four-game sweep of the Rockies last October, and he led off Wednesday's game against the Angels with a double off the wall in right-center. Left-hander Jon Lester started and won Game 4 — the clincher — against Colorado and picked up the win in the 2008 playoff opener.

Ellsbury finished with three hits and ended up on base after all five of his appearances at the plate, also reaching courtesy of a fielder's choice and an error by Gary Matthews Jr. on a ball that Ellsbury smoked to right. Ellsbury stole two bases, scored a run and had an RBI. "He's all over the place out there," Papelbon said. "Ells, he keeps the pressure on. He's always putting pressure on the other team."

And then there was the defensive gem Ellsbury turned in, one that kept his teammates talking in the locker room after the game. With Angels slugger Mark Teixeira at the plate to lead off the eighth inning in a 2-1 game, Ellsbury was playing deep. Teixeira lofted a shallow blooper that seemed destined to put the potential tying run on base. Didn't happen.

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"Ellsbury on Mark Teixeira's ball leading off the inning, I thought he had no chance," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "He closed ground, that's -- again, I really didn't think he had any chance to catch that ball, it looked like it was in no-man's land."

Diving full-out, Ellsbury picked the ball off the turf for the key out."(It was) an unbelievable day for him at the plate and in the field, but that's what he does," Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay said. "Speed is the biggest part of his game, and at that point in the game we were up by a run with the meat of the order coming in. And he comes in and closes down on that ball. It could have been a different story, though. That was awesome."

Lester had his issues through the first few innings, but found his rhythm as the game progressed. After Bay's two-run homer in the sixth gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead, Lester set down the final seven hitters he faced in impressive fashion.

"He came with a vengeance and struck out the side (in the sixth)," Francona said. "Early he established his fastball in. Opened up the plate and as he got into the middle innings, started spinning that breaking ball, didn't necessarily work ahead a ton or even on the 1-1 counts. But never gave in, used the breaking ball, the two-seamer, went out of the zone when trying to maybe, you know, when they were in an aggressive mode, trying to slow 'em down a little bit. Really competed . . . once we took the lead he really went after 'em."

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