Last night's Boston/Oakland game was the perfect culmination to a collection of action packed division series. Fans of both teams were on the edge of their seats biting their nails when the last pitch was thrown.

RHP Pedro Martinez and LHP Barry Zito went toe-to-toe in a pitchers' dual through the first five innings of the game. Martinez flinched first, issuing the game's first walk to 1B-L Scott Hatteberg in the fourth. Hatteberg then was able to score when LF-R Jose Guillen dropped a fly ball into right centerfield. The ball rolled to the wall, where RF-L Trot Nixon had trouble picking it up, so by the time he'd thrown to cutoff man SS-R Nomar Garciaparra, Hatteberg was almost home. However, the Red Sox caught a break when Guillen tried to take third rather than holding up at second. Garciaparra relayed to 3B-S Bill Mueller, who tagged Guillen for the third out of the inning.

RF-R Kevin Millar attempted to take two when CF-L Chris Singleton bobbled a liner Millar hit into center in the fifth, but Singleton was able to retrieve the ball and throw to second fast enough to have the tag waiting when Millar arrived. While Oakland escaped with their 1-0 lead still intact, Zito issued his first walk that inning and seemed to labor through his pitches.

C-S Jason Varitek led off the sixth with a homer onto the stairs in leftfield, after which CF-L Johnny Damon worked Zito for a 9-pitch walk. While Zito still had room in his pitch count at that time, he was working on three days rest for the first time in his career and obviously beginning to run into trouble. At that point, Oakland Manager Ken Macha should have declared his decision to start Zito a success and moved on to his bullpen. Instead, Macha tried to milk him for a few more outs. Zito caught a break with Garciaparra hitting a high foul ball for an out, but during 2B-L Todd Walker's plate appearance he started worrying about Damon running and began making throws to first, pulling his concentration away from the batter. He drilled Walker between the E and the R, giving Oakland another reason to pull him. Nevertheless, the A's left him in to face LF-R Manny Ramirez. Ramirez made Macha regret the decision, sending another ball to join Varitek's on the leftfield stairs.

Zito recovered to retire the next two batters and end the inning, but Martinez took the mound with a 4-1 lead. DH-L Erubiel Durazo doubled in the bottom of the inning and scored on a SS-R Miguel Tejada double to narrow the gap to 4-2. Two days after starting Game 3, LHP Ted Lilly took the mound in relief of Zito beginning in the seventh. Lilly went one-two-three through the Red Sox's lineup in both the seventh and eighth, but not without some excitement between his trips to the mound.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, RF-R Jermaine Dye came to the plate and hit a high fly ball into shallow centerfield. Running backwards and leaping up to catch the ball, 2B-R Damian Jackson crashed the right side of his head into the right temple of Damon, who was running in from deep center. Their caps flew off, they fell to the ground, and the ball came loose. Garciaparra, who had also pursued the fly, had the presence of mind to pick up the ball and throw it to second, as Dye was trying for a double. Boston made the out to end the inning, but by that time everyone was more concerned with the health of the two players lying in the outfield.

Jackson was able to get up after a minute or two, but Damon remained on the ground while medical personnel swarmed around him. An ambulance came on to the field, and after securing Damon in a neck brace, the paramedics removed him from the stadium. Meanwhile, Jackson walked back towards the Red Sox's dugout with the help of teammates, though he appeared interested in remaining on the field to find out more about Damon's condition. An Oakland fan behind the dugout began heckling Boston and several players surged to towards the stands in reaction to comments about their injured teammates. While security diffused the situation before it became a brawl, the incident contributed to the surrealism of the proceedings. Most fans at Network Associates Coliseum displayed more compassion and cheered when Damon raised his hand to wave to the crowd as he was loaded into the ambulance. Later reports indicated that Damon was unconscious for a few minutes and suffered a Grade 2 concussion, but he was released from the hospital this morning and with rest should make a full recovery.

Switch-hitter Adrian Brown came in to hit for Damon, who was set to lead off the top of the eighth, and remained in the game to play center. Oakland knocked Pedro Martinez from the game in the bottom of the eighth with Singleton doubling to lead off the inning and left-handed, pinch-hitter Billy McMillon driving him in with a single. Relieving Martinez, LHP Alan Embree retired lefties Erubiel Durazo and Eric Chavez, before RHP Mike Timlin came in to face SS-R Miguel Tejada. Boston escaped the inning with their lead only reduced to 4-3.

RHP Chad Bradford relieved Lilly before the top of the ninth. Manny Ramirez struck out to lead off the inning, vocally disagreeing with the umpire's call that he failed to check his swing. However, the A's lifted Bradford after he gave up back-to-back singles to DH-L David Ortiz and Millar. LHP Ricardo Rincon retired the remainder of the side without allowing the runners to advance, so Oakland only needed one run to tie going into the bottom of the ninth.

Instead of sending Timlin back out for the ninth, Boston put in RHP Scott Williamson, who promptly issued walks to the first two Oakland players. The Red Sox then turned to RHP Derek Lowe, asking their former closer to finish this game two days after pitching seven innings in Game 3. C-R Ramon Hernandez laid a sacrifice bunt down the third base line, successfully advancing the runners to second and third. Switch-hitter Adam Melhuse pinch-hit for Dye and struck out looking. Singleton then drew a walk from Lowe, loading the bases. Left-handed hitter Terrence Long pinch-hit for 2B-R Frank Menechino, looked at strike one, took a ball, hit a long foul down the third base line, and then looked at strike three, giving the Red Sox's the division series win.

Here are our revised forecasts for the remainder of the playoffs given the results of the first round.

Florida at Chicago The Marlins have the momentum to defeat the Cubs when they aren't pitching Kerry Wood or Mark Prior, but both should be able to pitch twice, so Chicago in 7.

Boston at New York Boston wasn't able to eliminate Oakland quickly, so they won't be able to optimize their rotation for this series. That should drag out the series a couple more games, though we think Boston in 7. Chicago at Boston While this match up also remains the same as our earlier predictions, we similarly believe the change in rotation order will lead to a longer series, but the Red Sox offense still triumphs over the Cubs.