The Red Sox met the Anaheim Angels in the Division Series, and squared off in Angel Stadium for Game 1. Curt Schilling took the mound for the Red Sox, but before he even stepped onto the field his teammates gave him a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the first, Manny Ramirez doubled to left off third baseman Chone Figgins' glove. David Ortiz wasted no time, singling Manny home on the next pitch. Schilling breezed through the Angels line-up, and in the fourth, he got even more run support.

Lefty Angels starter Jarrod Washburn started the inning by walking Ortiz, and Kevin Millar homered for a 3-0 lead. After the bases were loaded, Figgins committed a fielding error which allowed two more Red Sox runs to score. Manny put an exclamation point on the inning, blasting a three-run homer for an 8-0 Sox lead.

Schilling cruised into the seventh, giving up only three runs on harmless solo homers by Troy Glaus and Darin Erstad, and his own throwing error. He left after tweaking his ankle covering first base in the seventh. Curt had taken injections of the anesthetic marcaine throughout the season in order to continue to pitch with his injured ankle, and it seemed that this was just another instance of the same injury. He had done well all season - winning 21 games while not missing a start - with an ankle injury, so it didn't sound like this latest tweak would slow him down.

Defensive replacement Doug Mientkiewicz knocked home an insurance run in the top of the eighth, while Alan Embree and Mike Timlin did not allow an Angels baserunner for the rest of the game. The Sox won, 9-3, and took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.