By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

ANAHEIM, Calif.(AP) -- Jered Weaver followed in John Lackey's
day-old footsteps throughout the night, all the way to his final
triumphant walk off the Angel Stadium mound. He even waved his
cap at the standing, cheering crowd with nearly the same sweep
of his arm.

With Weaver picking up right where Lackey left off for the Los
Angeles Angels, not even Josh Beckett could keep the Boston Red
Sox off the brink of playoff elimination.

Weaver yielded two hits while dominating Boston into the eighth
inning, and Maicer Izturis drove home the tiebreaking run in Los
Angeles' 4-1 victory over the Red Sox on Friday night, extending
the Angels' first-round lead to 2-0.

Erick Aybar followed Izturis' RBI single with a two-run triple
during the Angels' two-out rally in the seventh to break up a
stellar pitching duel between Weaver and Beckett, Boston's ace
and most reliable playoff pitcher.

"These two guys were matching each other pitch for pitch,"
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I thought we did a really
good job of staying focused, settling down. ... The only way
we're going to beat good pitching is to pitch with them, and we
were able to do that the first couple of nights."

Weaver was comprehensively better than Beckett in just his
second career postseason start. He allowed just four Boston
baserunners and struck out seven while matching Lackey's 7 1-3
innings in Los Angeles' streak-snapping shutout victory in Game
1.

"It's always nice going up against a lineup like that," Weaver
said. "You know that if you make any mistakes, they're going to
hurt you. ... Hopefully these two (wins) will carry us into
Boston with some positive momentum."

Game 3 is early Sunday at Fenway Park, with Boston's Clay
Buchholz facing Angels newcomer Scott Kazmir, who pitched two
strong playoff games against the Red Sox for Tampa Bay last
fall.

The Red Sox eliminated the Angels in three of the past five
postseasons, winning nine of 10 games, but Boston has mustered
just one run and eight hits in this series. After twice
outpitching Boston's best starters and coming through with
timely late-inning hits, Los Angeles is one win away from its
first AL championship series since 2005.

"We want it," Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. "I mean, I
can't say we want it more than those guys, but we definitely
want it. I'm pretty sure they want it, too. It's just not
working out for them. We've just got to keep putting the
pressure on them and stay hungry. You've got to kick somebody
when they're down, and that's what we're doing."

Aybar's hit chased Beckett, who yielded five hits and four runs
in 6 2-3 innings during his first playoff loss in a Red Sox
uniform. It was his first defeat in nine postseason starts since
Game 3 of the 2003 World Series with Florida.

"A lot of guys in here have been here before," Beckett said of
Boston's 0-2 deficit. "It's not the ideal start. ... I felt good
for six innings, (but) just not making pitches when I needed
to."

Although the Red Sox scored their only run of the series in the
fourth on Victor Martinez's RBI single, Boston's sixth playoff
run in seven seasons is in serious trouble against the Angels,
who had lost 12 of their last 13 playoff games against the Red
Sox before taking the first two at Angel Stadium.

"We've had a tough time these last two games swinging the bat,
that's an understatement," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

Boston got the tying run to the plate in the ninth with Kevin
Youkilis doubled off Kevin Jepsen and Jason Bay drew a two-out
walk from Brian Fuentes. Although Red Sox fans might have
conjured visions of Dave Henderson's memorable ninth-inning
homer for the Red Sox in Anaheim at Game 5 of the 1986 AL
championship series, Fuentes retired Mike Lowell on a fly to
center for his first career postseason save.

Weaver just completed his best pro season, going 16-8 with a
3.75 ERA as the Angels' most dependable starter. Despite a
late-season three-game losing streak, he has been largely
outstanding since mid-August, pushing the Angels to their fifth
AL West title in six years.

"When he's in a zone, man, he's pretty impressive," Hunter said
of Weaver. "His off-speed is like a cartoon curveball, and
tonight he hit like 91 (mph), and I hadn't seen that in a long
time. He was very amped up, and it was a tremendous job by
Weaver. Lackey and Weaver, man, those are bulldogs to me. I love
'em."

Both teams combined for just seven baserunners over the first 6
1/2 innings of Game 2, but free-swinging Vladimir Guerrero drew
a walk from Beckett to open the Angels seventh. After
pinch-runner Howie Kendrick swiped second - no surprise for one
of the majors' most active teams on the basepaths - Izturis
worked the count before driving Beckett's 94th pitch into center
for the go-ahead run.

After Beckett hit Mike Napoli with a pitch, Aybar rapped a
triple to center, scoring both runners.

Izturis, the second baseman who batted .300 in his breakout
regular season, missed last fall's playoffs with a thumb injury,
and he sat out Game 1 in favor of Kendrick. He spent the year
playing stellar infield defense alongside Aybar, the young
shortstop who posted career highs in most hitting categories
this year.

"In the first at-bats, I was trying to pull the ball too much,"
Izturis said through an interpreter. "In that situation with the
big hit, I just tried to hit the ball back up the middle, and I
hit a curveball."

Jacoby Ellsbury led off the fourth with a triple over Hunter's
outstretched glove in center and later scored on Martinez's
single, ending Boston's string of 20 consecutive scoreless
postseason innings. The Red Sox didn't score in the final eight
innings of Tampa Bay's series-clinching Game 7 win in last
year's AL championship series, and Lackey blanked them in Game
1.

Los Angeles evened it later in the fourth when Bobby Abreu led
off with a single and eventually scored on Kendry Morales'
sacrifice fly.

NOTES: Except for a lingering headache, Francona was mostly
recovered from a brutal 24-hour bout of what he suspected was
food poisoning. ... Ellsbury's triple snapped an 0-for-24 playof
skid for Boston's leadoff hitter.