So, there they were. Down three games to one in the American League Championship Series, and losing 7-0 in game five. Not only were they losing, they looked awful and had looked awful ever since losing that extra-innings heart-breaker in Game 2. Games 3 and 4 were in Boston, and the Red Sox lost by a combined score of 22-5.
Game 5 had not looked any better, with Boston falling behind 2-0 before either team recorded an out. Matsuzaka made it through only four innings but gave up 5 hits and 5 runs in that time. By the time the second half of the seventh inning started, Boston was down 7-0, having only 2 hits. Rookie Jed Lowrie started off the bottom of the seventh with a double, but Veritek and Kotsay both flew out to Upton (my vote up to that point for series MVP) in center field, and everything looked pretty hopelss. The Rays were just 7 outs from the World Series. Then, Crisp singles, getting Lowrie to third, and Pedroia singled in Lowrie in an 8-pitch at-bat (”yea, it’s not a shut-out”). Up comes David Ortiz, who has had a miserable post-season (batting around .100 in this series).
It’s still unclear to me why the Rays manager did not bring in a different pitcher to face Ortiz. He had hard-throwing lefty J.P. Howell in the bullpen, but he chose to let right-handed Balfour face left-hitting Ortiz. Perhaps he thought a six-run lead was sufficient. Perhaps Maddon simply had not seen (or remembered) the last two American League Championship Series in which the Red Sox had participated. This is October, and these are the Boston Red Sox. And this is Fenway. Papi placed the ball nicely in the right-field stands, and suddenly it was a three-run game.
It was like the Red Sox suddenly started playing right-handed. Like someone from the sidelines had yelled, “NOW!” The momentum at that moment swung, and the Red Sox simply didn’t stop. Papelbon quickly dispatched three batters in the top of the 8th. Jason Bay started the bottom of the 8th with a walk, and J.D. Drew smacked a two-run homerun to make it a one-run game. With two outs, Kotsay hit a double off Upton’s glove (it really could have been caught, although it would have been a fantastic catch), followed by a beautiful ten-pitch at-bat from Coco Crisp, that finally resulted in a run-scoring single to tie the game.
After 170 +\- games this season, Carlos Pena has hit into only two double plays. Two, all season. With one out and two on base in the top of the 9th inning, Red Sox fans were very pleased to see his third. But the reality is that it was not Pena’s fault: the Red Sox already had decided that they were going to win this game.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Youkilis reached on an in-field hit (which also could have been an out) and got to second on the throwing error to first. I was surprised to see Tampa Bay walk Jason Bay to get to J.D. Drew. I guess you look at the stats and make a call, but Drew has accepted many opportunities to be a hero, and last night was no exception. With the count 3-1 (a hitter’s count, and Howell did NOT want to load the bases), Drew hit a change-up over Gross’s head in right field, and another Boston miracle was complete.
The Boston Red Sox have one eight straight ALCS elimination games. I would love to see them make it ten, but last night’s victory also meant the season will not end with Boston simply lying down. Let’s hope they can keep this momentum going for one more game. If successful, they’ll need just one additional game to get back to the World Series. Wouldn’t that be fun.