Sox: 3 Angels: 2
After Lester had thrown his seven shutout innings, given the lead after Sox scrapped together two runs off of Lackey in the fifth, things were looking pretty good for the Sox wrapping up this series at home. Then the bullpen happened. Oki retired the first two Angels batters he faced, but couldn't put the third one away, walking him and bringing Francona to the mound to make the change. Masterson, who the Angels have seen a lot of this series, proceeded to follow Oki's walk of Teixeira with a walk of his own to Vladi Guerrero. Up to the plate came the most clutch hitter of the Halos lineup, Torii Hunter. Masterson had him down 0-2, but then tried to get him to chase a pitch out of the zone. The next pitch he threw was a wild one and the runners advanced. Hunter roped Masterson's 2-2 offering into right field and the two-run advantage the Sox held went "poof", along with Lester's chance to pick up the win. Momentum appeared to swing in the Angels' favor and it looked like a long trip back to Anaheim for the Sox.
Then came the top of the ninth. With pinch-runner Reggie Willits at third, Scioscia tried the old Suicide Squeeze with Aybar at the plate. Aybar missed on his first attempt to bunt as Willits broke for home. Tek caught up with him and tagged him out before he could make it back to third and the play backfired. With two down in the inning, Manny Delcarmen got the third out quickly and it was on to the bottom of the ninth.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jason Bay lined a ball into right field that bounced into the seats. Ground rule double. That was a tough break for the Sox because he could have made it to third and possibly all the way home had the ball not taken that bounce. Kotsay hit a hard line drive that was caught by Teixeira. Two out. Lowrie is up, batting left-handed, where he has struggled the most (though he did hit a long single off the wall earlier in the game). In a hitter's count, the rookie found the gap and Bay hustled around from second to plate the winning run. No return trip to Anaheim for the Red Sox. They clinched a spot in the ALCS at home, beating the team with the best record in baseball this year, the team with 100 regular season wins. The Angels of 2008, unlike the banged-up squad from last year, put up a fight to the very end. They were a very tough team to beat and deserve props for giving it their all. That said, it's very gratifying to know that the Red Sox were the ones to come up victorious once again in the post-season, over a team that has had their number during the regular season.
Now it's on to the Tampa Bay Rays. This team appears to have had a date with destiny since the very beginning of this season. They've made a meteoric rise in the ranks of the AL East and they've given the Sox a hell of a time in the process. Simply put, they know how to win games. The Red Sox know how to win games too, but the Rays have been doing it just a tad bit more consistently in 2008. Both teams have dealt with injuries to key players. They've also each won a whole slew of games in their home ballpark. With home field advantage having been earned by the Rays, that could play a key part in this series. The Sox will have their work cut out for them, and there are questions about how their pitching will match up to the Rays' rotation, but the Sox can win this series, just as they won the division series against the 100-win Angels. It will take everyone on the team stepping up and bringing their A-game. It will be an exciting series, that's for sure. That said, I may need to work on some Zen meditation between now and Friday...
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment