2007 ALCS Red Sox-Indians:

Lest Red Sox fans forget, the Indians tied the Beloved Nine with 96 wins this year, so this is a matchup that could easily go either way. They have it all: power, pitching, defense and speed. Grady Sizemore is one of the best young players in the game, and they look like they’re ready to return to their powerhouse form of a few seasons back.

Act One:

Game 1 at Fenway:

After a five-day layoff (which seemed to last for a month), the Sox and Cleveland finally got rolling on Friday night. There were rainshowers for most of the day in the region, consistent with autumn in New England, but things dried out as the parties went about their business on a cool, damp night. Game 1 (10/13/07) was billed as a pitchers’ duel with Beckett taking the hill against CC Sabathia. Many times in life, things that are hyped do not generally play out as such, and Game 1 precisely fit that category.

After striking out the first two Cleveland hitters, Beckett gave up a long solo homer to Travis Hafner that landed over the bullpen. The Sox tied the score in the bottom half when Youkilis and Ortiz reached on one-out singles. Manny ripped a base hit up the middle and Youk came in with the tie run.

Both pitchers settled in over the next inning or so, and it was a question of which guy would crack first. Even though Sabathia fanned the side in Boston’s second, the Sox hitters were making him throw a ton of pitches. In the third, the patient approach began to pay off.

Lugo led off with a ground-rule double that one-hopped the wall in to right. Pedroia moved him over with a sacrifice bunt, and Youkilis walked. Ortiz was plunked to load the bases. Sabathia walked Manny and Lugo came in with the go-ahead run. Lowell hit the second ground-rule double of the inning to right of the inning driving in Youkilis and Ortiz, making it 4-1 Sox. After Kielty was intentionally walked, Varitek hit a grounder to third that scored Manny. After that, Beckett was simply dominant.

Ortiz led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk and Manny followed with another Ramirez single up the middle. Sabathia walked Lowell to load ‘em with nobody out.
Kielty rapped a single to right that brought in Ortiz and Manny (Lowell was thrown out at third). Sabathia was pulled at that point in favor of Jensen Lewis. Varitek banged a double into the to right-center gap to drive in Kielty with the eighth run.

Cleveland picked up a run in the sixth, but the Sox responded with two more in the bottom half when Pedroia and Youkilis hit back-to-back singles starting off. After a pitching change, Aaron Fultz walked Ortiz, the he walked Manny and Pedroia came in. Wedge wisely pulled the plug on Fultz and Tom Mastny entered in relief. Lowell hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Youkilis to make it 10-2.

Beckett was through after six after reportedly having back stiffness and Timlin came on to pitch a clean seventh. Javier Lopez came on for the eighth and allowed a garbage-time run. With the score 10-3, it was safe enough to bring in Gagné for an inning’s work. He allowed a single, a double and a walk, but struck out Grady Sizemore swinging to end the ballgame.

Game 2 at Fenway:

After such a convincing win in Game 1, the Sox faced a mighty challenge in Saturday Night’s second game (10/14/07). First, it wasn’t just chilly, it was cold (50°). Second, Fausto Carmona was on the hill for the Tribe. He’s rapidly becoming a master of the ground-ball out as well as one of the rising young guns in the American League. This kid can bring it in the high 90’s. Schilling got the start for the Sox and Cleveland touched him for a run in the first. Sizemore banged a double off the wall leading off, and he scored on Victor Martinez’ two-out wall-ball double (that just missed going over). In the bottom of the first, Pedroia whiffed leading off then Carmona walked Youkilis and Ortiz. Manny hit into a 6-4-3 twin killing and Carmona avoided further trouble.

In the bottom of the third, Crisp led off with a ground ball single and stole second. Pedroia walked with one out. With two outs, Ortiz hit a grounder up the middle that Carmona mishandled and the bases were loaded, and he walked Manny, scoring Crisp. Lowell followed with an inside-out swinging base hit to right. Pedroia and Ortiz came in and Boston went ahead 3-1.

Martinez singled to right with one out in the fourth then Garko bounced a seeing-eye base hit up the middle. Peralta smashed a long drive to center that bounced off the camera platform for a three-run homer, and suddenly the Indians went ahead by a run. With one out in the fifth, Sizemore lined a bullet into the Boston bullpen and Cleveland went up 5-3. After Schilling gave up back-to-back singles to Hafner and Martinez, Francona pulled the plug and Manny Delcarmen entered the game, and was able to get the Sox out of further trouble.

Youkilis led off the bottom half of the fifth with a ringing line drive single to left, and Wedge wasted no time pulling the plug on Carmona, going with lefty Rafael Perez, who erased Youklilis on a 4-6 force. In a risky move, Wedge elected to keep the lefty in to face Manny, and the move backfired as Manny hit a bomb straightaway to center that bounced into the far left corner of the Boston bullpen. Lowell followed up by belting an inside fastball off the large advert above the Monster Seats. In the blink of an eye, the Red Sox went ahead 6-5! Drew then lined a base hit up the middle and that was that for Perez. Why did Wedge leave a lefty to face Manny and Lowell? If Francona had done the same thing, people would be spilling over from the stands to rip his limbs apart. Jensen Lewis entered in relief to face Varitek, who hit into a 5-4-3 twin killing to end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Peralta walked leading off and went to third on Lofton’s single to right. Gutierrez grounded out to short and Peralta came in the back door with the tying run, with Lofton taking second. On that note, Okajima relieved Delcarmen. After Blake struck out swinging, Sizemore was intentionally walked. Cabrera bounced one into the hole in short. Lugo snared the ball looked at third then threw to second to get the force, but the throw took Pedroia off the bag to load the bases. Hafner ripped a line drive directly in Pedroia’s direction and Okajima wriggled out of that conundrum. In the bottom half, Crisp hit a long fly to right that Gutierrez pulled in on the warning track. Lugo struck out swinging, and Pedroia flied out to right.

It took three hours to play the first six innings. Okajima struck out Victor Martinez to start the fourth hour. Garko hit a foul pop then Peralta went down swinging to end the 7th. Rafael Betancourt came with two outs in the bottom half to face Manny, who went down chasing a 99 mph fastball. Timlin entered in the eighth. Lofton hit a sinking liner to center that Crisp hauled in sliding on one knee, but Timlin got two quick groundball outs to end the inning.

The game moved uneventfully through the ninth and into extra innings. When Papelbon blew through the ninth and tenth, the Sox faced a BIG PROBLEM: who could come out of the bullpen to hold the fort? The answer was: NOBODY.

Game Over Gagne came on for the 11th, and got a quick strikeout. Then the roof caved in. Sizemore singled and Asdrubal Cabrera walked. Javier Lopez came on to face the formerly-beloved Trot Nixon, who stroked a base hit to center driving in Sizemore with the go-ahead run. Lopez threw a wild pitch and Cabrera came in. After Victor Martinez was intentionally walked Garko ripped a single that scored pinch-runner Jason Michaels. Lopez was mercifully pulled at that point. Jon Lester came on and fared no better. Peralta doubled to drive in Martinez. With two outs Franklin Gutierrez three-run homer deep to left and it was 13-6. The game ran 5:14, ending just past 1:30 a.m. Brutal.

Game 3 at Jacobs Field:

The series shifted to the City by the Lake, and the “pivotal third game” was played in rather temperate conditions (69°). Big Mo had now swung the Tribe’s way, as defeats as occurred to the Red Sox in Game 2 are more often than not fatal. Their fans are as passionate as Boston’s but they’re a hanky-waving bunch which is really minor-league. What’s the point, anyhow? If it makes them happy, more power to ‘em, but to a Bostonian, waving towels or hankies is just so…unseemly. Eecch!

Daisuke got the call while Cleveland countered with Jake Westbrook. Tonight’s key is which team’s hitters can be the most patient at the plate. Both teams can look out at the opposing starter and figure, “we can get to this guy.” Don’t press; just wait for a good pitch.

Westbrook had a pretty easy time of it in the top of the first. Pedroia struck out, Youkilis walked but was erased on Ortiz’ 4-6-3 double play. Daisuke had a nice first inning as well, getting Sizemore on a grounder to short and striking out Cabrera swinging and Hafner looking.

Manny walked leading off the second. Lowell followed by ripping one through the wickets into centerfield. Drew hit a nubber to first that Garko misplayed (E3) while thinking about making the 3-1 play to Westbrook covering, so the bases were loaded with nobody out. Varitek hit a short fly to Lofton in left that was too shallow for Manny to advance. Crisp bounced into a 6U3 double play, and the Sox ended up with nada.

Victor Martinez hit a grounder to second leading off the bottom half of the second. Garko followed with a nasty line drive single to center. Peralta stepped in and the Sox really need to put a lid on this guy, as he had a big night on Saturday. Daisuke nailed him looking at a fastball right down the pike. Lofton followed with a long fly to right center that just barely made it over the wall and the Tribe went ahead 2-0. Lofton took a curtain call while all the Cleveland faithful were waving their hankies in ecstasy. Whatever. This is generally what happens to a team when it fails to execute with runners in scoring position. Cleveland got the “gettin’” first while Boston needed to shake off the bad start.

But it wouldn’t happen in the third. Westbrook got two quick groundball outs and Youkilis hit a long fly to right that died short of the track.

Blake flied out to right starting the bottom half of the inning, the Sizemore hit a short fly to center. Cabrera singled up the middle allowing Hafner a chance to damage the baseball. He didn’t need to; Daisuke walked him. Victor Martinez went to 3-1 before Daisuke got him swinging at the next two pitches. The problem is that Matsuzaka’s now up to 60 pitches, not good at all.

Ortiz banged a double off the left field wall leading off the fourth. Manny hit a grounder to short that hit Ortiz as he tried to move to third…a bad sign. Lowell hit a long drive to left that was foul by about ten feet...another bad sign. On the hit and run, Lowell grounded out to third and Drew was out on a 3-1 grounder. Daisuke breezed through the bottom of the fourth and Westbrook had a rockin’ chair fifth.

Nixon struck out swinging leading off the Indians’ fifth. Blake followed with a base hit to left, putting the ever-dangerous Grady Sizemore at the plate. Blake stole second and Sizemore walked. Cabrera singled up the middle and Blake came around to make it 3-0, with Sizemore taking third. Hafner hit a grounder up the middle. Pedroia grabbed the ball, raced over to tag second then swung around to make the throw to first. Hafner beat the throw by a half a step and Sizemore came in with the fourth run. Martinez followed by reaching out and tapping a line drive into short left, and that’s when Daisuke’s night came to an end (4.2 IP, ER, 2BB, 6K, 101 PC). Timlin entered in relief to face Garko, and struck him out. Sox are in a serious hole, here.

With one out in the sixth, Youkilis singled to right and Ortiz walked…Manny (after getting squeezed on a 3-0 pitch clearly outside the zone) hit into a 6-4-3 double play. It’s not going to be Boston’s night, pure and simple. With one out in the seventh, Drew walked and Varitek followed by golfing a low fastball over the wall in center to bring the Sox back to within a pair. Lugo beat out an infield hit with two out, and that was the night for Westbrook. He pitched a terrific ballgame. Jensen Lewis entered in relief, and he struck out Pedroia.

Okajima came on for the eighth, and Sizemore drove a ball to the deepest part of the park where Crisp tracked it down. Rafael Betancourt came on for the eighth, looking to keep his “lights out” status intact. It took eight pitches, but he got Youkilis fishing at a pitch the dirt. Ortiz lined out to right for the second out, and Manny popped out to second. In the bottom of the eighth, Delcarmen entered in relief with one out and a runner on first and blew away Garko and Peralta on strikes. Borowski came on and retired the side in order and Cleveland took a 2-1 series advantage.

Game 4 at Jacobs Field (10/17):

Other than one excruciatingly bad inning, it wasn’t that bad a night…Wakefield got the start against 93-year old Paul Byrd (who, just a few days later would be implicated as an HGH user in the on-going crackdown). Byrd uses a double-pump wind up and looks like a pitcher from the ‘50’s, Whatever he does (or is using) must be working, because he gets batters out with minimal stuff. It was a pretty uneventful 0-0 game until the bottom of the fifth, when all hell broke loose. Casey Blake led off with a homer that landed five miles into the Lake. It was just a bomb. Franklin Gutierrez singled and Wake hit Kelly Shoppach. Wake began to unravel in a most ugly fashion. Sizemore hit into a 6-4 force that just missed being a double play. Asdrubal Cabrera hit an infield single that just kicked off Wake’s glove and Gutierrez scored. With two outs, Victor Martinez stroked a base hit to left that scored Sizemore. That was it for Wake. Manny Delcarmen came on in relief and Peralta greeted him by simply crushing a three-run homer to right. It was absolutely smoked, and the Tribe were up 6-0. Lofton then singled up the middle, stole second and scored on Blake’s base hit. My goodness, it was 7-0 Tribe and the Sox were in an intractable hole.

Not even back-to-back-to-back homers by Youkilis, Ortiz and Manny in the sixth could pull them out of the quagmire. About the only good news was Jon Lester’s relief stint that held Cleveland at bay, but the damage had already been done. Cleveland won 7-3 and held a commanding 3-1 edge in the series. One more loss and it would be time to put the wraps on this year, and Boston fans were treated to another post-game fireworks show above a sea of waving towels.

Act Two:

Game 5 at Jacobs Field

Win or go home. It was that simple. Many in the media had already started to compose their postmortems on what was a disappointing end to a great year. Fans on sports radio were despondent. Manny gave a rare interview where he stated that if the team lost, “it [wasn’t] the end of the world.” Manny is not paid $20M/year to be a team spokesman but to hit the baseball. Through the first two rounds, he has done just that. That didn’t stop the media from using his quotes as cannon fodder to enflame the partisans (as if Manny would care for an instant). No one could fault Manny, Ortiz or Youkilis if the team were knocked out in five. They carried the offense while the lower end of the order could not hit their way out of a paper bag. Other than Beckett, the starting pitching has been poor. Schilling, Daisuke and Wake didn’t make it through five innings. If Boston goes down tonight, Theo will have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do as none of the impact players he brought in produced. So, it was Josh Beckett and a prayer against CC Sabathia, and a million waving towels.

The Indians started off the game by doing something uniquely stupid: they brought in a Nashville star who was an old girlfriend of Beckett’s to sing the Anthem. What were they thinking with such sophomoric foolishness? Whoever brainstormed that one ought to go back to arranging junior high socials…talk about lame.

Youkilis hit a solo homer in the first off of Sabathia to get the Sox rolling. Beckett did not start off particularly well. Sizemore doubled leading off then Asdrubal Cabrera singled putting runners on first and third with nobody out and Hafner hit into a double play and Sizemore came in from third with the tie run. After Victor Martinez followed with a base hit, Sox fans were concerned that the Tribe would continue their roll. But Beckett whiffed Garko and Cleveland would score no more on this night.

Pedroia singled to right leading off the third but was erased on Youkilis’ 1-6-3 double play ball. (How many double plays have they hit into in the series? It seems like about 50.) Ortiz followed with a walk. Manny then hit one to the deepest part of the ball park. Going, going…wait a minute, the ball hit the concrete pad above the wall and bounced back into play. C’mon here, that was a home run. Manny naturally loves to admire his handiwork, so he stood in the box for a moment before going into his trot. The knucklehead umpires ruled it a single. Ortiz scored, but Manny should’ve been credited with a homer. Francona came out and protested vehemently (as he should have) and had to be dragged away from the umps by his bench coach. Man, that was an awful call.

In the fifth, Lofton flew out to left. Apparently he and Beckett have a somewhat less-than rosy relationship that dates back to when both played in the National League. As Lofton went down the first-base line, apparently some words were exchanged between the two and Lofton wanted to make an issue of things. The benches emptied for a moment as the boys yelled at each other but the commotion passed quickly.

Red Sox Paranoia began to creep in at this point, but Beckett seemed immune. In the fifth, both teams left runners in scoring position and failed to capitalize. But in the seventh, the Sox broke the game open and knocked Sabathia out of the game.

Pedroia doubled leading off. Youkilis followed with a long drive to the right-center gap. Sizemore gave chase and nearly made a great catch, but the ball bounced off his glove and went for a mighty roll. Pedroia scored easily and Youk was standing at third. Rafael Betancourt entered at that point and Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly to left to make the score 4-1 Sox.

In the eighth, the Sox put the nails in this one. Rafael Perez relieved Betancourt and he walked Drew to start things. With one out, Crisp bunted and reached (finally!) on Perez’ bad throw. Lugo bunted his way aboard to load the bases. Perez was yanked in favor of Mastny. With Pedroia at the plate Victor Martinez mishandled a tough pitch and Drew scored. Pedroia walked to load the bases again. Youkilis walked and Crisp came in. Ortiz followed with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Lugo. It was 7-1 Sox, and New Englanders felt comfortable as the team would live to fight another day.

This was Beckett’s line for the night: 8.0IP 5H 1ER 1BB 11K 109PC.

Awesome stuff, I’m sure you’d agree. Best of all, we no longer have to deal with those stinkin’ towel wavers until next year.

Back home:

Game 6 at Fenway: 10/20

Even though the Sox faced elimination heading into Game 6 on Saturday Night, fans had to feel pretty good about the team’s chances. The big news prior to the game was Francona’s decision to start Ellsbury in place of Crisp. There was really not much to lose as Crisp was really struggling at the plate. Schilling was on the hill and he has always pitched better facing an opponent the second time around in a series. On this night, he pitched well, but it was the offense that went into high gear and simply drubbed Fausto Carmona and whatever pitcher Wedge threw in there to face the Boston hitters.

After Schilling had a rockin’ chair first inning (though the Indians’ hitters were rather critical of the home plate umpire’s delineation of the strike zone), the Sox came out with a bang against Carmona. Pedroia and Youkilis hit back-to-back singles to start things then Carmona walked Ortiz. Youk’s hit should’ve been a double-play ball, but lady luck was running the Sox’ way. Manny struck out and Lowell flied out, so it looked as if the Sox were going to squander another golden opportunity. JD Drew has not exactly engendered a great deal of goodwill this year, and fans expected him to ground out or whiff as has been his norm. Instead, he hit a long drive to straightaway center that just made it over the wall for a grand slam! With that one mighty shot, all was forgiven and he joined the company of other Red Sox greats whose homers came when it counted most (e.g., Carbo, Hendu and Fisk).

Victor Martinez led of the second with a long homer to right and took his sweet-ass time around the bases, obviously in reprisal to Manny’s Cadillac home run trots. The Fox crew then showed a split screen replay of both runners and Martinez’ trot actually took about three seconds longer. What’s next, crawling on all fours?

In the bottom of the third, the Sox wrapped up this one with a ribbon on top as they hung a big, ugly, crooked number on the scoreboard. Manny and Lowell walked to start things. Drew hit a single up thie middle that scored Manny (5-1). That was all for Carmona as Rafael Perez entered in relief. With one out Ellsbury singled the other way to bring in Lowell (6-1). Lugo banged a double off the wall to drive in Drew and Ellsbury (8-1). Pedroia walked and Youkilis followed with a base hit that scored Lugo (9-1). Pedroia also came around to score as a result of Cabrera`s throwing error (10-1). Maybe there would be a seventh game after all.

At that point, things got really quiet. Aaron Laffey came on and did a fantastic job of cooling off the Sox’ hitters (4 2/3IP, 1H, 0R). Cleveland picked up a run in the seventh when Garko led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly. The Sox added two more in the eighth to cap off the scoring. Cleveland’s closer, Joe Borowski came on in relief of Laffey. With one out Youkilis walked, then Ortiz banged a wall-ball double. Manny Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to center that brought in Youkilis (11-2) and Lowell followed with a bse hit up the middle that scored pinch-runner Eric Hinske (12-2).

Schilling was finished after seven, and no one could’ve asked for more (7.0IP 6H 2ER 0BB 5K 90PC). He simply seems to shine when everything is at stake. Lopez and Gagné came on to pitch scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth. There would, in fact, be a Game 7 ladies and gents and it would be at Fenway, in front of our fans. As a baseball fan, what more could you ask from your team? (Yeah, a win would be pretty sweet).

Game 7 at Fenway (10/21).

Things were quiet on Sunday. Many New Englanders spent the day witnessing the incredible exploits of one T. Brady in Miami, while others recorded the event to watch later and took advantage of a perfect mid-October afternoon at the lake or beach or in the woods. It was no day to be a couch potato. Some of us still get keyed up (notwithstanding our age) so it’s better to commune with Mother Nature than to thrash about waiting for an 8:27 p.m. opening pitch.

Game 7’s ceremonial opening pitch was delivered by none other than Kevin Millar, which was…peculiar, to say the least. Millar has been employed by another MLB organization since leaving Boston after ’05. While has always been identified as “One of the 25”, he’s still an active player employed by a rival team. He was in the dugout yukking it up with Big Papi, and a few of the other guys, but who deigned him to be the Red Sox’ Designated Talisman? If foul balls counted as hits, Millar would be on a par with the Bambino. Hopefully he neglected to bring the Fifth of Jack to loosen up the troops. Seems to me that we in Boston pretty much had our fill of Millar’s act. Was this really necessary? Whatever, let’s play ball.

People will look back at the final score and think that the game was a rout. It wasn’t, at least until the very end. Jake Westbrook and Daisuke hooked up for all the marbles and at first, the Sox were tagging Westbrook with rights and lefts but failed to deliver the knockout blow.

In the Sox’ first, Pedroia and Youkilis both singled. With one out, Manny ripped a base hit to left that scored Pedroia. After Lowell singled to load the bases, Drew grounded into a double play, and the natives started to get uneasy. In the second, Varitek led off with a double down the line in left and Ellsbury singled putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Lugo hit into a 6-4-3 made-to-order double play with Varitek coming in the back door to make it 2-0. Still…the double plays are killing this team!

Meanwhile, Daisuke was having a considerably better outing than his last time out. He blew away Sizemore on a rising fastball to end Cleveland’s third. In the bottom of the inning, Youkilis doubled leading off, moved to third on a ground out and scored Boston’s third run on Lowell’s sacrifice fly to right.

In the fourth, Cleveland finally got on the board on doubles by Hafner and Garko. Fans began to sense the tide was turning Cleveland’s way. Things around the park were subdued as fans braced for the inevitable Boston collapse. In the fifth, Lofton singled to left leading off but was called out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double. Manny picked the rebound and fired a strike to Pedroia. The replay seemed to indicate that Lofton barely made it to the bag before the throw, but he didn’t protest nor did his manager (unusual, considering what was at stake). Gutierrez and Blake followed with singles as it appeared that Daisuke was running out of steam. Sizemore hit a sacrifice fly to center and suddenly it was 3-2. Daisuke’s night ended on a high note, striking out Cabrera to end the inning.

Okajima entered in the sixth and had a clean inning but encountered trouble in the seventh. With one out Lofton reached on Lugo`s flub. Gutierrez then hit a line drive base hit that bounced off the low grandstand wall that juts out toward third base. Lofton (who still has pretty good speed) raced around third to score but was inexplicably held up by the third base coach Joel Skinner. Manny picked up the ball and was ready to throw home, where it would’ve been better than 50/50 that Lofton would’ve scored. What did they have to lose by not going balls to the wall? In a worst-case scenario, Gutierrez could’ve gone to second on the throw to the plate. This is Game 7, gotta leave it all on the field. The tension was palpable, with the tying run just 90 feet away. Oki was bailed out by the defense when Blake hit into an inning ending 5-4-3 double play that really seemed to rejuvenate the Sox.

In the bottom of the inning, the Sox made Cleveland pay for their lack of daring-do. Betancourt came on in relief and Ellsbury reached on Blake`s error then moved to second on Lugo’s sacrifice bunt. Pedroia followed by walloping a long fly way, way back (it looked as if it reached an altitude of 500 feet) before safely landing in the Monster Seats to put Boston ahead 5-2. Still, the Indians weren’t about to surrender.

Okajima was still on the mound in the eighth when Sizemore and Cabrera each reached on singles. Oki should not have been left hung out there to dry by the manager. Not when Beckett (among others) was out there in the bullpen ready and available to quell any possible rally. Papelbon came on and struck out Hafner swinging, then getting two quick outs to squash that.

In the bottom of the eighth everything worked right for Boston and wrong for the Tribe. With one out Lowell hit a doubled to left. Drew followed with a base hit up the middle that scored Lowell (6-2). Varitek hit a ground-rule double pop down the line in left that hit between Blake and Peralta and bounced into the grandstand (never saw that happen before). Ellsbury received an intentional pass to load the bases. With two outs, Pedroia doubled to the gap in left-center that cleared the bases (9-2). After a pitching change, Youkilis followed by smashing a bullet that struck the “Coke Bottles” in left and putting an exclamation point on the night for the Sox. All that remained was to record three outs. The man entrusted with that task was (cue “Jaws” theme) was Eric Gagné.

Once again proving incapable of pitching a clean inning, Gagné surrendered a base hit to Peralta. Lofton lined out Ellsbury (now in left for Manny). Gutierrez followed by flying out to Crisp (now in center). The Mighty Casey Blake then waved his bat in anger toward Gagné and hit a long fly way, way back into the triangle in center. Crisp gave chase and hauled it in, banging his knee against the bullpen wall. He rolled over in pain as his teammates raced out to greet and embrace him for another outstanding defensive play that brought the American League Pennant back to Boston.

Congratulations to the 2007 American League Pennant Winners, The Boston Red Sox!!!