(AP Photos)
Unbelievable! Just when you think you've seen it all the Sox rise from the dead and a 7-0 deficit with 2 outs in the 7th inning to beat the Rays 8-7 and force a Game 6 in the ALCS.
The quiet assassin J.D. Drew came through again. First he belts a 2-run bomb in the 8th to make it 7-6 then with 2 out in the 9th and runners on second and 3rd he rips the game-winner over the head of the right fielder and sends Fenway into a frenzy.
The grand slam against the Indians last year is still the biggest hit of his Red Sox career, but these two and the 2-run homer off Francisco Rodriguez in Game 2 of the ALDS have to rank right up there.
BOX SCORE: Red Sox 8, Rays 7
Coco Crisp had the best at-bat of his Red Sox career with 2 outs in the 8th, fouling off pitch after pitch until he finally ripped a single into right to score Mark Kotsay with tying run. Coco also had a huge hit in the 7th when it was 7-0 to keep the inning alive for Dustin Pedroia who singled in the first run and set up David Ortiz for his big moment.
And finally Big Papi came through with a 3-run shot to right to make it 7-4. That was the moment that we started to believe this could really happen. From there Drew took over the game.
Daisuke Matsuzaka looked like he had decent stuff, but he gave up three big home runs to fall behind 7-0. Dice-K may be needed in a relief in a possible Game 7 so it probably wasn't a terrible thing that he didn't throw a ton of pitches in this game.
Down 5-0, Terry Francona brought in Manny Delcarmen to start the 7th after Hideki Okajima pitched 2 scoreless innings. Delcarmen inexplicably walked the first two batters and had to be pulled.
This time Francona didn't mess around and made the move to Jonathan Papelbon. That was a huge move for the Sox. Even though Paps gave up a 2-run double to B.J. Upton (can anyone get this guy out?), he was able to give the Sox two huge innings and keep the game close.
It was especially important that he shut down Tampa in the 8th after the Sox had cut the lead to 7-4. That gave the offense more confidence and a chance to keep the pressure on.
Mark Kotsay had a big game too coming up with a huge 2-out double before Coco's game-tying hit. Kotsay also made a couple of nice plays at first and has really come up big filling in at first with Mike Lowell out for the season.
Now it's on to Tampa where hopefully Josh Beckett can regain his playoff form. The only guys who should be pitching at this point should be the starter, Okajima, Justin Masterson and Papelbon.
0 comments:
Post a Comment