For most of the season, Red Sox fans were not too happy with the play of J.D. Drew and were booing him a lot. In tonight’s Game 6 of the ALCS, Drew probably erased the memories from the regular season with a postseason game to remember. His grand slam in the 1st inning and RBI single in the 3rd inning gave the Red Sox a 5-0 lead on their way to a 12-2 win over the Indians. Drew ended up the night 3 for 5 with 5 RBIs.
The win by the Sox sets up a decisive Game 7 tomorrow night at the Fens. First pitch is at 8:23 PM ET and will be on FOX. Daisuke Matsuzaka will toe the rubber for the Sox while Jake Westbrook will do the same for the Tribe.
Curt Schilling was able to do what only Josh Beckett had done in this ALCS for the Red Sox, pitch longer than 4â…” innings. While Schilling didn’t have his best stuff to start, he got better as the game went on and gave the Red Sox seven strong innings. Of course when your team gets you four runs in the 1st and six in the 3rd, it makes pitching a whole heck of lot easier.
Schilling had no problems with the Tribe batters in the 1st. He got ground outs of Grady Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera. He had almost surrendered a home run to Sizemore around Pesky’s Pole but the umpires said it was to the right of the pole. He ended it with a strikeout of the struggling Travis Hafner.
Fausto Carmona was hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened in Game 2 but that was not to be tonight. Dustin Pedroia led off with an infield single and Kevin Youkilis followed that with an infield single of his own. Carmona then issued a free pass to David Ortiz to load up the base for the new Red Sox spokesman, Manny Ramirez. Manny, who had walked in his three previous bases loaded at-bats during the LCS, ended up striking out. Mike Lowell took the first pitch he saw from Carmona and hit a short fly ball to Trot Nixon in right field. Due to the short fly ball, Pedroia could not tag and remained at third base. Carmona then fell behind Drew 3-1 and left the next pitch, a fastball, over the plate for Drew to drive into the photographer’s well in center field for a grand slam. Carmona then issued a walk to Jason Varitek. He did get out of the inning though as he got Jacoby Ellsbury, starting for Coco Crisp, to ground back to him to end the carnage in the 1st.
Victor Martinez, who owns Schilling in his career, led off the 2nd with a home run around Pesky’s Pole to cut the lead to 3 at 4-1. His home run landed in almost the same spot as Sizemore’s foul ball did in the 1st. Schilling settled back in though as he got Ryan Garko to strikeout, Jhonny Peralta to ground out and Kenny Lofton to fly out to Manny in left.
Carmona started the 2nd inning with a strikeout of the struggling Julio Lugo but then allowed a double to Pedroia. Youk would get his second infield single of the night as Peralta was unable to make a throw with Pedroia advancing to third on the play. Unfortunately for the Sox, Big Papi hit a scorching grounder right into the shift where Peralta was stationed and Peralta stepped on the bag then threw to first to complete the 6-3 double play.
The Original Dirtdog, Trot Nixon, led off the 3rd with a single off his former teammate. Casey Blake followed that with a single as the Indians finally looked to get something going against Schill. Schilling got Sizemore to line out to right and got Cabrera to fly out as well to right. That was good enough to move Nixon to third. Nixon was left stranded there though as Hafner grounded out to first for the third out.
Carmona’s struggles would continue in the 3rd as the Sox broke open the game. Carmona issued walks to Manny and Lowell to start the inning. Drew brought in his 5th RBI of the night with a single as Manny scored from second (yes, Manny was running hard). Tribe manager Eric Wedge had seen enough of his young righty and went to the lefty Rafael Perez out of the bullpen. Perez got Varitek to fly out for the first out of the inning. Ellsbury got his first career postseason hit and RBI as his single scored Lowell from third to give the Sox a 6-1 lead. Lugo made it 8-1 with a 2-RBI double as Ellsbury motored around the bases from first to score. Perez’s struggles continued as he walked Pedroia. Youk brought in another run as he hit a wall-ball single that scored Lugo from second. Pedroia would score on the play as Cabrera made a throwing error. Wedge had seen enough again as he went to the bullpen for untested rookie, Aaron Laffey. He came in and got Big Papi to ground out to first as Youk was safe at second. Laffey then walked Manny but he got Lowell to fly out to right for the third out as the Indians were now down 10-1.
Schilling allowed a lead-off single to Martinez in the 4th but then set down the next 3 Tribe hitters (Garko, Peralta, Lofton) he faced.
If it wasn’t for Laffey, the Tribe bullpen could have been in a lot of trouble for tomorrow night’s game 7. He threw 4â…” innings of one hit ball while walking one and striking out. The walk was in the 3rd inning to Manny and he gave up a single to Lowell in the 6th.
Schilling gave up a lead-off single in the 5th to Nixon. After a Blake fly out, Schilling got the speedy Sizemore to ground into a double play. He worked a perfect 6th inning as he got his personal nemesis, Martinez to strikeout for the third out of the inning.
The Indians struck again in the 7th. Garko led off with a triple off the wall in left center. Peralta brought him with a sacrifice fly to Drew in right to make it 10-2 Red Sox. Schilling finished off his night by getting Lofton to ground out and Nixon to fly out. The sold-out Fenway crowd, sensing that Schilling was done, got up on their feet and gave Schilling a much-deserved standing ovation as he exited the Fenway playing surface. Schilling obliged the crowd with the customary hat tip.
Javier Lopez took over Schilling and worked a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.
Indians closer Joe Borowski, needing some work, came into the game in the 8th and struggled. He got Pedroia to fly out for the first out of the inning. He then walked Youk and gave up a double to Big Papi. Eric Hinske came into pinch-run for Big Papi. Manny would see his 15-game LCS hitting streak end as he hit a sacrifice fly that easily scored Youk from third to give the Sox an 11-2 lead. They added another run as Lowell brought in Hinske with a single to provide the final margin of victory. Drew kept up his hot bat as he singled Lowell over to second. Borowski walked Varitek to load up the bases for Ellsbury. Borowski got out of the inning as Ellsbury hit a weak liner to Peralta at short.
Eric Gagné came on for the Sox in the 9th to mop up. Wouldn’t you know it, he actually came in and worked a perfect inning to send this ALCS to a Game 7.
For once, the Red Sox got some hits and RBI’s from guys not named Big Papi, Manny or Lowell. The 6 through 9 guys in the Red Sox lineup had 5 hits and 8 RBIs. This is what they need to do in the next game as well as got some hits from the big boppers in the lineup.
Terry Francona said after the game that he doesn’t anticipate any changes to the lineup for tomorrow night’s game. He also said that Beckett will probably be available out of the bullpen tomorrow.
It’s going to be a great game tomorrow night and I am already nervous in anticipation of the first pitch.
Notes and musings:
These are Curt Schilling’s numbers when facing elimination in the postseason before tonight’s game: 4 games started, 3-0, 1.11 ERA. He has never lost when facing a team for the second time in the postseason as well.
Jacoby Ellsbury made his MLB postseason debut tonight. He is the first Red Sox rookie to start a postseason game since Trot Nixon. Some enterprising people made a Jacoby Ellsbury website (startjacoby.com).
Fausto Carmona has made 3 career appearances at Fenway Park, 2 as a reliever and 1 as a starter. He has 0-2 record with 2 blown saves and a 16.20 ERA.
Travis Hafner has struggled during the postseason at the plate. Hafner is batting .158 (3-for-19) in the ALCS and .200 (7-for-35).
Josh Beckett’s 3 postseason wins have tied a the club record with 3 wins in a single post-season, joining Bill Dinneen (1903), Joe Wood (1912), Luis Tiant (1975), Bruce Hurst (1986) and Derek Lowe and Curt Schilling (2004).
Beckett’s 26 strikeouts are 3rd most ever for a Boston pitcher in a post-season behind 28 for Dinneen (1903) and Roger Clemens (1986).
David Ortiz became the 1st player in LCS history to have 2 sacrifice flies in one game on Thursday.
Big Papi has hit safely in his last 13 postseason games, 4 shy of the all-time record. He extended it to 14 with a double in the 9th.
Of the 6 series in which Boston has trailed, 3-2, the club has gone on to win 3 of those series.
The Red Sox are 6-4 lifetime in the 6th game of a playoff series…When Game 6 is played at home, Boston is 4-0, with wins in the 1918, 1967, and 1975 World Series and the 1986 ALCS.
Former Red Sox 3B and current Dodgers hitting coach, Bill Mueller, threw out tonight’s first pitch.
Retired Massachusetts State Trooper Dan Clark had the honors of singing tonight’s National Anthem.
The Indians were showing the game on the jumbotron at Jacobs Field tonight.
J.D. Drew was 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position going into the game before his grand slam in the 1st. The grand slam was just the third in Red Sox postseason history and the first at the Fens. The RBIs were also his first of the LCS.
Victor Martinez came into the game hitting a lofty .636 (7 for 11) vs Curt Schilling.
Julian Tavarez would probably make a good 1B or 3B coach with his directing of “traffic”. Yo-Yo was seen on Pedroia’s double in the 2nd, telling him to speed up and then hold up at second base.
With Big Papi’s double play in the 2nd, the Red Sox set a LCS record for most double plays grounded into.
In keeping with my superstitious ways, I had the Saturday night football game on the small tv in the living room. I looked up at one point to see a Schilling wearing a #52 Michigan jersey. It was offensive lineman Stephen Schilling and he’s not related to Curt.
Bud Selig and Presidential hopeful Chris Dodd, the Senator from Connecticut, were among the handful of people in the Red Sox owner’s box tonight.
Joe Buck’s an idiot. He said Josh Beckett threw 4 innings of relief in Game 7 for the Chicago Cubs in 2003. Umm Joe, it was for the Florida Marlins against the Cubbies.
Manny’s 15-game LCS hitting streak came to an end tonight. It leaves him tied with Pete Rose for the best overall in LCS history.
