Manny Ramirez waited until the ninth inning to pick up his first hit of the game last night, but man was it a big one. His three run walk off homer won it for the Red Sox and now they’re just one win away from getting back into the ALCS for the first time since 2004.
J.D. Drew put the Red Sox on the board in the first inning with a two run single but the Angels took the lead in the first when Daisuke Matsuzaka was tagged for three runs in the second. The Red Sox tied it in the fifth on Mike Lowell’s sac. fly and then neither team scored until Manny went yard in the ninth.
Angels pitching stayed away from David Ortiz and to a lesser extent, Manny, as the combined to draw six walks in the game. Ortiz was a perfect one for one with four walks and he scored two runs.
Dice-K didn’t last through the fifth but the bullpen shined. Jon Papelbon got the final four outs and he picked up the save. While you never like to see someone go down, Vlad Guerrero left in the eighth after hurting his shoulder.
There’s another day off today (I hate this game on, game off stuff) and it’ll be Curt Schilling against Jered Weaver. It’d be nice if the Red Sox could wrap things up. All of the series are now 2-0 so we could go a few days without a game if everyone wraps things up.
