A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
Papi's grand slam tucks the game
away for the Red Sox

August 18, 2007 ... David Ortiz showed no signs of falling apart. On the contrary, the slugger hit a ball as hard as he has all season for a go-ahead grand slam in last night's 10-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, his second home run in three days and the kind of hit Curt Schilling was hoping to see more often.

The slam was the seventh of Ortiz's career, and his 21st home run of the season, after he'd moaned earlier in the week that he wasn't sure he'd even reach 20. Last night, he again ran through his litany of reasons why the home runs have been harder to come by: pitchers who would sooner set their hair on fire than throw him a pitch to hit, sea breezes that conspire to knock down his mightiest blasts, a home ballpark designed to frustrate the boppers who play there on a nightly basis.

Just as the Sox needed a pick-me-up from Ortiz to stay five games ahead of the Yankees in the American League East, they needed similar reassurance from the bullpen that it, too, will remain intact down the stretch. The Eric Gagne factor was not in play; the beleaguered Gagne having the night off after blowing Friday's second game. Instead, Terry Francona turned to the arms and the men who had been so instrumental in the pen's success for much of the summer.

And Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon did not disappoint. Timlin survived a perilous seventh, which began with a bunt single by Reggie Willits and ended with Coco Crisp hauling down Vladimir Guerrero's blast in front of the 420-foot sign in center. Timlin has been scored upon just once in his last 18 appearances, posting a 0.77 ERA.

Okajima dodged a scary eighth, one in which Garret Anderson and Gary Matthews both sent Crisp to the track, and Casey Kotchman had Crisp in full-sprint mode to run down his liner. Crisp caught eight balls in all, five in a row in the seventh and eighth. And Papelbon took care of the ninth, the pressure valve eased when the Sox scored four times in the bottom of the eighth. Two of those runs came home on a double by Manny Ramirez, who had struck out in each of his first four at-bats. Jason Varitek singled home a third run and Greg Jones's wild pitch accounted for the other. Papelbon benefited from a sweet diving stop by Alex Cora to retire second baseman Macier Izturis, struck out pinch hitter Erick Aybar for the second out - that's 18 of his last 19 appearances with at least one punch-out - then whiffed Willits to end it.

The Sox are now 4-2 on this homestand, which ends this afternoon with Julian Tavarez on the hill. With Tavarez having thrown just 1 2/3 innings since Aug. 8, Francona said there was a strong likelihood he would need Manny Delcarmen and Kyle Snyder today, which is why he elected to use Papelbon in the ninth, even with a five-run lead.

In any color, Schilling's luck was anything but good. The Angels scored a first-inning run after Kevin Youkilis, playing third base, ducked the shattered remnants of Guerrero's bat while the ball scooted past for a hit. Orlando Cabrera, who was aboard on a double, took third, and scored on a force play.

In the second, Willits hit a pitch that was below his shoelaces into center field for a run-scoring single, then scored ahead of Chone Figgins' home run into the lower right-field grandstand, where an indifferent spectator caught the ball before it could land in the outstretched glove of J.D. Drew. And in the fifth, Guerrero hit a well-placed splitter into the Monster seats to give the Angels a 5-0 lead.

But in the bottom of the inning, fortunes turned the Sox' way, and Crisp was in the middle of it. This time, a splintered bat worked in their favor, Eric Hinske reaching on a broken-bat single when Weaver was distracted by flying wood and failed to cover first base on Hinske's roller to first. Crisp followed with a double off the low bullpen wall, Hinske stopping at third.

Then, another break: Cora was hit in the foot by an 0-and-2 pitch to load the bases. Hot-hitting Julio Lugo (8 for 19 on the homestand) followed with a single to center for two runs, and it was 5-2. Youkilis, mired in a 3-for-26 slump at the start of the night, smoked another single to reload the bases. Up came Ortiz, whose aching shoulder and throbbing knee were forgotten the moment he connected.

Bobby Kielty, the 31-year-old switch-hitting outfielder signed by the Sox Aug. 6 after his release by Oakland, was added to the roster yesterday, as his contract was purchased from Pawtucket, and Jacoby Ellsbury was returned to the PawSox after playing in the second game of Friday's doubleheader. Ellsbury was hitless in three at-bats but walked and scored a run in Boston's eighth-inning rally. Catcher Kevin Cash, called up to replace the disabled Doug Mirabelli, will draw the assignment of catching Wakefield's knuckleball. Cash caught Wakefield in some side sessions in spring training, and also has caught PawSox knuckleballers Charlie Zink and John Barnes.

Former Sox star Tony Conigliaro was honored in pregame ceremonies on the 40th anniversary of his beaning by Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton. Groundskeeper Dave Mellor cut a circled No. 25, Conigliaro's number, in right field.