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J.D. DREW |
A
POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
2007
ALCS, GAME #6
The Sox rip the Indians to tie the series
October 20, 2007
...
J.D. Drew went from pillory to pedestal with a single swing, Curt
Schilling had another made-for-October moment, and Daisuke Matsuzaka
will be given one more chance to prove himself to both sides of a
still-skeptical globe. Fueled by a first-inning grand slam by Drew,
the Red Sox scored 10 runs in the first three innings to bury the
Cleveland Indians, 12-2, in Game 6 of the American League
Championship Series.
Schilling
pitched seven innings, allowing just six hits, and will hand the ball over to
Matsuzaka as the Sox attempt to become the sixth team in LCS history to rally
from a 3 games to 1 deficit. The Sox are the only two team to do it twice (1986
and 2004), and by overwhelming the Indians, had the look of a team
bent on converting the hat trick.
The Sox are
2-4 in winner-take-all Game 7s. The last one, of course, capped their four-game
sweep of the Yankees in 2004 after losing the first three games. Johnny Damon
hit a grand slam in that one, the last postseason grand slam until Drew
connected on a 3-and-1 pitch off Indians starter Fausto Carmona, who loaded the
bases in the first on two infield hits and a walk to the first three batters,
then caused a Fenway first, the sound of 37,000-plus cerebrums imploding
simultaneously when Drew drove a fastball into the camera well in center field
for a grand slam.
The Sox
built a 10-1 lead after three innings against Carmona, a 19-game winner during
the regular season who held the Yankees to a run on three hits in nine innings
in the Division Series but in two postseason starts against the Sox has a 16.50
ERA (11 earned runs in 6 innings). After Dustin Pedroia led off by beating out a
hopper over the mound, Kevin Youkilis beat out a hit in the hole, and Ortiz
walked. Carmona was on the verge of escaping when he struck out Manny Ramirez
and Mike Lowell hit a first-pitch shallow fly to right.
Indians
catcher Victor Martinez led off the second with a long home run to right field,
this one a no-doubt fair ball after Grady Sizemore's towering fly ball to lead
off the game was waved foul. The Sox left runners on the corners in the second,
when Ortiz hit into a double play, but the Sox KO'd Carmona and the Indians in a
six-run third inning in which Ramirez had the distinction of being the first
player in LCS history to walk twice in the same inning. Ramirez drew his first
walk to open the inning, and Carmona compounded that mistake by walking Lowell
on four pitches. Drew then lined a single to center, scoring Ramirez to make it
5-1 and bringing Indians manager Eric Wedge to the mound to make a pitching
change.
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CURT SCHILLING |
Rookie
Jacoby Ellsbury, who received a raucous reception when he was announced in the
starting lineup in place of Coco Crisp, lined an opposite-field single to left
off Indians reliever Rafael Perez to make it 6-1, and Julio Lugo, who came into
the game with just two hits in his previous 17 at-bats, a bunt single and
infield hit, scorched a ground ball inside the third-base bag that rolled into
the corner for a two-run double.
It was 8-1,
Sox, the rout was on, and soon, so was the comedy. After Pedroia walked,
Youkilis lined a single off the wall. Lugo scored easily, but Youkilis was hung
up between first and second. But in the ensuing rundown, second baseman Asdrubal
Cabrera's throw clanked off Youkilis's helmet as he scurried back to first.
Pedroia scored the 10th run of the night, while Youkilis stayed put. Ortiz then
grounded a ball down the first-base line. Ryan Garko stepped on the bag to
retire Ortiz, but he threw wildly to second attempting to double up Youkilis.
Ramirez then drew his second walk, but Lowell flied out to end the inning.
The Indians,
who are trying to return to the World Series for the first time in a decade and
haven't won one since 1948, managed only three singles off Schilling, two by
Trot Nixon, before Ryan Garko tripled over a leaping Ellsbury to open the
seventh and scored on Jhonny Peralta's sacrifice fly. Schilling retired the next
three batters, the last Nixon on a liner to Drew, then headed to the dugout to
thunderous applause. He tipped his cap to the crowd, then turned and gave
another broad wave of his cap behind home plate, where his wife Shonda was
sitting in a suite.
It could not
have been of any comfort to the Indians that closer Joe Borowski, who may hold
the fate of the Indians in his hands tonight, gave up two runs while getting in
some work in the eighth inning last night. Eric Gagne, perhaps the only Sox
player who has been more maligned than Drew this season, finished the game. The
way things worked out last night for Drew, maybe it will be his turn tonight to
take the unexpected bows. |
