It looks like just might be a higher power looking down on the MLB postseason. He/She/It is a Red Sox fan and, judging from the sight of Derek Jeter slapping like mad at the bugs descending upon him at the Jake on Friday night, any higher powers out there have a wicked sense of humor.
On a Friday night that gave us fire (well, on the T here in Boston), locusts cleverly passed off as Canadian Soldiers (think flying ants and you get the idea) in Cleveland, and truly odd behavior from our hometown team (Youkilis and Lowell? Botched put-out?), we were starting to get pretty nervous, but our prayers were answered in the form of a walk-off home run from the one and only Manny Ramirez. His first post-season walk-off, a three-run shot that gave the Sox a 6-3 win over the Angels, could not possibly have come at a better time.
And given the manner in which Ramirez was routinely challenged by the Angels to make them pay for walking David Ortiz time and time again over the course of the game, there was no one we wanted more than Manny to stick it to Anaheim.
But before we get to Boston, we should give you an idea of how the Yankees organization found itself on the brink of elimination in the first round of the playoffs: the bugs at the Jake. New York was neatly executing a well-pitched ballgame on Friday night, bolstered by a strong performance by Andy Pettitte in what turned into a hell of a pitchers' duel with Cleveland's Fausto Carmona. Pettitte was taken out in the seventh and Joba Chamberlain went in to finish the side and lead the team into the eighth...when the winds died down and the Canadian Soldiers stormed the field.
It was uncomfortable to watch through a television set, let alone experience during a big game - the bug clouds were so thick that there were multiple breaks in the action to let players douse themselves in bug spray (this game brought to you by your friends at Off!). And Chamberlain, who had looked so sharp the inning before, just lost it. Walks, hit batsmen, and one wild pitch that allowed Cleveland to get onto the board, tie up the game and force extra innings that left Sox/Angels fans scurrying to flip their televisions over to TNT. The game continued until the eleventh, when Travis Hafner stepped up to a bases-loaded scenario and hit the RBI single that allowed Kenny Lofton to score, the Indians to win, and Cleveland to go nuts.
Fenway went crazy when they realized that the Yanks had lost. A good thing, because by that point, there wasn't much to cheer about with their own game. A 2-0 Boston lead had been converted into a 3-2 deficit to the Angels, based largely on the shaky pitching of our multi-million-dollar man, Daisuke Matsuzaka. The first inning alone required Dice-K to unleash 31 pitches. The guy simply didn't have it, and the Angels captialized, working the pitcher through 4 2/3 innings. Seven hits, three runs, three walks, three strikeouts - not what gets you by in the postseason.
Who stepped up instead? Danny Vinik. The 17-year-old managed to save a Ramierz at-bat in the fifth inning when he snagged a foul ball that seemed destined to land in the glove of Angels catcher Jeff Mathis. What could have been an out turned into a walk, which allowed Mike Lowell to fire off a sacrifice fly to score Dustin Pedroia and tie the game.
Things got sticky in the eighth, when Jonathan Papelbon relieved Okajima and watched Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis blunder what should have been an easy third out, but he then worked through a jam in the ninth to set the stage for Sox drama.
The quick version? Julio Lugo singles. Pedroia advances Lugo to make it one out. Youk strikes out and gets angry. Ortiz is walked (yet again). And Manny delivers a shot over the Monster that was a goner the instant the ball hit the bat.
And now we're heading to California with a 2-0 lead. Hallelujah!
Photo by Flickr user hmmlargeart
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