Red Sox Stay Alive for Game 6 at Fenway
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As was posted on this blog yesterday; “There’s still life in the Red Sox — it ain’t over ’til it’s over!”
Boston got a masterful 8 inning one run, five hit, eleven strikeout performance from their ace Josh Beckett, a two hit, 3 RBI day from 1st baseman Kevin Youkilis, 2 RBIs from dh David “Big Papi” Ortiz enroute to a life-sustaining 7-1 win over CC Sabathia and the Cleveland Indians in Thursday’s game 5 to drive the series back to Fenway park for at least game 6 on Saturday.
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers provides background and a recap of game 5 for Yahoo sports;
Josh Beckett, standing tall as ever on the mound, rose above it all — October’s biggest star.
Beckett dominated the Cleveland Indians for the second time and Manny Ramirez drove in the go-ahead run with a 390-foot single as the Boston Red Sox stayed alive in the AL championship series… in Game 5.
“Josh is unbelievable,” Youkilis said. “This year has been unbelievable for him and we hope he wins the Cy Young. He’s shown here in the playoffs why he should.”
Just the Red Sox being the Red Sox. They have plenty of practice at these postseason comebacks.
In 2004, Boston rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees and went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight for its first World Series title since 1918.
The 27-year-old Beckett, who beat Cleveland in the opener, once again came through with the stakes at their highest.
The right-hander allowed only a run and three hits in the first, and only five total hits in eight innings. He struck out 11, walked one and was around the plate with almost every one of his 109 pitches.
Beckett went 16 2-3 innings without a walk this postseason before issuing one in the second.
“He’s got something others don’t have,” third baseman Mike Lowell said. “There is a different feel for us when he takes the mound. Time and time again he comes through.”
Beckett, who with each start carves his name deeper among the postseason pitching elite, is no stranger to comebacks.
In 2003, he pitched a two-hitter for Florida in Game 5 of the NLCS as the Marlins rallied from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Chicago Cubs. Then, pitching on just three days’ rest in Game 6 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, he allowed five hits in a 2-0 win and was picked as MVP.
If the Red Sox can win two more, he might have another trophy for his mantle.
“We know what we have to do now,” said Beckett, 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA this October. “This is not where we want to be, but obviously, we’re inching closer to where we want to be.”
The Indians missed a chance to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1997, and will have to find a way to avoid being the latest Cleveland team to come close but not win it all.
Cleveland, which hasn’t won the Series since 1948, had won three straight to seemingly take control. But the Indians, trying to clinch a pennant at home for the first time, could do little against Beckett, who rarely shook off a sign from [Jason] Varitek and kept hitters guessing with a rocket fastball and knee-buckling curve.
Youkilis set the tone with a first-inning homer off C.C. Sabathia as Boston shipped the best-of-seven series back to the heart of Red Sox Nation to continue a season nearly canned for the cold New England winter.
Clearly, Ramirez & Co. cared.
“We made it happen,” Ramirez said.
For Sabathia, the Indians’ ace and leader, it was more disappointment. He allowed four runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings, his third straight sub-par performance this month.
Sabathia was angry with himself following Game 1 for not being more aggressive with Boston’s hitters, and when he couldn’t put David Ortiz away with two outs in the third, Ramirez made him pay.
A day after he rankled Red Sox fans by saying “Who cares?” if Boston were to lose, the enigmatic slugger struck back.
[In the 3rd inning] Ramirez sent Sabathia’s first pitch to center, where [Grady] Sizemore went back to the wall. But as he reached up, Ramirez’s shot caromed back onto the field.
Ortiz scored easily, but Ramirez, thinking his shot was long gone, was only rounding first when the Indians retrieved the ball. Boston manager Terry Francona argued it should have been a two-run homer, but after a brief meeting, the umpires kept Ramirez at first.
Slow-motion TV replays were inconclusive, and the ground rules at Jacobs Field state that a ball must completely clear the yellow line at the top of the wall for it to be a homer.
Whatever the outcome, it was Manny being Manny — again.
The funky, fun-loving outfielder irritated some of the Indians when he posed to admire a homer in Game 4, even though his 451-foot shot had only brought Boston within 7-3.
The Red Sox went up 4-1 and chased Sabathia in the seventh. After handing the ball to Wedge, the big lefty walked dejectedly to the dugout knowing he had missed a chance to get the Indians back to the Series.
“I don’t think we’re going into Boston on a downer,” he said. “I can live with this. I thought I made some good pitches.”
For the boxscores and recap on Thursday’s game, click here.
On Saturday, the Red Sox turn to future Hall of Famer Curt Schilling to win his 10th career post-season game against 3 losses (in 17 starts) in a rematch with 2nd year Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona in order to force the series to game 7. Of course, the Indians would like to, as the saying goes, “put the BoSox out of their misery.”
For the boxscores and recap on Saturday’s game, click here.
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