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Postgame clubhouse reaction »
September 27, 2007
BOSTON _ The party has been put on hold.
Boston has the A.L. East title within its reach, but lthe Red Sox needed a few monkeys hanging on the limb tonight to grab hold of the division for the first time in 12 seasons. They’re coming oh so close, but the Minnesota Twins had other thoughts with their 5-4 margin of victory at Fenway Park.
Early yesterday afternoon a Red Sox clubby was seen gathering a cooler of ice and wheeling it into the home clubhouse, probably preparing for a possible celebration. Since the Sox lost, and the New York Yankees beat Tampa, Boston’s magic number remains at two.
The Red Sox sent ace, 20-game winner and Cy Young Award candidate Josh Beckett to the mound against the Twins, and right-hander allowed five runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts in six innings of work to suffer only his seventh loss of the season.
The biggest news of the night was the performance of Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima. The Japanese left-hander has not worked since Sept. 14 due to fatigue and he showed no signs of being tired in his one inning of work in the top of the eighth. The southpaw threw just 14 pitches and allowed one hit with two strikeouts.
Yesterday afternoon Francona stated the importance of getting Okajima into last night’s game, and the club would like to see another performance like this one at least one more time before the postseason.
The Twins scored often and early on Beckett, pushing across one run in each of the first three innings, including a monster solo home run by Minnesota’s Michael Cuddyer in the second inning. The Twins scored one in the fifth before Garrett Jones launched a solo shot to center in the sixth inning.
Boston scoring came in the two-run first inning before Ortiz hit a solo homer in the fifth. With the Sox trailing by two runs in the bottom of the eighth, Varitek provided a one-out solo homer into the Monster seats to cut Boston’s deficit to one, 5-4.
The Red Sox weren’t done.
After Bobby Kielty struck out, Eric Hinske and Julio Lugo contributed back-to-back singles before Dustin Pedroia popped out to first to end the threat.
Red Sox rookie Brandon Moss made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth with his lead-off double. Ortiz was issued a free pass before Lowell grounded out to first, moving the runners into scoring position. With first base open, the Twins elected to intentionally walk J.D. Drew to face Varitek, who struck out swinging.
Kevin Youkilis, who was not in the starting lineup, served as a pinch-hitter for Kielty and Youk struck out to end the threat and game.
The party may be on ice, for now, but the Red Sox and their fans can taste it. They might just have to wait until another day to celebrate.
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 9:47 PM | Permalink
