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October 21, 2007
By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON _ The Red Sox belong where they’re going!
After trailing three games to one in the American League Championship Series, Boston pulled off another dramatic postseason comeback and pounded the Cleveland Indians in Game Seven at Fenway Park last night, 11-2.
Now, it’s on to baseball’s holy grail as the Red Sox will have a chance to win their second World Series Championship in the last four years when they face the National League’s Colorado Rockies, beginning Wednesday at Fenway Park.
From the time new ownership took control of this organization in December of 2001, principal owner John Henry and his partners promised to change the landscape and the philosophy of the organization that had not won a championship since 1918. The Red Sox accomplished that feat in 2004, and now they have another chance for Fall immortality.
Momentum in last night’s game shifted back and forth with nail-biting intensity before Red Sox rookie second baseman Dustin Pedroia delivered the crushing blow with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning off Cleveland reliever Rafael Betancourt en route to victory. Pedroia then added a base-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth.
Kevin Youkilis added a two-run homer in the eighth inning.
Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was called upon to record the final six outs and he did just that.
In order to reach the World Series of America’s Pastime, the Red Sox handed the ball to a Japanese pitcher to get the club to the promised land as Daisuke Matsuzaka, who had struggled in his other two postseason starts, tried to mimic what fellow starters Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling have been able to do.
He showed signs of brilliance in the first three innings, but needed fellow Japanese reliever Hideki Okajima to keep the Indians at bay in the later innings before Papelbon took over in the eighth with two on and no outs.
Matsuzaka finished five innings and allowed two runs on six hits, while Okajima worked two-plus innings and allowed three hits. Papelbon earned the save.
Like Games Five and Six, the Red Sox received a huge jumpstart from their top two hitters – Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis – in the first inning. After Matsuzaka retired the Indians in order in top of the first, the Red Sox pushed a run across in the bottom half for a 1-0 advantage.
Pedroia led off with a single to left, followed by a Youkilis single to left. David Ortiz struck out before Manny Ramirez provided an RBI-single. Mike Lowell singled to left to load the bases, but J.D. Drew couldn’t repeat his Game Six grand-slam performance, and grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Again, Matsuzaka retired the side in order in the second and the Sox’ offense responded in the bottom half with another run for a 2-0 lead. The third was much of the same, this time the Red Sox starter surrendered his first hit, a two-out single by the Indians’ Casey Blake, but Cleveland couldn’t convert.
Boston scored its third run in the bottom half after Youkilis led off with a double, reached third on an infield ground out by Ortiz and was stranded when the Indians intentionally walked Ramirez. Lowell answered with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 advantage.
Matsuzaka began to struggle in the fourth when he allowed one run on two hits, and then Cleveland pushed across another in the top of the fifth to cut its deficit to one run, 3-2. He was finished after five innings and replaced with Okajima, who was solid in his two innings of work.
The lefty reliever was helped out big time with a couple of solid defensive plays, to go along with a few miscues by Cleveland.
With one out in the top of the seventh inning, Lugo committed an error when he dropped a Kenny Lofton pop up to shallow left field, allowing the runner to reach second. The Indians’ Franklin Gutierrez lined a base hit down the third-base line, and with Lofton rounding third in an attempt to tie the game, was held up by third-base coach Joel Skinner.
That proved crucial because Casey Blake grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat.
The Red Sox responded.
After Jacoby Ellsbury reached, and advanced to second, on an error by Blake at third that set up Lugo sacrifice bunt. That’s when Pedroia delivered his crushing two-run homer into the Monster Seats for a 5-2 lead, before the Red Sox scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for an 11-2 final.
This team was built for the postseason. It was built for the World Series. That’s exactly where Boston is heading.
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 11:38 PM | Permalink
