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POSTGAME: History not with Indians »
October 21, 2007
GAME SEVEN HERE WE COME: With Boston’s win tonight, Game Seven of this 2007 ALCS will be played on Sunday at 8:23 p.m. ET…JAKE WESTBROOK will start for Cleveland, while DAISUKE MATSUZAKA will start for the Red Sox…Boston is the 1st club to fall behind 3-1 and force a Game Seven since the 2004 Red Sox rallied from an 0-3 deficit to beat the Yankees in seven games in the ALCS…It marks the 7th time in LCS history a team has rallied from 3-
1 to force a Game Seven…The home team has won Game 7 three of six times in LCS play, but the road team has won 2 straight…The last home team to win Game 7 came in the 1996 NLCS as Atlanta beat St. Louis, 15-0…Since the advent of the wild card in 1995, every postseason has featured a Game Seven, except for 1998.
-- J.D. DREW connected on his 1st home run of this postseason, a 1st-inning grand slam…It was the Red Sox 3rd career postseason grand slam, joining JOHNNY DAMON in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS (Oct. 20, 2004) and TROY O’LEARY (Oct. 11, 1999) vs. Cleveland in the 1999 ALCS…Drew’s grand slam is the 47th in postseason history, the 13th in LCS history and the 6th career ALCS grand slam, the 1st since JOHNNY DAMON, October 20, 2004 (Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS)…He becomes the 8th Red Sox player with 5 or more RBI in a postseason game, the first since Damon in the 2004 ALCS (team record is 7 RBI in a game).
BROTHERS DREW: J.D. DREW joined his brother STEPHEN DREW as the third set of brothers to homer in a postseason series with his 1st inning grand slam…CLETE and KEN BOYER both homered as opponents in the 1964
World Series, while ROBERTO and SANDY ALOMAR JR. both homered as opponents in the 1997 ALCS…STEPHEN DREW hit 2 home runs this postseason for the Arizona Diamondbacks…Other brother combos to have postseason
home runs (though not in the same postseason): MOLINA (BENGIE and YADIER), BOONE (AARON and BRET) and MEUSEL (IRISH and BOB).
BIG-RUN INNINGS: The Red Sox scored 6 runs in the 3rd inning, the 3rd time in this series one of these two teams has totaled 6 runs or more in an inning…Cleveland has twice scored 7 runs in an inning – the 11th inning in Game Two and the 5th inning in Game Four…The big innings mark the 1st time two teams have totaled 6 or more runs in 3 separate innings of one postseason series.
BIG TOTAL THROUGH THREE: Boston scored 10 runs through the 1st 3 innings, breaking previous record of 9 runs in the 1st 3, besting the total of 9 (4-4-1) done by BALTIMORE ORIOLES in Game Two of the 1979 ALCS.
OUTSCORING: Since the start of the 6th inning in Game Four, the Red Sox have outscored the Indians, 22-3…The 10-run margin of victory is the largest in an ALCS game since Game Three of the 2004 ALCS, when New York defeated Boston, 19-8.
-- CURT SCHILLING improves to 10-2, 2.25 (32 er/128 ip) in the postseason, the 9th player in history with 10 postseason wins…He now is 6-0, 1.15 (9 er/70.1 ip) in 9 postseason starts coming in Games Three through Seven of a series, posting a 5-0, 0.99 (7 er/63.1 ip) era in that span…In five starts with his team facing elimination, Schilling is 4-0, 1.37 era (6 er/39.1 ip).
FIRST PLAYER WITH TWO WALKS: MANNY RAMIREZ walked twice in the 3rd inning, the 1st player in LCS history to walk twice in an inning…Ramirez has 8 walks this series, 2nd most in ALCS history (FRANK THOMAS, 10, in 1993)…Ramirez had his LCS-hitting streak end at 15 games, going 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
-- FAUSTO CARMONA threw 36 pitches in the 1st inning…He lasted just 2.0 innings, plus 3 batters, surrendering 7 earned runs…The 2.0 innings mark was his shortest appearance since lasting 1.0 inning on June 27, while the 7 runs are one-shy of his June 27 appearance (8 earned runs) in the same game.
-- DAVID ORTIZ has hit safely in 14 straight postseason games, tied for 7th longest in postseason history.
-- JACOB ELLSBURY became the 5th rookie to start an ALCS game in centerfield, joining ANGEL MANGUAL (1971 A’s), FRED LYNN (1975 Red Sox), BOBBY BROWN (1980 Yankees) and JOHN SHELBY (1983 Orioles).
-- TRAVIS HAFNER becomes the 5th player in ALCS history to strikeout 10 or more times in a single series…He is hitless in his last 15 at-bats. AARON LAFFEY becomes the 6th player in ALCS history to toss at least 4.2 scoreless relief innings.
DOUBLE PLAYS: DAVID ORTIZ hit into Boston’s 11th GIDP of this series, establishing an LCS record for a series of any length…The GIDP marked the 17th GIDP this postseason, matching St. Louis for most in a single postseason, set in 2006. VICTOR MARTINEZ connected on his 2nd postseason home run, his 1st of this series.
SPREAD THE WEALTH: Nine different Red Sox players scored a run in tonight’s game, 2 shy of the ALCS record, Seattle vs. New York, Oct. 20 (Game 4) 2001 ALCS.
SUNDAY’S PRE-GAME FESTIVITIES: KEVIN MILLAR, a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox championship team, will throw at the first pitch on Sunday, while DROPKICK MURPHYS will sing the National Anthem.
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