They A-Gon' Done It Again by Jared Carrabis
Sox complete comeback in walk-off fashion


The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim came to town as the best hitting team in the American League.

After two of three games at Fenway Park, they may leave as the third consecutive sweep victim at the hands of the Boston Red Sox.

However, putting themselves in a position to sweep the Halos was no easy task. The Red Sox sent Paul Byrd to the mound against Joe Saunders, who has had his fair share of success against Boston in his career. Byrd entered the game as a wild card, due to the fact that of the three starts he has made since rejoining the Red Sox this season, he has one win, one loss and one no decision.

Byrd pitched two scoreless innings to start the night, but he was by no means "mowing down" the Angels. Balls were hit hard off the bat, but fortunately for Byrd and the Red Sox, they were no more than warning track power.

The old school style right-hander kept the Angels off the scoreboard until Erik Aybar knocked in a run in the third. A two-out double by Bobby Abreu plated another run in the fifth, and a tape measure shot over the Green Monster by Torii Hunter in the sixth put the Sox behind by a 3-0 score.

That was, until, the Red Sox went to work in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Jacoby Ellsbury led things off with an infield single to start off the frame. Dustin Pedroia rocked his 44th double of the season to put two men in scoring position for Jason Bay, who knocked a two-run single up the middle.

Later in the inning with one out and two men in scoring position, Rocco Baldelli hammered a base hit through the left side to tie the game up at three. Two batters later with two outs, Alex Gonzalez reached out and poked a base hit into shallow right field that brought home another two runs, giving Boston a 5-3 lead.

Boston's lead was short-lived, as the Angels retaliated with a four-run inning in the top of the seventh to put the Halos back up by two.

The back-and-forth game continued in the bottom of the eighth when a ground out by Casey Kotchman and an RBI single off the bat of Ellsbury brought home Josh Reddick with the tying run.

Terry Francona trotted out the flame-throwing right-hander Daniel Bard for the ninth to keep the game locked at seven up. With two outs in the inning, Abreu rocked a base hit into left field on a 98 MPH fastball to give the lead right back to the Angels.

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth, things didn't start off too promising as Bay and Lowell were retired consecutively by Angels' closer, Brian Fuentes. The Red Sox got their start when David Ortiz reached base on a four-pitch walk. A two-out single by JD Drew moved pinch-runner Joey Gathright up to second, as the inning continued with a base hit on the return of Jed Lowrie to load the bases.

In arguably the most crucial at bat of the night, Nick Green entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Kotchman. Battling the pain of what he later described as a "dead leg", Green put up a fight for nine consecutive pitches before drawing a base loaded walk to tie the game on what was a very close pitch. (MLB.com's K-zone had it as a strike, but I won't tell.)

With two outs, the bases loaded and a tie ballgame in the bottom of the ninth, Gonzalez came through for Boston yet again by dumping a game-winning single into shallow left field.



The Red Sox may have stole one here, as the fourth ball to Green was surely controversial, and Gonzalez's game-winning hit was surely catch-able had Juan Rivera hustled to the ball. Regardless, that's why they call this game that we love so dearly, a "game of inches." This game may very well be one of the most important games of the season, due to the fact that the Red Sox faced adversity and overcame deficits of 3-0, 7-5 and 8-7 in the ninth. Most importantly, they did all of that without Kevin Youkilis and Victor Martinez in their lineup and with their fifth starter getting the ball for this contest.

Final Score: Angels 7, Red Sox 8

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

The Red Sox current seven-game win streak has helped extend their winning streak at home to ten games. The current ten-game winning streak at Fenway Park is the longest of the 2009 season, but nothing close to Morgan Magic.

Tonight's walk-off win was the fourth time this season that the Red Sox won the game in their final at bat at Fenway Park.

After completing their ninth-inning comeback on Wednesday night, the Red Sox upped their total to 37 comeback wins in 2009.

Alex Gonzalez is now hitting just one point below .300 since joining the Red Sox. A-Gon was 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and a sacrifice bunt in Wednesday night's win. He also walked for the very first time in his 2009 stint with the Boston Red Sox.

Victor Martinez, who missed the first two games of this current series, informed Terry Francona that he will return to Boston and will be available for the series finale after leaving the team to tend to family related matters back in Cleveland.

Thursday's pitching match-up:

Depending on which way you want to spin in, Josh Beckett's start on Thursday could go either really bad, or really good. In his last three starts against the Angels, Beckett is 0-3 with an ERA over seven. However, the right-hander is 9-1 with a 3.42 ERA at Fenway Park this season. I'll go with that one. His opponent, Ervin Santana, is 1-2 with a 5.67 ERA in five career starts against Boston.

Eye on the scoreboard:

Blue Jays 4, Yankees 5
Athletics 4, Rangers 0

Result: Stick a fork in the Texas Rangers, because they are done. The boys from down south now trail the Red Sox by as many games as the Red Sox trail the Yankees in the American League East (6.5). The Bronx Bombers were supplied with their 14th walk-off win of the season over in the new Yankee Stadium, to keep the Sox from gaining any more ground in the division.

Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot: 11

-Jared Carrabis

To order my debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on September 17, 2009

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