"It's getting to the fun time now," said Millar. "Every pitch means something."
Does it ever. With the Sox and A's locked in a 2-2 tie in what could be a stirring preview of a postseason showdown, Terry Francona's barnstormers needed only a couple of seventh-inning pitches from Oakland starter Barry Zito to seize a 4-2 lead en route to an 8-3 victory before 37,839 at Network Associates Coliseum last night. Bill Mueller and Dave Roberts uncorked the big hits, a pair of RBI doubles after a leadoff single by Orlando Cabrera.
The victory vaulted the Sox four games ahead of the idle Angels in the wild-card race and allowed them to maintain their 2 1/2-game deficit in the American League East after the Yankees outdid the Devil Rays, 7-4.
"We understand this is just one game and we need to keep our eyes on the big picture," Gabe Kapler said. "This is a good start, but we understand this road trip is going to be a challenging one and we expect the other teams to bring everything they have."
The Sox broke the game open by unleashing some Texas-style wrath on the A's in the ninth inning, with David Ortiz cranking a three-run double to catch Baltimore's Miguel Tejada for the league RBI lead with 122. Moments later, Jason Varitek singled home the final Sox run as he extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
To prevail, the Sox needed some help from third base umpire Brian Knight on a disputed call in top of the eighth inning on a catch by Ramirez. They also got an indisputably spectacular catch by Kapler moments later, and 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief from Mike Timlin, Alan Embree, and Ramiro Mendoza, who worked the ninth.
"Those are the ways you win games," Francona said of the defensive plays in the eighth inning. Ramirez also made a nice catch on a line drive by Eric Chavez to end the innning.
The Dominican destroyers, Ramirez and Ortiz, made the tie-breaking rally possible for the Sox by launching consecutive homers off Zito in the fourth inning.
"It seems like every time I hit one, David comes back and hits another one," Ramirez said.
