Imagine how the adrenaline coursed through Francona's veins last night as the Sox seized a second straight game from the playoff-hungry A's to maintain their four-game lead over the Angels in the wild-card race and stay within 2 1/2 games of the division-leading Yankees with 25 games to play.
"Showing up this time of year," he said, "and having each thing you do mean so much is so exciting."
The surging Sox provided the latest excitement as they turned a solid outing from Derek Lowe and plenty of pop from their Johnny Damon-led lineup into a 7-1 cakewalk over the A's before 29,659 at Network Associates Coliseum. With their 19th victory in 21 games, the Sox clinched this three-game series and will send Pedro Martinez to the mound in the finale tonight against Tim Hudson.
Not a bad feeling.
"We're getting to that point where we feel like we have an opportunity to win every day," said Gabe Kapler, who homered and singled, knocking in three runs.
Lowe, who improved to 14-10, propelled the Sox to their ninth victory in their last 10 road games by rationing the A's their lone run on five hits and four walks over 6 1/3 innings before he departed -- without a gesture -- to a cascade of boos from the frustrated legions from the Bay area. The A's have lost seven of eight this year to the Sox, who came back from a two-game deficit last October to steal the best-of-five Division Series from them.
Lowe, who finished off the A's last year in the playoffs, improved to 7-1 over his last 10 starts in his comeback from a subpar first half.
"There's a lot of satisfaction, especially the way the team's playing," Lowe said. "The other four days [in the first half] I would imagine the guys felt like they had a chance and then they said, `Oh, God, here's Derek's day, let's see what we can do.' It's good to have the team's confidence back."
