The Carlton Fisk-like Monster Mash also triggered yet another Delta-house, champagne-soaked celebration in the Boston locker room, in the stands (Sox players came back out to spray those who lingered), and the streets around ancient Fenway Park. Two more series like this and the raggedy Red Sox can party like it's 1918.
''He just made a mistake," said Ortiz, asked about the pitch he hit off Angels lefthander Jarrod Washburn. ''He gave me a slider that was up. Kind of high. I was looking for a pitch in the strike zone. They were pitching me good in the whole series. They were trying to make sure to give me a pitch away. I was just trying to lock myself in and see a pitch that I could hit." Ortiz was still wearing his glare-preventive eyeblack when he stepped to the plate 4 hours 11 minutes after the game started. Darkness had fallen around Fenway and so had the mood in the stands after the Angels bounced back from a 6-1 deficit with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. Vladimir Guerrero's grand slam off reliever Mike Timlin tied the game and threw a scare into Red Sox Nation. No Boston team had ever blown a lead of more than five runs in a postseason game.
But after ace reliever Francisco Rodriguez fanned Manny Ramirez for the second out of the 10th, Angels manager Mike Scioscia summoned Game 1 starter Washburn. Ortiz turned on the first pitch and drove a shot into the second row of the Monster Seats.
The Boston dugout emptied while the bear-like Ortiz, who wears his baggy pants down to his shoetops, circled the bases. After pinch runner Pokey Reese crossed the plate, Ortiz lumbered around third and was engulfed by his teammates at home plate. While the sad Angels filed off the Fenway lawn, "Dirty Water" blared out of the PA system and champagne on ice was wheeled into the Boston clubhouse. The celebration was hardly brief. Kevin Millar and winning pitcher Derek Lowe led a parade of Sox back onto the field, where they sprayed fans in the lower-box seats. Almost an hour after the game, Trot Nixon and Gabe Kapler rewarded the stragglers, grabbing a microphone and thanking fans on behalf of their teammates. It seemed no one wanted to go home.
