Curt Schilling, who has a chance to close out the Angels in Game 3 this afternoon, said he and Josh Beckett, who had flown out ahead of the team, had just arrived at the team's hotel in southern California when Ramírez connected.
"We literally stepped out of the car in front of the hotel and looked into the hotel bar and on my phone it said, 'Manny put the ball in play,' and I looked at the TV and Manny had his hands up," Schilling said. "We walked in the bar where there were a bunch of Angels' fans sitting, and I was acting like a 2-year-old. I was just screaming. I don't think they were all that excited."
Judging by the way Ramírez tossed his helmet before diving into the mosh pit awaiting him at home plate after his ninth-inning blast secured victory in Game 2, he had some idea of what to do when it happened.
"He actually told me in the ninth before everything happened, 'I'm going to end this,' " said third baseman Mike Lowell. "I said to him, 'Listen, if there's a guy on second they're going to walk Ortiz. "He said, 'Tranquilo' [no problem]. Unbelievable."
With his game-winning three-run home run in the 6-3 win over the Angels, a ball that created its own parking space on Lansdowne Street, Ramírez turned a long night into a glorious sunrise for the Red Sox, who were greeted by dawn here yesterday after flying all night, a flight Jonathan Papelbon had plotted turning into a personally enriching experience.
"Hopefully, I'll take all of David Ortiz's money, and if Manny wants to jump in, I'll take his paycheck, too," said Papelbon, who already had cashed in on Ramírez's homer, recording his first win in the postseason, having missed out on the tournament last season and being part of a Sox team swept in three straight by the White Sox in their 2005 Division Series.
