Grand stand

Red Sox rip Indians and force Game 7

October 21, 2007|Gordon Edes, Globe Staff

J.D. Drew went from pillory to pedestal with a single swing, Curt Schilling had another made-for-October moment, and Daisuke Matsuzaka will be given one more chance to prove himself to both sides of a still-skeptical globe.

Fueled by a first-inning grand slam by Drew, the Red Sox scored 10 runs in the first three innings to bury the Cleveland Indians, 12-2, in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series last night before a crowd of 37,163.

Schilling pitched seven innings, allowing just six hits, and will hand the ball over to Matsuzaka as the Sox attempt to become the sixth team in LCS history to rally from a 3-games-to-1 deficit. The Sox are the only team to do it twice (1986 and 2004), and by overwhelming the Indians last night had the look of a team bent on converting the hat trick.

"I do not want to finish the season yet, especially as a loser," Matsuzaka said.

Matsuzaka has yet to win in two postseason starts for the Sox, who will have all hands on deck, including Josh Beckett, ready to go behind him in Game 7.

"He was kind of grinning in here when we won," said Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who said he has "a ton" of confidence in the Japanese righthander, who will truly be a rookie in the Game 7 cauldron that will be Fenway Park tonight. "That grin to me kind of meant, 'It's up to me to keep the ball going, keep the momentum in our dugout, and I think he's up to the challenge. I think he likes the challenge."

The Sox are 2-4 in winner-take-all Game 7s. The last one, of course, capped their four-game sweep of the Yankees in 2004 after losing the first three games. Johnny Damon hit a grand slam in that one, the last postseason grand slam until Drew connected on a 3-and-1 pitch off Indians starter Fausto Carmona, who loaded the bases in the first on two infield hits and a walk to the first three batters, then caused a Fenway first - the sound of 37,000-plus cerebrums imploding simultaneously when Drew drove a fastball into the camera well in center field for a grand slam.

"I was sitting in here," Papelbon said, "he got to 3 and 1 and I turned to a guy and said, 'No way he swings at this next pitch.' Carmona was walking the house. As soon as I said it, [Drew swung]. It reminded me of the home run David Ortiz hit off [Carmona] last year - down and away, stayed through it, backspinned it, and hit it to center field."