"We saw it," Sox manager Terry Francona said of Dreckman's call. "He threw his arms up and we knew it was going to take a second."
With the crowd already headed for the exits and the Jays lining up for postgame high-fives, Jays manager John Gibbons, who had already begun strolling onto the field to slap some hands, flew into a rage when informed of Dreckman's call. He confronted the umpire, and was ejected.
"Their whole team was on the field," Sox catcher Kevin Cash said. "It was kind of like us [Wednesday] night, when we all ran out and Jed [Lowrie] was thrown out at the plate."
The fans returned to their seats, the Jays to their positions, and Brandon Moss, who had drawn a two-out walk, was given second base on the balk. Crisp, with his reprieve, promptly got everyone out of their seats again by singling sharply to right, sending Moss to third.
"We're all sitting there, going, 'What if?' " said Cash, with Lowrie coming to bat as the potential tying run and Jason Varitek grabbing a bat and heading to the on-deck circle, with hopes of pinch hitting for Cash with a chance to win it.
"Unbelievable," Cash said.
Ryan fell behind Lowrie, 3 and 1, but came back to whiff the rookie to end it.
Time of game: 2 hours 44 minutes, or five minutes longer than the 2:39 official scorer Mike Shalin had announced in the press box before Dreckman's balk call tacked on the extra time.
"I'm sure the balk was called in plenty of time," Cash said, "but [Ryan] threw a pitch, and everybody was going to look up at the ball, not paying attention to what the umpire is doing."
Gibbons, whose team had lost eight of nine, including consecutive walkoffs to the Sox, regained his equilibrium by the time reporters entered his office, but hadn't changed his opinion of the umpire's judgment.
"It was a crap call, come on," he said. "The game's over, everybody's shaking hands. But it was a helluva ballgame."
