The best-of-five series moves to Fenway tomorrow, and the Sox should be drenched in champagne well before midnight. There might even be a closer with a cardboard box on his head step-dancing on the Fenway lawn. Make sure the bases are bolted down.
Regarding Red Sox vs. Angels, we have moved well past the arena of standard athletic competition. We have wandered into Rod Serling's space "between the pit of a man's fear and the summit of his knowledge."
When the Red Sox play the Angels in October, the Sox take a choke hold on the series. The Angels just take the choke. Eleven in a row. Eleven.
"What happened in '04 or 1986 does not matter to us," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "We set out to win today's game and we did it."
Game 2 felt like it was over before Angels starter Ervin Santana got the third out of the first inning. Jason Bay, the Anti-Manny, crushed a three-run homer to cap a four-run Boston first and sucked the air from the house of air kisses. The Angels (11 runners left on base) staged multiple rallies over nine innings. But nothing matters when the Red Sox and Angels play in October. We just know that the Sox will win. Every time.
The Red Sox have scored 11 runs in two games, 10 coming from extra-base hits. The Angels have 20 hits in the series, and 19 of them are singles. They've stranded 20 runners in two games. Poor Howie Kendrick (four punchouts last night) has stranded 12 all by himself in just two games.
The Angels loaded the bases with none out in the fifth. Daisuke Matsuzaka was on the ropes, staggering through a 36-pitch inning. But Los Angeles came away with only one run. The Angels juiced the sacks again in the seventh and scored only once. Juan Rivera, Kendrick, and Erick Aybar all struck out with the bases loaded.
Excruciating.
They even think the umps are against them. Just before Drew's killer homer off K-Rod in the ninth, Rodriguez appeared to pick off Coco Crisp with a throw to second. Crisp was ruled safe, then Drew struck.
It's not about the Rally Monkey when the Angels play the Red Sox in the playoffs. It's about the two-ton monkey on their backs.
