Never say die

He left that to his teammates. He left that to J.D. Drew, who singled on a line drive over the head of right fielder Gabe Gross. Drew sent the series back to Florida, had given the Red Sox cause to celebrate as if they had won the series. Which, in a way, they had, their miraculous 8-7 win staving off the Rays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series last night at Fenway Park.

It was only after that, after victory had been digested and absorbed, that Game 6 pitcher Josh Beckett said all that really needed to be said: "That was unbelievable, huh?"

So there is another game, the Red Sox, down 7-0, completing the second-biggest comeback in postseason history. The Rays, young and relentless, allowed the Sox back in. The Rays were nine outs from the World Series. Now the Sox, the kings of comebacks, have another shot.

"I can't say the game was exciting because the first six innings we did nothing," manager Terry Francona said. "They had their way with us every way possible. And then this place came unglued, and we've seen that before. But because of the situation we're in, it just - that was pretty magical."

While the Sox were outhitting and outscoring the Rays in the last three innings, Manny Delcarmen sat on the couch in the clubhouse. Daisuke Matsuzaka - who, along with Delcarmen, could have been the goat of this game - warned him not to move. Delcarmen, who walked the only two batters he faced, was charged with both runs, leaving the Sox in a 7-0 deficit in the seventh.

"They told me not to move," Delcarmen said. "The funny thing is the TV's a little late, so we hear the people scream. We don't know what the [heck] is going on, then we see the pitch."

That was Drew's single, the ball bypassing Gross as Kevin Youkilis rounded third base and scored the winning run for the Sox.

But before that, before the ninth inning, there had been more work to do in the eighth. So there was Drew, lofting his own homer into right, a two-run shot to cut the Rays' lead to 7-6. And there was Coco Crisp, who had a line single to right field on the 10th pitch of an at-bat that brought home Mark Kotsay with an improbable run. The score was tied.