One for the money

Clear the calendar. There's a game tonight.

"There's nowhere to run," said David Ortiz. "We've been in there before. We know what it takes to win games. It's not easy. It's not like we like to be in that situation. I guess that's the way our destiny has been the past few years that we have won the World Series. It's hard, man. It's not an easy thing to do."

Easy or not, it is on to Game 7 in a series that seemed destined to end in Game 5. Ah, Game 7. It's a spot that many Red Sox have been in, and few Rays have. Nineteen current Sox have played in a Game 7. Just three Rays have. It's a gap that could prove the difference. Or it could mean nothing.

Still, on a night that featured a TV blackout, an injured umpire, a shocking home run by Varitek, and a solid five from Beckett, the Red Sox moved on to one last must-win to reach the World Series. And this, for the Rays, is oh-so-dangerous.

"It's all how we react to the moment, and it's a seventh game," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "So it's not about looking into the past, it's about looking into the future right now. We've got to get ready to play that game [tonight]."

It was a game that seemed destined for greatness and oddity from the start, when viewers were angered by a TBS technical failure that kept the first 19 or so minutes in darkness. Only the rest of the game was broadcast to the masses, a fact that made Red Sox fans far happier than Rays fans. Because on a night that the Rays were billing as their night to celebrate, it was the Sox who walked off the field as winners in front of 40,947 at Tropicana Field.

And it was all due to a most unlikely source. Not that the five innings of two-run ball from Beckett could be overlooked. But it was the surprising, out-of-nowhere home run for Varitek that gave the Sox a lead they wouldn't give up.