But the wait into the late hours was worth it when the Angels beat the Rangers, 5-2, in Anaheim, Calif., clinching a wild-card berth for the Red Sox.
“It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you’re in,’’ said Dustin Pedroia, who went home to put his son to sleep and returned to the park to watch the game with his teammates. “Obviously the [Sox’] game was pretty intense, and we couldn’t find a way to win, but it doesn’t really matter how we do it, we’re excited, and we can’t wait for the playoffs.
“We like our chances,’’ Pedroia said. “We have a great pitching staff, and our offense has been swinging the bat good. I know we’ve lost a few games in a row, but when playoff time comes, there’s a lot of guys that have been through it.’’
“We’d like to play better,’’ Pedroia added. “Win some more games. The last few games haven’t been good, but we’ll be all right. We’re excited to get in the playoffs, and make a run at everything.’’
“We play from the first day of spring training, this is the goal,’’ Mike Lowell said. “I know it wasn’t the ideal thing. You’d probably much rather do it on the field after a victory, but we battled hard all year to get to this point. I don’t care how it comes. We deserve to celebrate, just like the other teams that have made the playoffs. We’re excited to be here. This is hopefully Step 1. I think we’ve got our team where we want it to be and we’re excited.’’
Asked what the celebration was like in the clubhouse, Lowell said, “It’s wet.’’ Players estimated about 85-90 percent of the team remained for the celebration or left and returned.
Reporters were not allowed in the clubhouse after the Sox had clinched. Four players - Pedroia, Lowell, Jason Bay, and Tim Wakefield - were brought out to speak with the approximately 30 remaining reporters at 1:30 a.m. outside the clubhouse as the celebration raged.
