Red Sox pummel Angels in Game 3, head to ALCS
08.10.2007 06:00
Sport and Travel
- Source: USA Today
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Boston Red Sox expect their playoff run to get harder later this week.
Duh. It couldn't get any easier. "Sweep" hardly begins to describe the ease with which they ended the Los Angeles Angels' season Sunday with a 9-1 victory. Aside from a meek offensive attack, a starting pitching rotation prone to serving up gopher balls to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz and a bullpen corps that served up a nice batting practice, the Angels were quite competitive. GAME REPORT: Red Sox 9, Angels 1 The Red Sox didn't need anything more Sunday than a typically efficient Curt Schilling playoff start and back-to-back fourth-inning homers from Ortiz and Ramirez in the fourth inning off Angels starter Jered Weaver to advance to the American League Championship Series. But they got plenty more, sending 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run eighth inning against Angels relievers Scot Shields, Justin Speier and Darren Oliver. The full-blown champagne celebration in the Red Sox clubhouse after the game seemed a little over the top for this series. But the Red Sox were understandably feeling good about themselves and, besides, they now have five days off before the ALCS begins Friday. "Everybody's getting hot right now," said Ramirez, who hit a mammoth home run for the second consecutive game. "I think we can do something scary." Ramirez's home run Sunday was the 22nd of his playoff career, tying him with former New York Yankee Bernie Williams for the most in playoff history. Shortstop Julio Lugo said the Sox are as confident right now as they've been in a long time. Third baseman Mike Lowell echoed that. "We have to be happy with the pitching we're getting, and we're swinging the bats well," he said. "We're playing a complete game right now." Schilling hadn't pitched in 12 days, but he was brilliant, tossing seven shutout innings — mostly on the corners of the plate — giving up six hits and one walk. His only real trouble came in the third inning, when he pitched around Vladimir Guerrero, really the only power threat in the Angels' lineup, walking him to load the bases with two outs. That brought up singles hitter Reggie Willits, who had just entered the game as a replacement for left fielder and cleanup batter Garret Anderson, who came out because of his continuing problem with conjunctivitis in his right eye. Willits popped up, and the Angels had little pop the rest of the way. Weaver, in his first playoff start, threw a credible game aside from the two mistakes to Ortiz and Ramirez. But then, the Angels' bullpen imploded in the eighth inning. It was an across-the-board flop for the Angels, who have lost seven consecutive playoff games and have a nine-game playoff losing streak to Boston dating to 1986. "We're certainly not happy," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We fully thought we'd come in and play better, and we didn't. "But to get to this point, with what our organization and roster dealt with all season (a rash of injuries and no significant power outside of Guerrero), it was a tremendous accomplishment." Now the Red Sox wait. Some of them said they don't mind the chance to rest. But Ortiz wasn't among them. "We all remember what happened to Detroit last year," he said, referring to the Tigers' long layoff before the World Series, in which they were trounced by St. Louis. "This is baseball, not basketball, not football," he said. "It's all about rhythm."
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