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ALDS, Game 3: Napoli Powers Angels Over Red Sox, 5-4 In 12 Innings, To End THE STREAK
By Administrator | October 6, 2008
Defensive miscues took center stage at Fenway Park tonight. Although neither team was officially scored as committing an error, both teams can point to plays that cost their team a run (or runs) and a chance to win the ballgame in regulation.
When all was said and done, the Angels live to play another day thanks to catcher Mike Napoli’s display of power (two home runs) and some tremendous relief pitching (7 IP, 0 R, 1 H).
LA catcher Mike Napoli rounds the bases and Red Sox starter Josh Beckett awaits a new ball after Napoli’s third inning, two-run home run tied tonight’s game at 3-3… AP photo
The Angels jumped on top in the first inning, thanks in large part to a mental error by first baseman Kevin Youkilis. Angels 3B Chone Figgins led off the game with a ground rule double to right field… Beckett retired each of the next two batters on strikes, and then pitched very carefully to DH Vlad Guerrero before issuing a base on balls. The next batter, CF Torii Hunter, hit a ground ball to second base that should have been the final out of the frame, but Youkilis made an ill-advised attempt to field the ball (which was easily gathered in by 2B Dustin Pedroia). Without Youkilis at first base, Pedroia had no one to throw the ball to as Hunter beat Beckett to the bag. Bases loaded. We may never know whether Youk’s misplay or his own failure to cover the first base bag distracted him, but a seemingly rattled Beckett then walked Juan Rivera on five pitches to force home the game’s first run.
The Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning… in large part due to a defensive lapse in the Los Angeles outfield. I guess turn about is fair play. Angels starter Joe Saunders retired the first two batters of the inning before sandwiching a pair of walks around a Jason Varitek single. On a 3-2 pitch, Jacoby Ellsbury lofted a pop fly into the Bermuda Triangle just beyond second base in short center field. The shortstop gave way to the second baseman who gave way to the center fielder… who watched as the ball landed ten feet in front of him. The bases cleared… three runs scored.
But the lead didn’t last long. In the top of the third inning, the Angels hit their FIRST home run in 69 post-season innings — a long bomb off the bat of catcher Mike Napoli that hit off the light stanchion above the Green Monster seats. They didn’t have to wait nearly as long for their next home run… two innings later Napoli hit his second dinger of the game (a solo shot INTO the Green Monster seats) to give Los Angeles the lead.
But that lead didn’t last long either.
In the bottom of the inning, Jacoby Ellsbury and Youkilis ripped doubles to tie the game at 4-4. And that is the way it stayed into extra innings.
The pitching took over from the sixth inning onward. Both teams were retired in order in the sixth inning… each team then put a pair of runners on base in the seventh inning but were unable to score (Red Sox CF Jacoby Ellsbury stole second base easily, but over-slid the bag and was tagged out).
The Angels had one hit in the eighth inning and another in the ninth inning but failed to score (Hunter was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the ninth). Meanwhile, the Red Sox were retired 1-2-3 in each inning.
Jonathan Papelbon retired the Halos in order in the top of the tenth inning. The Sox finally mustered some offense in the bottom of the inning, as they loaded the bases with two outs (a single and two walks)… but the scoring chance went by the boards when Jed Lowrie ripped a line drive to right field, right at RF Gary Matthews Jr to end the threat.
Both teams stranded a runner in scoring position in the eleventh inning.
In the twelfth inning, Javy Lopez relieved Papelbon and surrendered a single to the first batter he faced — that guy, Napoli, again. Howie Kendrick sacrificed the catcher to second base, and then shortstop Erick Aybar lofted a single into left-center field to plate the eventual game-winning run. With two outs, Garrett Anderson singled Aybar to third base, but the Angels failed to score an insurance run as Lopez retired Mark Teixeira on a fielder’s choice to keep the score, 5-4.
Jered Weaver, who pitched a scoreless eleventh inning, was entrusted with the task of holding onto the lead in the bottom of the twelfth — which he did. He surrendered a leadoff walk to David Ortiz, but retired Youkilis, Bay and Alex Cora to end the ball game.
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Game 4 will be tonight, at 8:37 PM, at Fenway Park… John Lackey v Jon Lester (the same pitching matchup as in Game One).
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With the win tonight, the Angels ended the Red Sox 11-game winning streak against them in the post-season.
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Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-5 and remains hitless in the ALDS (thirteen at-bats).
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J.D. Drew, who homered in the ninth of Game Two to give the Red Sox a 7-5 victory, was not in the starting lineup tonight as he rested his back… he struck out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning.
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Beckett was charged with four earned runs on nine hits and four walks in five innings… he struck out six.
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The announced attendance of 39,067 maded tonight’s crowd the largest at Fenway Park since World War II.
Topics: MLB Playoffs, Sox Games, Sox Players |
