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BOSTON: Boston’s Jed Lowrie singled in Jason Bay for the
game-winning run as the Red Sox defeated Anaheim 3-2 to advance to
the American League Championship series on Monday.
“I got a curve ball down in the zone and I was
able to get the barrel on it and find a hole,” rookie Lowrie said.
“It doesn’t feel any better than to be able
to do it here in Boston.”The Red Sox now will face off against the
AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays in one of two Major League Baseball
semifinals series. The Red Sox and Tampa series begins on Friday.
Bay set the stage for the dramatic ending with a
bloop ground-rule double with one out in the ninth inning. Mark
Kotsay’s line drive was then caught by first baseman Mark Teixeira
as it looked like the Angels might have a chance to get out of
trouble.
Lowrie then smashed a hard roller just past the
outstretched arms of second baseman Howie Kendrick to allow Canadian
Bay to charge home and beat the throw from the outfield for the
game-winning run and a 3-1 series victory.
“I can’t prepare for something like this,”
Bay said. “It is a dream. This is step one or two of couple more
steps we need to get where we want to go.”
The Angels were trying to beat Boston for the
second consecutive game after the Red Sox had won the previous 11
matchups between the two. B.J. Upton hammered two home runs as
the Rays advanced to the semifinals of the Major League Baseball
playoffs with a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox.
“They don’t call this the Windy City for no
reason,” said Upton, who had also homered in the seventh inning of
the Rays’ loss in Game 3. “I kind of got it up in that jet
stream, and it carried out of the ballpark for me.”
Three Tampa relievers tossed the final 3 1/3
innings—including Grant Balfour, who hurled the final two frames
for Tampa Bay, which has made an impact in its first playoff.
The Rays had never won more than 70 games prior
to this season.
Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye both homered for
the White Sox, who now will join the crosstown rival Cubs on the
golf course for the rest of October.
The best team in the National League, the Cubs
were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in their MLB quarterfinal
series.
Angst is nothing new for Chicago’s baseball
teams, which had little to celebrate before the White Sox ended an
88-year championship drought with a title in 2005. The Cubs have not
won the World Series since 1908.
Upton homered in the first inning to start this
one off with a bang for the Rays, who were able to finish off the
resilient White Sox.
“We’re pretty good celebrators,” Rays
manager Joe Maddon said from the locker room as one champagne shower
after another rained down on players and coaches.
“It’s quite an achievement to get here from
where we have come from over the last couple of years, to get to
this point so soon. It speaks for the entire organization.”
-- AFP
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