Angels sweep Red Sox
Vladimir Guerrero and the Los Angeles Angels shrugged off their post-season failures and swept the Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs.
Guerrero hit a two-out, two-run single off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning, and the Angels rallied past Boston 7-6 in Game 3 Sunday, advancing to the American League Championship Series with their first post-season sweep in franchise history.
The Red Sox intentionally walked Torii Hunter with runners on second and third to bring up Guerrero, a star who had long been waiting for a big October hit. And he came through against Papelbon, who had never before allowed a run in the post-season.
"Vladdy came through," said Hunter. "That's probably one of the biggest hits of his career. They've been waiting for him to do it, and he did it."
The usually stingy Papelbon was emotional in the losers' clubhouse.
"Your team fights. It puts you in that situation to call upon you and you let 'em down," he said in a halting voice. "It's a feeling that there's a lot of weight on your shoulders because your team expects you to pull through and preserve that win for you and when you don't, it's definitely not a good feeling."
The Angels open their first ALCS since 2005 on Friday against either the New York Yankees or the Twins. The Yankees led that series 2-0 going into Game 3 Sunday night in Minnesota.
"It's nice to be going home and playing again, instead of going home and it's over," said pitcher John Lackey, who was part of the Angels teams that were eliminated by Boston in three times in the previous five years. "This is the most fun for me, and I've got a [World Series] ring. That says a lot."
Los Angeles trailed 5-1 early, was behind 5-2 after seven innings and still down 6-4 when Papelbon retired the first two batters of the ninth. Erick Aybar singled on a two-strike pitch, Chone Figgins walked and Bobby Abreu singled in one run — the first post-season run Papelbon had allowed in 27 innings.
After Hunter was walked intentionally, Guerrero, who had one RBI in his previous 19 post-season games, singled sharply to centre on the first pitch as Figgins and Abreu raced home.
Major league saves leader Brian Fuentes pitched a perfect ninth for Los Angeles. Dustin Pedroia popped up to Aybar for the final out, with the shortstop pumping his right arm even as he tracked the ball with his left.
The American League West champion Angels came streaming out of the dugout. Jered Weaver joined his teammates on-field waving the jersey of Nick Adenhart, who was killed in an April car crash with a man who has been charged with drunken driving.
The crowd that just one inning earlier had been primed for a celebration quietly filed out of Fenway Park for the last time in 2009, having seen the wild-card Red Sox beaten.
The Red Sox had won 12 of 13 post-season games against the Angels heading into the series, including an 11-game winning streak that dated to Dave Henderson's homer off Donnie Moore in the 1986 ALCS — Hendu's shot in Game 5 sent the Red Sox to a win by the same 7-6 score.
1st post-season loss
Henderson, not coincidentally, threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Sunday, even adding a little jump and twist like the one he did after he helped propel Boston to within one strike of the '86 World Series title.
Darren Oliver earned the victory after getting one out in relief, and Papelbon took his first career post-season loss. The Red Sox closer had converted seven of his previous eight post-season save opportunities.
But after Billy Wagner put two on with two out in the eighth, the Red Sox were forced to bring Papelbon in with a 5-2 lead. He gave up a two-run single to Juan Rivera that made 5-4 before picking pinch-runner Reggie Willits off first base.
After Mike Lowell's RBI single made it 6-4 in the eighth, Papelbon got Maicer Izturis on a foul pop-up and Mike Napoli on a fly ball to centre. Abreu lined one off the Green Monster to cut the lead to 6-5, and the Red Sox appeared to have caught a break when Figgins held up at third while the throw from left fielder Jason Bay rolled into the infield.
But after Hunter walked, Guerrero singled up the centre for the go-ahead hit.
"You're not going to get to [Papelbon] too often," said L.A. manager Mike Scioscia. "But we did this afternoon. And I felt great for Vlad. Hopefully, that's a momentum-builder for him. … I know he's relieved. He's excited about contributing. And hopefully it will be the start of something good."
Guerrero is an eight-time All-Star and former AL MVP with a .321 career batting average, 407 home runs and 1,318 RBIs. A free swinger, he was regarded as someone who could hit any pitch, even those that bounced.
But ever since a couple of big hits against Boston in the 2004 division series, Guerrero had barely made a dent in the post-season.
He'd managed only one extra-base hit — a double — in 69 at-bats going into Game 3.
"When it comes down to honoring Nick Adenhart, and what happened in April in Anaheim, yes, it probably was the biggest hit [of my career]," Guerrero said. "Because I'm dedicating that to a former teammate, a guy that passed away."
Angels Game 3 starter Scott Kazmir, who was with the Rays last year and didn't join Los Angeles until Aug. 28, spotted the Red Sox a 5-1 lead as their bats awoke from a post-season slump. The three runs Boston scored in the third inning were more than it had scored in the first two games of the series combined.
In fact, Boston had scored a total of two runs in 32 post-season innings before taking a 3-0 lead on Sunday.