2004 ALDS GM 3 Angels vs Red Sox 10 08 04

sweep an unusual spot for the usually forlorn faithful a win against the angels will be a giant step toward postseason heaven the settings change but not the stakes come up short in the fall and there's a long winter ahead boston's business trip west was a sweeping success their aces were at their best their bats active and alive and the socks sitting pretty in this best of five [Applause] but for a read on the angel's future it's best to look back when coming back was the status quo in their quest for the title the leaves turning in boston so can this series the angels better open up a page from the recent past for the sox will move a step closer to leaving their long history of heartbreak behind [Applause] [Music] [Music] postseason baseball returns to fenway park a picture-perfect early october afternoon and the red sox have come to complete their business against the anaheim angels they won the first two games out west and as best of five alds can they put the clamps once and for all into the aos champion anaheim angels hello once again everybody i'm chris berman so glad you be with us i mean you just look at her you feel the energy in this park and it's just a great setting no matter what team you root for and speaking of rooting the boston red sox fans are frankly in a quandary they're not happy unless they're miserable they're not pleased unless they fret the red sox actually have a chance to sweep a series they've only done it once in their history that was 1975 when they swept out of the al championship series the three-time defending world champion oakland a's so they're not sure but let me give you something red sox fans to be nervous about anaheim has the best road record in the american league with 47 wins now that's better tony gwynn the eight-time batting champion is with us again and tony i tell you it's hard to get much better than the boston bats winning the two games out west 17 runs 23 hits hello yeah and and it's been great i mean if you're a boston fan offensively they've been able to do exactly what they wanted to do johnny damon's swinging a badwell the middle part of the boston lineup has hit with some power you see millar going deep here ramirez went deep and jason veritek probably had the biggest hit in game two which was a two run humber which got him even 12 of the 17 runs the red sox have scored have they've scored with two outs and so offensively they've gotten a big hit and when you're getting a big hit you should continue to win and at home they're magical as you might think this uh club built very much for fenway park well rick shutcliffe the one time cyan award winner inside the headlines have been screaming out west angels great bullpen falters but that's not really the case whether down oh two is it no it's really not and mike social held a meeting after game two he said boys right now we're swimming upstream but he said momentum can change quickly one base hit one pitch and even as simple as one sacrifice bunt could have won game two for them figgins popping up to third base and then jose molina running right back to pedro martinez anaheim needs productive outs to win they could also use some production from their superstar garrett anderson they've been throwing fastballs right by him in this series he's hurt the anaheim's offense but he's also physically probably hurting more himself hitter friendly fenway park could be just what the doctor ordered and specifically set that left field wall for that stroke of garrett anderson don't have to hit it over it maybe just off it anaheim in our opinion perhaps and we'll talk about it has the guy with maybe the best stuff on the staff kelvin escobar although his record is below 500. he'll have to be electric though because this place will be can bronson arroyo and the sox shut her down early in the week but game time temperatures in the 70s although once the sun goes down you know it'll be in the 60s and get to lower 60s but still a beautiful afternoon and red sox fans of all ages with all types of views with their hopes this afternoon our kyle peterson's been in the stands and they're many historical spots kyle getting a nosebleed up there absolutely what i mean can you get a better seat we're on top of the green monster out here in left field boomer it feels more like a fall down california than a fall day out in new england but 81 straight sellouts this year 145 overall for this boston red sox ball club here at fenway this is sold out obviously again 500 tickets we're going for on ebay something to think about guys boston has not clinched a playoff series here at fenway park since 1986 the city's in a frenzy though guys front page of the boston herald go yanks they want to see the yankees in the lcs still some work to do though yeah i mean let's not start you know the worst thing the red sox can do guys is to pencil in okay so we move forward against the angels now who are we playing in the next round and i think that terry francona and the red sox are a little smarter than that because they know what anaheim is capable of doing and here is mike socha's lineup we told you they had 47 road wins this year shawn figgins at the second base this is the lineup you saw except for the catcher in game two they're more offensive lineup darren erstadt is hitting second vladimir guerrero got his first hit uh drove in a couple of runs uh in game number two you saw the sun talk about garrett anderson still looking for his first hit this uh postseason series troy gloss hit a home run in game number one that is still traveling down the freeway jeff devana the young left fielder he's in there and we'll fight the monster out there benji molina the game one catcher uh behind the plate hitting seven big dallas macpherson outstanding minor league numbers in there for his bat hitting eighth david eckstein who came up in the red sox farm system had a nice reunion with johnny pesky the veteran red sock almost the symbol of the squad they hug at the cage beforehand and that'll be the lineup trying to be tamed by bronson arroyo 10 and 9 with an era of just over four we talked about eckstein being claimed from the boston red sox organization the pittsburgh pirates put this guy on waivers after the o2 season he was claimed by boston he pitched outstanding at the minor league level last year and in his words you know what he says i started the game that boston clinched the wild card earlier this season he said why not me start the game where they clinch and move on to the alcs well the view of fenway and boy this was i got here very early to do some other business tape the swami and just kind of get a feel for the place and the street was very active at 11 o'clock this morning you know a full five hours before game time and the defense hey they've been active for the most part uh tony for the red sox especially don mattingly like at first base kevin millar the red lights have done a great job bill miller the third baseman is the guy that uh you know kind of leads the charge along with cabrera out there but you know for the restless viewership fan defensively offensively pitching bullpen they've been the complete package the first two games of the series we are underway at fenway park as sean figgins looks at strike one from bronson arroyo royal six foot five hundred ninety pounder from key west florida and there's the young figgins who has struggled he's been such a spark plug for this team playing third and second base but he has struggled thus far most notably in the field back to arroyo um and he will work pretty quickly although he's got the high leg kick in there for a strike arroyo became i think the 19th different hairdo on this team on an off day well when he had some time in anaheim had a jamaican hairdresser put in the cornrow look so he fits right in with the rest of these socks paul lofted to left it's manny ramirez there and figgins is out there is one out here for anaheim but back to arroyo they're speaking of hair i mean everywhere you look it's a different hairstyle guy i mean this is maybe they can remake the movie shampoo too because between damon and melares had six hairstyles himself and it's not going to do terry francona any good no he says when he saw a royals rose what did he tell us today says made me happy that i was bald for the first time well there's some of the look of bronson arroyo and he will be looking down the bore of certainly one of the fine players in all of baseball and if you forgot the quality of darren erstad it's homer is already hitting in this series four for seven i think the big key to this series though has been sean figgins tony he still hasn't scored a run yet and with her stat getting on base seven out of the nine times he's come to home plate they've wasted some big innings without their lead up man yeah and and the other thing is when you're facing a guy like arroyo we've seen already he's changing speeds he's changing arm angles you know it's going to take him a little while to kind of figure him out but you're right i mean that lead off hitter his job is to get on base no matter any way you can and try to create some havoc and they haven't had that so far in the series slow grounded a second routine for mark bellhorn over to kevin millar daniers two outs so the dangerous earth stat is out and now here's you know here's the man is named for charles bronson okay and i don't know that charles ever looked like this but bronson arroyo his first full season in the bigs and there he is i mean that that that's that's why they have baseball caps well like francona also said that's painful to look at it it can't feel that good that feels good it feels good command of that breaking ball tony mentioned the different arm angles there'll also be different speeds to that one pitch dangerous vladimir guerrero inside ball one brian runge is the plate umpire today gary cedarstrom is at first the crew chief ed montague at second kerwin danley is at third larry young the left field line jerry meals the right field line if this series goes five and i should say this for all there's a change this year in the umpire the same crew they used to switch after two games the same crew works four but if there's a fifth game there will be a different crew there'll be a crew that's already out west for example guerrero lofts it to left center looking up in the late october sun is manny ramirez and a one two three in for bronson arroyo the angels down the red sox coming up river the head of the charles in a couple of weeks the uh the annual crew regatta all right now the red sox have been on full sail winning game one nine three winning game two in the late eve of anaheim 8-3 johnny damon leads it off he's had two hits in each of these games mark bellhorn as the second baseman hitting second manny ramirez in left field at the big three run homer in the big seven spot uh fourth inning in game number one david ortiz intentionally passed a couple of times last game and trot nixon delivered a big base hit lost in the boston four round ninth and kevin millar with a homer in the first game is hitting six jason varetek's two-run homer tied game two at three three before the red sox won it orlando cabrera is your shortstop hitting eighth billy miller the batting champ of a year ago hitting ninth kelvin escobar pitches to johnny damon and the red sox are underway escobar 6-1 210 28 year old from venezuela has big has the eighth best era in the american league but a losing record for a team that won the pentagon the division guys some people might wonder why mike social would start a guy with a losing record in a game where his team could be eliminated from the postseason escobar has never started a postseason game but what a power pitcher he has become only johann santana pedro martinez and curt schilling had more strikeouts than escobar did this year mike sosha hoping for sharper play from his anaheim angels they as seth told you in the beginning have not granted that to him thus far and they really did that certainly down the stretch when they overhauled the oakland a's and fended off the texas rangers to win the west once again damon aboard i mean ever since washburn got out of the game who he struggles with so much in game one damon has been aboard almost every time here's the defense for anaheim yeah you know looking at this angel defensive lineup mcpherson's back at third base get the gold glover uh molina behind the plate but the key for them is today again just like in the first two games they're gonna have to execute on the defensive end you know the red sox here damon has gotten on base and don't be surprised if they don't test right away damon and the ball blocked by benji molina but they are not going anywhere yet has been aboard three out of five times both games has scored three runs and we talked about in game one that benjamin has a little bit of a of a finger deal and escobar not great guys at holding men on i expect the red sox to try to exploit that right off the bat i mean you know you were absolutely right since washburn has come out of the game damon's really been the igniter for the red sox and i expect him to not stay around first base long to really try to generate some get some action going by taking off maybe turn into a hit and run maybe just trying to straight steal well even the baseball swami makes an appearance in the postseason eamon had a feeling he'd be the key he's one of them slow chopper and takes a weird hop but erstad just wants to make sure he gets the attic goes as a swinging punt wait a minute does not at all because brian ruggie at home plate that was his call until the baseball gets to the bag the home plate umpire makes the call and he ruled that this ball went foul before erstad could make contact with it and he ruled it correctly look at that bounce huh good call michael chang on clay court tennis what made the call easier was the fact that he hustled out online and had a great view of it i mean brian runge his father paul runge they don't get much better than those two [Applause] the other thing on that play was um first that fielded the ball in foul territory i thought it was a smart play on his part by going into foul territory because you know that would have made the tag play easier it wouldn't have been any um bit for a collision at first base he goes into foul territory makes the play easy to make the tag count is 2-1 to mark bellhorne 24 of 28 stolen bases against escobar this year were successful tony you mentioned the gold glover benji molina behind home plate not a whole lot can you can do when you're as slow as escobar is getting the ball to molina but they don't want to run themselves into outs they want to work the pitch count on escobar way ahead of that one ron jackson the hitting coach for boston stand before the game we're looking at 22 to 25 pitches for inning we figure if we can get that over the first five you do simple math his pitch count will be gone they'll get into the bullpen on the other hand mike social saying our game plan today is to score off their starting pitcher bronson arroyo keeping a good eye on damon as well as should and that's not the numbers you like uh 24 out of 28 successful base dealers meanwhile escobar is struggling here with belmorton count is now full especially don't like those numbers when you didn't score in the top half and the lead off hitter gets on base very few people in the american league got less run support than escobar did you hate giving away bases like that in those tight games there goes damon on the full count throwing his molina safe is damon bellhorn gone so if you think about it at that ball stayed fair it's exactly the same situation runner at second one out yeah but the difference boomer is the pitch count and even though it was an out by mark bellhorn to me tony it's a productive out because it took six pitches to get it done and you still have a managed scoring position [Applause] winning baseball that's that's what you have to do bill horn didn't make contact but johnny damon got a great jump and was able to steal second he finds himself in scoring position for the middle of the line and you know who manny ramirez three run homer in game number one he's driven in five runs in this series only driving in two in game two one with a walk one with a sack fly but the sac fly put him up and then they put him away in the end we talked about being patient and working that pitch count ron jackson's game plan of attack against escobar that doesn't hold true for manny ortiz i don't think so i think they're going up to the plate looking for a ball that they can drive and if they get it whether it's the first pitch or the 10th pitch well they're going to take a whack at it with 17 postseason home runs taking his time obviously the numbers are skewed toward the players of this year because you have three rounds that is the number fourth best of all time ripped down the line but foul we put that number up the other night how about mickey mantle still in there at 18. you know playing only the world series admittedly every year and bernie williams with the most with 20. this ball had hair on it boys see escobar trying to get in on manny manny looking for it in it looked like and he was out just a little bit out in front of that escobar we talked about all of the strikeouts tony he can go with the split finger fastball which he'll do a lot of times with the left-handed hitter more times than not to get the strikeout with a right-handed hitter he'll go to that good hard slider away 0-2 pitch to ramirez is away and a good pick up there by benji molina the backhand first baseman style yeah got him you've got both molina's in trouble the first time yeah i was just gonna say i mean this is a case where he makes a nice backhand comes up in a position ready to throw and you saw game two that same move right there didn't work out quite that well one thing damon's got to be cautious of though we saw bellhorn get picked off in game two [Applause] a little chopper foul you look out you see set from where our vantage point is the boston skyline we had helicopters and blimps hovering overhead and there's no question where the action is this afternoon no doubt no doubt as they were with you know we said at the start of game number one they've been waiting for this moment a home playoff game ever since at three seconds after brett boone's home run fell into the yankee stadium seats well they had feel like it was coming because they went out and flat out earned it since august the first terry francona's team now including the postseason 44 and 18. yeah 36 and 12 since a rainy night against toronto august the 16th 36th and 12th including these two wins ramirez shortstop out center field in left field nobody gets it manny who gave one of those up yesterday and gave it two days ago in game three gets one back just in decision all around by anderson and center to vanity and left and eckstein is short and and a tough son yeah i mean that ball went up and everybody's looking for it you see the bright sky it's very difficult to pick up the ball but you got to pick it up somebody's got to take charge garrett anderson's the center fielder but i don't think he saw it from the beginning jeff the van and tried to cut across to make a play you know tony you're exactly right and once he didn't see it as we talked about in the open he does not physically have the ability to get there anymore those knees he won't talk about it he's a guy that has too much pride he never complains darren erstead says that he's the most professional person i've ever been around but he physically right now is not close to 100 percent and that should be something that everybody knows and you know the vanden's got to get over somebody's got to get over x things you got to get out in order to try to make a play try to help him out david ortiz with a hit in each of the first two games swings and misses there and there's the definite defense put on by terry francona the shortstop eckstein almost behind second base and then the second baseman figgins not ridiculously bonds like uh in short right field but over some or shall i say for the older fans who watch baseball here not ted williams like ship put on by lou boudreau in the 40s well i think it's not nearly as deep because they're hoping escobar if he doesn't get the strikeout would get a ground ball at figgins here comes a good split-fingered fastball just catching the corner there of that k-zone now you've got the o2 count you've got a lot of options here for escobar to go get that strikeout [Applause] gets him on that ortiz doing some major fishing there against escobar well tony we saw on the top of the first we saw erstad fooled by the off-speed pitch we saw vladimir way out in front the condition right now are perfect as far as the time of day to pitch in with the shadows oh absolutely i mean the pitcher and the catcher both are in sha are in the shade but if you go out to where the hitter's eyes are going to be out in center field it's awfully bright out there guys were complaining in batting practice that they just weren't able to pick up the baseball or make good contact so when you're looking out out that direction and trying to pick up a baseball it's going to be tough you look at the swings ortiz was way out in front of that split finger trot nixon up nixon did not play game one he uh obviously has had an injury playing year coming back and then with scuffling in game two and jason varatek who hit the big home run to tie the game at 3-3 all he could talk about in the locker room at wednesday night is how about the at-bat trot nixon have he kept battling battling battling in a 4-3 game got a single to put us 5-3 in the ninth and then we busted it open so typical veritech talking about somebody else but maybe that last at bat wednesday night got trot going what's up one of the many two out runs he's had some big hits for them over the years and you know you get to this point in the playoffs you'd love for him to get hot and put slip him right in the middle of that murderer's row in there don't you think getting his bat back in the lineup is a lot like troy gross back they didn't expect either one of them to be back just misses outside we had a lot of talk about game two so nixon looking at a one-two pitch can escobar wriggle free you know for all the runs and hits the red sox event they've left a lot of guys on base it sounds stupid to say they've scored 17 runs they could have had 25 but here's two more on but escobar has a chance to get out of here escobar's done some nice pitching here a good split finger to ortiz to strike him out boston doing the same thing to escobar they did the cologne board putting that pressure on working that pitch count early but escobar pulling the string nicely gets ortiz and nixon boston strands too scoreless to one what do you think the anaheim angels need to do to get on the board early here and try to take the red sox fenway fans out of the game well tony one thing is to get garen anderson who's at the plate right now going and we suspect that maybe the wall doesn't have to clobber the ball maybe the wall get a scraper or something should he go that way as someone who is rather successful going to left field during his career is that what he should do i think so i think he's been out in front and i i i still think his legs are bothering him and he's not going to talk about it but um but not only him i i think the angels have kind of gotten away from the thing that got them to having the kind of success that they've had and that's being aggressive and in order to be aggressive you know you got to take some pitches sometimes and you see there there's a ball that was outside he lines it in in the right center field and and sometimes that's what it takes just a basic sometimes a good at battle you know doesn't necessarily have to be a hit but look where this pitch is that pitch is weighted tries to do it for tony because of like you said he's trying to get that weight off that back leg exactly because it's so painful for him that's right that all he can do is pull the baseball and he really just got lucky there that he didn't hit it into the defense because that is not going to happen you know the majority of the time majority of time you take a ball like that and hit it like he hit it it's going to be an act but he has his first hit of the postseason and now troy gloss who's had quite a few steps up to the plate against bronson arroyo gloss three for three in game number one a homer in the two doubles absolute blast although in uh in game number two boston held him hitless over three and swinging through that pitch by bronson royal i'll tell you what those two swings right there by troy gloves tells me that he's having trouble picking up the baseball that ball is behind see him kind of pull off of that and he missed that first breaking ball by by probably two feet as the ball went past the bat this is the time of day but you really have to try to concentrate oh he doesn't like that remember the big strikeout that he had late in the game la in game number two he turns around to ruggy there but this one around too much well one thing about it when you're the designated hitter that's all you get to do it's the only way you get to contribute and when the bat's taken out of your hands as it was in the eighth inning and troy glasses it back there i mean he was really frustrated at that at bad and even more so now it looked like he went around so maybe just a strength quality i think he called it was a call third scratch yeah called i think he checked that you know in fairness too i mean as tough as it is to hit tony it's got to be equally tough on that umpire no question [Music] jeff devana looks at strike one from arroyo in on the grass the third is bill miller we told you the story on wednesday night that divanan has an early ted williams signed baseball but johnny pesky's eyes lit up when i told him that story today you know such a long time friend of ted's uh that jeff devanette's grandfather grew up with ted williams in san diego and they all kind of signed balls as high school kids but just in case anybody gets famous well his grandfather eventually to his dad to jeff he's got a ted williams 16 year old ted williams signed ball and down the line but just foul you know you mentioned johnny pesky and that ball headed down towards the pesky pole out of all of them and there were some great ovations given to the boston red sox as they came out and stood on the first base line i think johnny pesky was the loudest it was the longest i know that well there's a reason for that here's the replay that i think they've tilted that line that we've seen the balls go bounding right we're going to get our protractor out there after the game and see what's up you know why because pesky was in uniform allowed to be on the bench uh all the the whole season last season with the red sox and then another team complain and all of a sudden come game time johnny pesky is not allowed to sit on the red sox bench anymore which is what's the point i mean i mean the rules are rule but sheesh and so i mean that became a cost celebra up here the last month and so pesky the front that pesky is such a big part during batting practice and in the clubhouse before the game now can't be in the clubhouse during it and the appeal yes he did and so davanan is gone two strikeouts here in the second for arroyo nasty breaking stuff he's changing speeds on it too rick i mean one time he'll throw it straight over the top and another time at three quarters this is kind of a three-quarter slider well you could see it coming out of his hand you could see it for a split second and then all of a sudden the baseball got dark you can't pick up that rotation there's no way to know exactly what that pitch is going to do there towards the end and just a fun time to pitch right now let's say we could see it on tv i wonder if the hitter can see it in the box it really is unusual there's no real way to get ready for a skylight i guess the only time you well you wouldn't have a four o'clock start in april either i mean that'd be the only other time that the sky would be exact and and no cloud cover really bright in dead center well one thing jason veritek said before the game that made a lot of sense to me they they played baseball at four o'clock they've had games that were started earlier and went to this time period but boomer not in october i mean things change as you get later new year's we all know well my my favorite and we'll talk about it after this pitch it wasn't here but it was by a guy who my favorite october shadow story would have been yogi berra who played some left field in his career but the yankees are always in the world series and yogi commenting on the shadows out there in yankee stadium in october was saying boy it gets late out here early [Laughter] and you know what he meant as usual yeah swinging through is molina during the season arroyo had 112 strikeout game that was on the 19th of july in seattle that's his only double figure game and uh his last nine starts he's 5-0 boston has won all nine games so this is the type of pitching that bronson arroyo has supplied for the boston red sox from august the 21st on the other thing is you understand why terry francona was so adamant about the royal starting here in game three yeah his other two options were derrick lowe the problem with derrick lowe is that the stolen base percentage way up against him anaheim's a team that can run bronson arroyo is one of the toughest to run on oh look at that whirlybird go right over the middle of the plate so all three strikeouts registered by arroyo anderson stranded crowd in it no score socks first post season game since game five of the alc's last year against the new york yankees and they have a chance to sweep out the angels if they can solve kelvin escobar who struck out three red sox in the first inning and stranded a pair of swaps kevin milar it's a story every minute with him out there and he he had the the he had the beard fluffed up even more than usual uh at the batting cage you signal me over he says i'm looking amish aren't i today and then then i looked over and he and mancavitch had malars jersey on during the batting practice and what kevin said was look if i go equality starter first six innings then then cabbage comes on gets a hold and a save that's what we're trying to do over at first base never heard that stat used before well i saw him in caves taking batting practice and and i asked rick rick was up here too look at the switch hitters what's he doing he's messing around hitting left handed because we saw malar on the back but also along with that don't forget you know in game two we were talking about how well that lara was playing defense was that mencavich in the large uniform around here well it was today yeah that's a way so they're having a just a great time out there and uh there it is that's really meant cable yeah you know and they're not shaving they're keeping the goatee out but then they're not shaving until the playoffs are over on the side so they're going to get the more grizzly adams look as this goes on and that's and one of our camera stands and some new lumber or at least uh at least a little tar there for kevin millar and i just like the way the red sox have gone about it and ballard damon that damon was the quote where a bunch of happy idiots playing baseball and that's really re they love that quote i mean milar and these guys they it really translates into the way they play i mean of course you can be happy when you're winning these games 9-3-8-3 yeah but i think there's a little longer focus on them than this year i mean this team is built to win a world championship they're not going to be happy unless that happened terry francona talked about the flight back when we asked him if you know people were in a good mood he said you know what not really any more than normal he said it was pretty much business as usual i played cards i lost money on him too about his bad card playing his bad fantasy football managing he loves it he does love it he brings it he gets on himself harder and is funnier than anything they can do or say he's such a he's he's a nice guy and he has him playing for him certainly since the middle of august they have been lights out and here's malar that's on now kevin millar this year you know every three weeks you come to the park and you're not sure you're looking at today he fooled you tony but i mean this is okay this is how he started the year in the spring and then of course we went to surfer dude look with the eye black and then the the shaved and then the really shape went from a 10 to a 12 on the stim meter and then there's that look and then okay then we went semi cornrow and now today we got is he called the amish look and he's just i'm a mess what do you want from me that's always confused he's had more faces this year than there are on mount rushmore in 200 plus years of president of the united states and if they keep winning it'll keep changing jason veratech the heart and soul of this team two-run homer to tie game two at three before the red sox went on to win it eight to three you know we saw him set up vladimir guerrero and that at bat where they got the big strikeout with veritek standing up then calling for the throw to first i said you know how often do you do that he says only about two or three times a year and i said well you obviously picked your spot as well as you possibly could he just said i i didn't know what pitch to call so i mean he just did a little bit of acting he got his pitcher out of a jam and they pick up a win mike sosha who ought to know about good defensive catching uh talking about veritech with us in our manager meeting a little before the game very impressed with with the whole package you know the throwing the the way he squares himself he gets in position to throw the way he leads of course i mean and coming from so that's very high you know because socials that way himself doesn't matter and veritech just seems like the perfect guy perfect catcher for this pitching staff and francona talking about when he talks everybody two and one escobar will keep an eye on malaria and nothing about socially there was nobody better at blocking the plate and sut he was the catcher not your very first year but but in your dodger days you threw him quite a bit i had him block that plate a lot for me i mean he was telling him we asked him about the biggest collisions he ever had it was in another discussion there goes malar and then we'll do it again uh he said remember when chili davis was young and lean but just so solid with the san francisco giant said we had one and that was chilly hurt himself so sure to himself he said i just kind of picked myself up had the mask on and said that just make sure you walk into the correct dugout and they did that and then what he talked about another one with jack clark when clark was a cardinal but soch won 99 out of 100 collisions okay yeah that's that's about right cool the play was over you slid into home you did plays over it's like sliding into a fire hydrant veritech just in question rangi and strikeout so all four outs strikeouts thus far for escobar meanwhile kyle peterson son hasn't left the outfield yet has it you guys are moving to right field we talked to both managers before the ball game because obviously left field plays a huge part defensively during the course of the game they brought up right field now importance at once once you get packed past pesky's pole it goes directly out to right so pay special attention to vladigro during this game two guys usually see day games here the shadows don't make it all the way out to the outfield today they're right in his eyes well about an hour they'll be all in the shadows will be better that one fouled back by orlando cabrera let's bring in one other topic of discussion sun or no sun the outfield for the this is such a unique park and we're not talking history we're talking odd angles vladimir guerrero just played three games here this year with the angels a couple inner league with the expos not many divan has been around but not a lot in left field mcpherson has never played here at third you can have a fair ball go down the line karen back into play what i'm saying is you don't just pick that up in one day right sutton tony you just even if you talk about it that could play a role in today's game agree it takes time tony you played the outfit you know that these dimensions can affect the outcome of the ball game no question and you you really have to be aware that when you come in here the first time you come in here you know especially in in the vantage case and you've probably played left field here and in mcpherson's case who hadn't played third base here you need to be aware of those strange kind of bounces maybe the sun's going to be in your face or not skied dallas mcpherson over makes the grab and there's two out millard back to first they're just inexperienced by the angels at these angles that's my even a play like this you know i mean you look at the background how it's coming out and mcpherson having to know where you know that that camera uh you know those seats are for the camera guys that they just added for the postseason that little well there sometimes the guy can think he's closer to it than he is and and not come up with a ball that would be a little tougher play than that but tony i think about you people talk about how you worked on your hitting all the time i remember seeing you on the road too when you would get to a new ballpark early i mean 12 o'clock one o'clock in the afternoon going out working on those balls that you would have to play defensively bill miller works that one up the middle for a base hit so billy who was hitless in the first game had two in game two now with a base hit and so two on for johnny damon and damon as we've told you the whole series long despite the fact that he's a leadoff man with 94 ribbies in the lead-off spot they're just getting it done offensively boomer so much more than what the anaheim angels have done they have now three more at bats already in just the first six outs thus far tonight in this series in the first two games they had 90 more at bats 90 at bats and 16 more than what the anaheim angels were able to have they're just sending more people to the plate damon was aboard three times in each of the games in anaheim walk stole a base was stranded at third in the first inning now he has a chance to put boston on the board total team effort absolutely on this pitch count getting escobar out of this ball game everybody chipping in because i don't know about you guys i like having my lead off hitter hit in the first and the second in you know you like to turn it over you like you know anytime the more advanced he gets means the more opportunities your team is getting well the problem for escobar is that he has walked the lead off batter in both of the first two wins he has run that pitch count up on himself way do you think this is because you look at escobar's numbers i mean he's got to be the league leader in worse offensive support and he's been in games like this before where he feels like he has to be perfect because offensively his team hadn't been able to put runs on the board and you get yourself you know into these these situations where you're falling behind in account the hitters you know you're only gonna ask you're only asking for trouble they've been shut out five times in his start i mean that's brutal but i think that's what's one of the things that's most impressive about escobar tony is that his stuff does not slip i mean he he can go out there and throw 130 pitches for you and still throw in the mid-90s wise for example last five starts escobar two and three 41 k's 11 walks 3.2 r e r a two and three two and three right as he it was with toronto a lot there always be a batter or two or a situation where they thought he lost concentration like social saying he didn't really see that there this year it's hard to lose concentration when a hitter is tough as johnny damon is up with two runners on damon but snared by mcpherson he was on the ball but again the red sox lead two on scoreless bell quit in time and then they'll quit here in the red sox and the angels the great boston rush hour traffic is some everybody having a game on the radio or maybe that rare car that's hooked up for cable tv wouldn't advise you except if you're in red light to tune in on tv if you're in a car but hey stranger things have happened again royal being able to take a lot off that breaking ball and still throw it for a strike young dallas mcpherson who was one for four starting the second game came in late in the first game and went over three we told you his story uh minor league player extraordinaire the sporting news minor league player of the year combined in double a and triple a with arkansas and salt lake before being called up for the last 16 games a year 40 homers 126 rbis 317 in the miners big back big bat but there's a big scouting report that's already out on him he's going to see a lot of off-speed stuff until he proves tony that he can stay back and do some damage with it he might get a single as he did the other night on that change up from pedro but he's not going to hit that off speed pitch out of the park right now i mean he's just cheating on that fastball and it took forever to appeal but yes he did go around so another strikeout four in a row for bronson arroyo looking fastball watch how quick he starts to swing right there he thinks it's a fast ball he takes off there it is look at look how quick he is tony he's flying over i mean that you can see where the power is at right now but there's also a scouting report out on the young slugger and that comes with time it comes with that bats you know the more at bats he gets the calmer he's gonna be right now he's a little amped up getting some abs in the playoffs that's kind of normal it takes a little while for you to kind of get your feet on solid ground in there for a strike do the shortstop david eckstein one for four and one for three in the first two games hit well to right but little eckstein is not going to hit it over the head of trot nixon he was on the ball but very quickly two up and two down providing aerial coverage for today's broadcast is ameriquest leadership liberty captained by scott danica and corki denlonger jr liberty is the airship of ameriquest mortgage company the official mortgage company of major league baseball so we thank those gentlemen who's on a picture coming up bottom of the third the angels and the red sox game three of this american league division series chris berman rick cycle of tony gwynn kyle peterson with you glad you're enjoying october baseball once again here on espn ever since 1996 the majority of this division round and we are thrilled to do it and thrilled to be in settings like this bellhorn ramirez ortiz 234 against kelvin escobar who is quickly ahead of mark bellhorn 0-2 he struck him out in the first that's nice as these settings are i'm not sure that the hitters coming to home playing right now right are as happy about it with that bright sunshine the shadows and then this power pitcher on the mound and kelvin escobar world is probably having to face escobar because he's been able to locate his fastball really good today how about his composure too time i mean he's never pitched in the postseason before big crowd big stage some big innings and he's made bigger pitches well he's had first and third with one out got out of it with two strikeouts after you know ramirez hit that ball in the short left center field that really somebody should have caught and it didn't they didn't and you know right away he's in a jam in his first inning of his first start and he still was able to you know get two strikeouts and he's pitched very well bill horn who strikes out with the best of them setting a new red sox record this year at 177 strikeouts the old mark butch hopson back in 85. here's a guy we're going to talk about a little later papa jack the abandoned coach for his second year with the red sox and ron jackson who hey he's obviously got great talent to work with but you can't argue with the job that he has done with 1900 runs they've scored in two years hello right 1900 runs wow plus he's upbeat he goes right along with him i mean he he tries to keep him concentrating not so much tell him all the different styles to hit but just to concentrate and be themselves and stay in a rhythm down 0-1-2 works a walk by the way he's preached patience today guys you know what i love about it too i mean sure you got manny ramirez there but you know you've got a lot of other people too that nobody else wanted i mean kevin millar has bounced around bellhorn you look at bill miller he's been hurt you know david ortiz was put on waivers by minnesota he has got these guys it's not just a a one-man offense i mean they have a great team approach collectively and they all work together which is really you really see it when you watch guys work in the batting cages they all have a game plan they know what they want to do and how they want to do it and it's just a matter of carrying over what they work on mvp to to take it right into the game we talked about how they want to work the camp make escobar throw a lot of pitches you know it when you get a pitch that you can handle go ahead take a whack at it but if it's not what you're looking for go ahead and take it and already here we're in the bottom of the third inning they've done a great job already of uh getting escobar's pitch count up this is what ramirez so now after two strikes to bellhorn six straight balls manny with a hitter's count although with him i think eddie counts it hitters count 54 pitches already look at all the balls that's the patience that ron jackson talked to them about before the game ramirez to center field garrett anderson looking up fighting the sun makes the catch going a long way but anderson tracked it down bellhorn back to first one out [Applause] right there is the difference in a guy that you know throws 88 as opposed to a guy that throws in the 90s you take a look at the k zone there's a split finger fastball now he tried to get him to chase the slider see the movement away and then right there there's a nice little velocity on that little cut fastball just didn't quite have the tilt to it that manny ramirez was looking for but when you've got the velocity that that escobar has tony you got to cheat on that fastball to get to it and when you do sometimes you get yourself out that's exactly right velocity is the key component really when you when you throw hard most even the good hitters sometimes have to start early in order to handle the fastball boom i heard a guy talking about what's the difference in you know you know 88 and 95 well just get in your car and get a ticket yeah i don't recommend anybody doing that but you know what there is a difference there and i think once you're 16 miles an hour a mile an hour over whatever speed limit it is you're in trouble so of course i wouldn't know that david ortiz a strikeout victim of escobar is in the first inning yeah plus if you're nolan ryan difference between nolan ryan or randy johnson up to 100 that they're driving on the autobahn yeah tony he's just not picking up the rotation on anything yet is it no i don't think so i think they're still struggling that's a nice play by benji molina on about a 57-footer by escobar you know i know he's won a couple of gold gloves but watching him and his brother i don't i don't understand i mean they just get lucky i mean that's just flat catching it that you know you see veritek he gets in front of those balls he just absolutely smothers them i mean i you know they're very mike socia did not block baseballs the way these guys do it but you know right now that's what they're having success with cost them in game two though one one to ortiz [Applause] now a hitters count to big david with 41 home runs during the year tony do you ever just go up there and just take until you start seeing the baseball i mean could that you keep doing here no you can't do that i mean you know basically what you're you're trying to do is get a ball in the center of the plate whether it's a split finger or a fast ball and hopefully time it well enough where you can hit it hard but when you get when you get this kind of uh backdrop all you can do is hope that the sun the shadows move quickly and you can get to where you can see the ball again ortiz swinging through that and it's two and two i guess the last place the shadow is going to leave is center field which is the eye side of the batter the fielders pretty soon guys are gonna have the sun out of their eyes right and sooner or later you know what what hitters are doing and they they're not going to want to admit it but what they're doing is they're trying to work the camp to where they can figure what they're going to get the hit and they're taking a whack at it whether they're right or wrong sometimes again there's that look like a split finger ortiz out in front again trying to work the count so that the sun goes down that that i mean you're trying to work the sundial trying to work you're trying to work the count where you can determine what pitch you're gonna get and at the same time the more pitches you see the longer it's gonna you know the more chance you're gonna give for that shadow to move out of there to where you can go up there and actually see the baseball and take a good swing you not only got difficult conditions but escobar has always had success against ortiz so that just kind of compounds the problem for boston and that's why when that count was two and one you could pretty much figure hey i'm gonna get something pretty good to hit here i'm gonna take a whack at it he takes a whack at this one sends it toward the monster it's high up off the wall double floor tees runners at second and third and that wakes the crowd up they're kind of sitting on their hands here they're ready to use them to me that's that cures a lot of bad things stand back and hitting the ball the other way you see this ball isn't down in the middle of the plate and he doesn't try to pull it he goes with it he uses that green monster but to me tony that should have been a single there was a conversation between garrett anderson and devan and after that play because he hesitated he came up looking to make the throw to begin with to third base you have to know seem right the last second pull the ball back because that's when he heard garrett anderson hollering second you should be able to hold ortiz to a single on that and keep the double play in order inside molina good play to track nixon ball one red sox stranded two in the first two in the second that means thus far in two games plus 23 left on base oh by the way they've scored 17 left can they play two here another bouncer now this is the way they teach it even at the little league level as far as keeping the ball in front of you watch the glove turn over look at the body look at the upper body in particular how he tilts towards the ground so that if it comes up and hits in the chest it has nowhere to go but straight in front of it absolutely right infield in this early but it's not just any game they're down 0-2 in games nixon rips it to the right side bill horn scores up throwing is vlad guerrero so with that arm and ortiz the runner he won't motion forward but the red sox are on the board tony had to eventually get escobar in trouble he has now walked the lead off hitter in all three of the first three innings and it's good hitting by trot nixon he just waited him out got something in the middle of the plate drives it in right field knocks in the first run very quickly buddy black the pitching coach out there and everybody on the infield a basic football huddle on the mound i got to give ron jackson a lot of credit for these last two victories because in game two with talon on the mound they made him throw 66 pitches in the first three innings and he needed to throw another one if molina hadn't picked off bellhorn at second already now they are at 64 pitches here in just the bottom of the third ron jackson told us before the game what the game plan was to be credit to him and to the boston lineup for getting it done milara with runners on the corners and one run hold to sharply hit balls by ortiz and nixon that's the best swing we've seen from nixon this year the way to millard walked in the second inning in a two-run homer in game one three for seven sorry this goes right into the game plan here you know nixon worked to count to two-and-oh got a ball in the middle of the plate lines it in right field milar already ahead in the count 1-0 he can kind of zone in look for something that he'd like to swing [Applause] that's foul you saw scott shields up uh throwing he was summoned early in game one when the red sox knocked out jared washburn in a seven run fourth inning mike social hoping that there's some enough strings to pull and running out of rope yeah he is he knows it too believe that's what malara was talking about with boston this year saying yeah we're a lot of loose strands going all different directions but he made a good point when you put a lot of loose strands together boomer you can come up with a pretty strong rope a lot of loose strands a lot of spaghetti on one plate [Applause] one and two to malar broken back little bleeder is out but ortiz lumbers home and it's two nothing swats that's one way to drive in a run yeah not his usual way great pitch by escobar he just couldn't get turned around to make that play if he catches it he could have doubled up ortiz easily at third base but they talk about baseball being a game of inches it proved it right there just a little too much sauce on that spaghetti on that time huh just couldn't uh couldn't come up with it so she's trying to get benji molina's attention he wants the intentional walk here to jason the veritek in game two to get to nixon didn't work one of them did not so now veritech will walk well he also intentionally walked veritech yes in that big ninth inning with cabrera coming up behind him and it hurt him cabrera hit the double three runs scored to break that game two open veritech with real good numbers though against escobar 4 12 and 17 at bats seven hits coming into the game today he struck out in that first inning tony but the shadows were right behind the second base back they're almost completely out of the outfield now yeah and if you're a right-handed hitter the view should be pretty good right now you're a left-handed hitter you might have to wait another 15 minutes but if cabrera comes through who knows what he's alert shadow that's going way back yeah for our time i only read about that orlando cabrera you said it suck after the walk ended things with the three-run double in the ninth in game two i mean he gets a base hit here you might be talking mvp of this series fielded beautifully terrific particularly in game one and then he was a big part of it with just a walk but a run scored in that big seven run inning in game one in the fourth one and one 29 year old orlando cabrera fielded nervously his first maybe 10 days as a red sox hit well started with a homer theop's seen saying what you want to make a triple play in every ball that was hit to him even with no runners on well he's gotten his sea legs down here in boston that's for sure after being the regular starting shortstop in the big since 99 with montreal yeah but don't you think it's a little bit different he plays of course he's playing it more in front of more people right now than he did in two months up there at home i know and it wasn't always at home in montreal sometimes he had to go to puerto rico to hit in the bottom of the ninth i'm happy for him you love seeing a guy with this kind of talent being able to do it on baseball's biggest stage happy loose doesn't get much bigger than this popped back towards us sutt left the butterfly net in the room we got a gold glove outfielder here i want to get out you know every time a ball comes up here i'm ready to dive underneath was that all-star game you wanted to play center i forget where the other outfielders were that was pittsburgh yeah but you have to play center with us okay would be easy to confuse which all-star game well no center i remember once [Applause] nicely again molina so the count two and two with two on it two home i think social might have said something to him but you gotta get your body down you gotta drop to the ground with those knees you gotta turn the glove over because he has been perfect the last couple of times he's had to do that that's a nice job right the ball in front and you know he's a former catcher he's you know he's told him you've told them both you know get your body in front of that with that ball you got to smother that ball because you know the sign you're putting down they put down split finger they put down slider you've got to anticipate that now if he bounces the fastball that's a different story that should not happen up the middle but not far enough snared figgins the red sox have to be happy with just two but they're on the board through three two nothing red sox terry francona coming up live when we come back the bottom half of the third to lead the angels two nothing top of the fourth and kind enough to join us as the uh first year manager of the boston red sox terry frank kona terry you guys have been very patient at the plate escobar's throwing a lot of pitches obviously game plan going in isn't it yeah you know what every pitcher we face we try to more than be patient we try to work the count and get in hitters counts because we have guys that can do stuff when they get knitters counts and we've done a great job so far but you know we need to get a couple more long innings because if you get into a bullpen fourth fifth inning no matter how good they are you got a chance to do something with them terry it looks like in about another inning it's going to be a move point but what are your fielders and hitters coming back telling you about the eyesight out there with the glare and center at specific you know what it's real tough and escobar that was something we were really worried about because of his change of speeds and the split it's really difficult to see the ball it's going to get a little bit easier right now and hopefully we'll have a little bigger lead and you know beat our advantage because it's been tough first three innings that gets easy to manage with the big lead good luck terry thanks for joining us very kind of him to do that play off game do that you know other things on your mind than to waste time bsn with me frankly but gives you a feel for what he's looking at and exactly the game plan that you guys have i know exactly what he's doing he's trying to get some insight on the swami picks coming up he did ask me he says you aren't doing well aren't you so terri don't worry about that yet with some of that money back he lost on that plane trip now he had a great version of the swami the red sox were kind enough to put a welcome for me up on the on the green monster and and put the record up on the board which in october is usually horrendous but it's 14-8 we went inside the monster went back of the monster before the game producer billy fairweather amazingly came up with the key and uh jimmy pearson's name some of the names signed back there didn't really have a chance to look at everything but i'll sign my name back there i know popped and billy miller grabbing that pop-up by vladimir guerrero you know i signed mine in there today you had to hit this is inside the monster it's still the the hand this is live shot still the the hand scoreboard hanging the numbers like they did since they built this place in 1912 open the week the titanic sank okay back in 1912. there's the little view not a great view out of there but the males have it and there's our view out there well that man's been busy because they are 57 and 24 here at home and tony the number one reason is that they're scoring almost six and a half runs per game he's not just flipping that zero no he's not at least not for the red sox side well that's been a key in this series too has been the big inning that boston has been able to put up in both game one and two i think terry farcona hit on on exactly why is because they've been patient at the plate they've been patient they've had a bunch of opportunities don't get me wrong but they've been patient and been willing to wait to count out to get something good to hit they've had a ton of hits with two outs scored a ton of runs with two two or score a ton of runs with two outs and so when you can do that and you're getting good pitching to go along with it you're gonna win bargains pure simple it's pure and simple the way they're pitching to garrett anderson so far everything has just been away and mostly been soft a weak looper and again is grabbed by billy miller and so two pop-ups by vlad guerrero and garrett anderson is neatly sitting back down on the bench how about this does a leg kick like this bother you as a hitter yeah i don't think so i think the biggest problem right now like in garrett's case garrett anderson's case is he's just having a whole lot of trouble staying back once he picks his front foot up his weight is going forward and whether you got a big leg kick or big arm delivery straight over the top or three quarters it's going to be difficult if you can't stay back i was a first strike to gloss and uh troy has been disgusted his last few at bats uh with the the strikes i'm gonna say right or wrong i mean we detailed it in game two and that got so he's not disgusted with this absolutely belted gone that's what we call a two backer back back on his two home runs have been absolutely crushed well a couple of years ago when the ni manges won the world series he hit three home runs against the san francisco giant they dearly missed his back when he had shoulder surgery back in may and tony i got to feel like right along with his bat i mean they have missed his defense he's not able to play third base but we know when healthy he can play it as well as anybody oh yeah god look at this that that shattered ten cases of coke bottles up there i mean there's glass all over the place and manny that what do we talk about this is that not quite a yaz again he look yeah i don't think that's coming back that's very i mean that was and don mattingly slash kevin millar gobbles up another one at first jeff davanan gone but the angels on the board now we're back here at fenway two to one thanks to troy gloss's absolute bomb troy duck undergloss the only people who were ducking were those driving home at rush hour on the mass pike so a two-to-one game and kind of quiet again i i just i i'm really kind of surprised that the whole fan atmosphere it's just all right okay so they're gonna win and then what do we do well not so fast bill miller to lead off the fourth and then tony johnny damon the lead off hitter batting for the third time in the game in the top of the fourth inning and that's what you need exactly you like to see that you got to you might have turned over twice and then he's coming up bleeding off or coming up to the plate for the third time in the fourth inning and that's a good sign if you're a red cycle miller single and under the glove of sean figgins and a tough play but a player that he could have made guys and meanwhile with miller anna damon coming up now here's the discussion on the troy gloss situation outside well mike social started yelling from the dugout after the first pitch because he felt like it was a ball you look at the k zone you're going to see just slightly off the outside corner there was a conversation and all of a sudden out of respect for brian rungey he comes out and talks to him he says brian you know what we saw it on the video that ball was a little bit outside brian runge is more so of a pitchers umpire than what we saw in game two with jerry meals but the thing about brian he is as consistent as they come if he calls it a strike for one team he will the other any called that pitcher strike to johnny damon that's gonna go as an error uh to sean figgins not a base hit for bill miller figgins is really struggling yeah he is you know that he's supposed to be on the bench with a healthy troy gloss and also a healthy adam kennedy damon what a surprise another basic for damon to left field nevada up with it quickly but now the red sox in business once again johnny aboard two of his three times in this game so let's see three he's been on eight times in the three games and that's what your leadoff hitter is supposed to do get on base cause some havoc in this case he gets a base hit with miller on in front of him kind of fights this ball off in the left field and that's what the angels have not been able to do is get their guy at the bottom or guy at the top figgins or x time been able to get those guys on base in a consistent basis you try to drop one here [Applause] apparently i would say i would but i mean i i know that's not the way they do it but the only witness i understand that johnny damon telling me before the game that he had to see a chiropractor yesterday because of the bad migraine headaches that he was having in game one in game two he said the headaches are gone now [Applause] never [Applause] the fact that he could play it if full migraine he couldn't have played through i those aren't fun one sacrifice bunt on the year for mark bellhorne well we talked about the 12 for the team six of those game from pokey reads the sacrifice they're going to get the count to 3-0 boy escobar really laboring up there close to 90 pitches now at 3-0 the way he misses the ball a lot is swinging or just what do you want him to do you're definitely taking because of the mvp candidate in the on deck circle manny ramirez and a strength from escobar and that's why you don't bunt here i mean that's why terry francone is not bunning i should say you got a 374 on base percentage during the regular season for bell horn i mean he's got a lot of confidence in this guy and he draws a base on balls he's adept at doing that you mentioned the on base percentage how about this base is loaded none out for manny ramirez [Applause] you wonder how could escobar walk bellhorn the last two times up well tony he walked 88 times during the regular season only two guys in america it's hard to believe a guy that can walk 88 times to strike out 170 times i don't know how you explain that i can't i can't explain that i don't know how you can explain walking bell horn with manny ramirez hitting behind me most of the year that makes no sense and this one goes all the way to the backstop but nothing going it's not a long way to the backstop here and i got a decent bounce back now again it's bill miller not johnny damon the runner at third great point boomer because damon was often running towards third base if damon were to have been at third he would have scored easily but we asked terry francona about specific people and who he might give the green light to bill miller was not one of those guys i mean this guy's playing on bad knees he's he's had knee surgery the last couple of years and just doesn't run like he once did i tell you what though the angels just continue to shoot themselves in the foot here huh error and a wild pitch it doesn't do a damage then buddy black one of the best in the business pitching coach out there just to try to settle escobar down i mean not the pitching with the bases loaded to ramirez and then ortiz is before though we've seen escobar get a little bit out of sorts and i think the play not made by figgins could have led to this remember that ball was catchable adam kennedy makes that play you got one out nobody on you don't get it all of a sudden damon flips one over your shortstop's head you walk bellhorn you're in trouble he's trying to get him back to where he can focus and at least get it out here they need to play near perfect baseball and they're far from it now they need to make perfect pitches to this man gets him fishing the other thing is you know rick and i we've touched on this before molina's got to do a better job of trying to get his body in front of that baseball you can't afford it you got the bases loaded it's a one-run game now you can't afford to be trying to backhand the ball you've got to shift your body and get in front of the thing and keep it up and knock it down and keep it in front and you've got a force play at home right now that almost got away from you because you let the ball get away wrapped to left center field divanan grabs it miller scoring 3-1 boston [Applause] not necessarily what he was trying to do you know going up there primarily but second sacrifices they all count yep he's a sixth rbi it's not so much that the escobar didn't pitch well today it's the fact that the pitch count got to him he has thrown 92 pitches and he has only gotten one out here in the fourth inning mike socia has to make this move well so escobar pitches only into the fourth he's giving up the three runs there's two on the dangerous ortiz is up and we'll be back i'm looking for a job as an auto technician i can fix cars it's like a work of art to me it's almost like a person it's like giving the car a new heart you know you put a new engine in and you know it's going to be great i went to school for uh diagnostics i got my certification to find me on monster calvin escobar is gone scott shields who came into work the fourth and fifth inning in game number one is in the shields uh give up a home run to manny ramirez but then retired what followed including david ortiz and then the lineup that he's going to see now but with two on a run home here's ortiz against the right-hander shields they don't have a left-hander option anyway and they just bring the guy that's best available [Applause] you see shields has won eight games and is in exactly theoretically that position today if anaheim can get submitting going well you'd love to have an alan embry or a mike myers most of the damage done this year by david ortiz was against right-handed pitching and that is all that mike socia has to go to [Applause] quickly ahead of ortiz 0-2 david is struck out but then hit the big double off the wall and later came around to score the second run in the third inning you're boston you'd love to get more than one run here you had the bases loaded and nobody out ramirez does a really a good job and knocks in another run but [Applause] i like to put a crooked number up on the board now he held high fastball after some off speed pitches take a look at the side angle there a correct call again by kerwin danley on third base and ortiz calling for a little time red sox really have a chance to put the angels on the ropes they've left two on in each of the first three innings and although they lead at 3-1 they really have a chance to put a hurting on a team that's down 0-2 fisted and foul right they've had opportunities oh we got a good one here again faces loaded nobody out you know you're the angels you're hoping you can get a ground ball and hopefully you can turn two on but thickens had a ball that made an error on a ball he should have come up with and that's turned into a run here for the red sword [Applause] red sox players never quit the imagination to get the letters espn in these signs they're very impressive but for the fans over the years mike socha's players don't quit either that's how they won it all in 2002 and this ball is belted to right field long run vlad guerrero he won't get it damon's gonna score here's the relay and bill horn being held up second double of the game for ortiz for one when you talk to a lot of the red sox players they flip a coin as to who their mvp has been this year was it johnny damon was it manny ramirez or was it david ortiz tony they talk about how consistent though their designator hitter has been this year and here he had a really good at bat got a ball in the middle of the plate drives it in right center field and you can see that this is an inning where you had the bases loaded and nobody out you wanted to try to get more than one and now they have they've knocked in two bell horn at third ortiz at second and track nixon up infield in anaheim two runs home here in the fourth two runs home in the third boston way again to track nixon 2-0 kevin millar on deck away 3-0 [Applause] and you know what that's going to be we'll put him on take a chance and try to turn that double play again not a bad idea here but that is already six base on balls that the patient offense of the boston red sox boomer has been able to acquire look we said that boston really had a chance not to put it away i mean we're only in the fourth inning but look they have a chance to sit on a team and not even let them get their seat legs at all right and that's what you should do you're coming home you got a two-nothing lead you've had opportunities here to really break this thing open and kind of take the air away from from the angels and they've got four runs on the board but they could easily easily have you know seven or eight see red sox with reason to be that way 21 runs thus far in two and a half games against anaheim well not only do they look tense in the dugout for the angels tony but they're playing yes i mean they're just they're not relaxed defensively and they're not patient offensively with the sacks full of socks it's kevin millar walked granted a second well he ain't going to move hit by a pitch 17 times he does not budge on that fastball in he's got a lot of pull in that clubhouse and he's got a lot of pull in his advantage the halos are over the heads of the red sox with the way the angels are playing defensively there's a double play ball right here football come up hit him right in the palm right in the heel i mean he set a club record that being eckstein for fielding percentages at the shortstop position this year they could not boomer have picked the worst time to start playing like this well you couldn't even see it coming i mean sounds as if this is kind of the way they were playing late in the year it's exactly the opposite [Applause] you got to give credit to the offense though of boston tony they can keep putting that pressure on and that's what you're if you're that's what you should do you keep putting pressure on the defensive team make them make plays and here's next time with another chance at the shovel to figgins over to erstad veritek has doubled up and the angels do turn the double play but the red sox hang a three spot world series in its first decade of business will there be another one here will they have the proverbial chance once and for all the red sox with a 5-1 lead now for bronson arroyo as we hit the top of the fifth the anaheim angels down two games to none gotta get something going certainly defensively they do and at the bat rack 789 melina mcpherson eckstein are your batters against arroyo pitching his first time in the postseason as a starter bronson pitched three games in the yankees series last year the alcs worked in games two five and six scoreless in the first two and then gave up homer to pasada in game number six but this is first start and that has to help him i mean he's been there tony you break the ice you you know what it's like you know how to control that adrenaline and he has had tremendous control of that breaking ball thus far tonight he waves at that one does molina and that's a big way to start an inning after your team gets three runs well many people in the stance here are dreaming on what is our kyle peterson kyle there he is yeah the aerosmith frontman stephen tyler stephen born in the bronx been out living in boston so how did you get to be the red sox fans just by virtue of my schedule it keeps me here and i'm just feeding off the energy you know it's just this is the year for boston i mean you know it's going to explode now you told me that your tour schedule is going to allow you to stay through the world series what would it be like see the boston red text playing the world series oh please it'll wipe the slate clean you know that i know that yeah yeah yeah so they're going to let me sing for the first of the world series on there and that was you sang after your opening day i mean being a red sox fan a chance to sing at the world series for the red sox first time in so like what would that be like it was sweet plus i got my my son walked me out and handed me my harmonica it's all about that yeah yeah it was beautiful all right what makes you think this is the year for the socks well look what they're doing look at this it's insane it's just a good thing all right kyle but it does speak for itself when veritek makes a play like that millard drops it but they still call my i i just love the coat and tie by kyle peterson down there with steven tyler of aerosmith that somehow what's wrong with this picture well what's wrong with your pictures you can't quit smiling seeing steven tyler right there and these boston fans continue to smile they have seen veritas that's the right call i mean he's a he's a free agent at the end of the year and if there's anybody they need to bring back it starts with their catcher i think he'll be the first guy i love that analysis well why do you think it's here well look what they're doing it's pretty clear yeah 22 runs and had opportunities left eight guys on base so far in four innings the leadoff hitters coming back up in the top of the fifth bottom of the fifth again for the fourth time tell you what steven tyler would say it they're playing with the angels like tory's in the attic knew that would only begin we do have a few of those key word in the sentence albums everybody under about 20 thinks aerosmith kind of came out with a hit a few years ago you know and no man they're in the early 70s here boston band big in new england and they're big in our dorm not many people out of new england do a bottom 73-74 but but what have they done since it turned out okay starting to get that same feeling he's got about these red sox oh man after you get three runs here's arroyo coming up and putting on a two three inning against the angels heading to the bottom of the fifth five one ball sox at the bottom of the fifth here at the twilight time in boston red sox sending eight to the plate in their three run fourth and now tony you've got cabrera miller and the leadoff man johnny damon coming up the fourth time in the fifth inning boston with five runs home eight left on base i mean 19 at 27 left on base in two and a half games oh by the way 22 runs think they've had chances well you don't send that many people to the plate unless the opposing pitching helps you a little bit and with six walks allowed by anaheim in those first four innings tony they put themselves in this hole and you can also include their defense allowing you know guys being able to come up and get extra bats and give teams extra outs they're going to take advantage of it's like that well they pretty much helped them defensively every inning the ball that was not caught that was hit by manny ramirez in the first and then you know just ground balls i mean throws that have gone to the wrong base ground balls that should have been fielded double plays that should have been turned you know if it continues like this thinking you know there was we were out in anaheim and everyone in southern california the dodgers and the angels that never made the playoffs at the same time i mean if it continues like this in the first two games in the dodgers series with st louis i mean it's been a whimper a whimper for southern california a lot can change look at erstad play first base so cabrera gone dave rebson in the studio david thanks chris here with steve phillips reminding you yanks and twins at 8 eastern here on espn kevin brown against carlos silva has been great down the stretch steve how do you think the twins react after wednesday's heartbreak well this is the test for their resiliency they're going to have to bounce back i think it's important to get out early score some runs and get that metrodome crowd supporting them then i think they have a chance to make a good ball game out of it steve dave thank you billy miller up and uh again you saw them talk about it john and joe gary miller they'll have the game for you tonight at eight eastern seven central and what will be a very loud metrodome and five o'clock on the west coast so now look again i don't want to suppose anything in the fifth inning big picture american league boston has a chance to finish this at suppertime minnesota and the yankees are in a a death match there so that could you know who knows that could go five laborious games open up well it'll open up at the winner of that series with boston the wild card team but whatever if boston could finish off they can get set the other two teams playing hard-nosed maybe five games advantage boston or are they hitting so well that three days off that's not a good thing if it happened tony i i think uh honestly i think they're swinging the bats pretty well i don't know if they would want that much time off and you know they've had opportunities and it's like we talked about the angels have given them some of them now miller starting to hit the ball well again two singles and reached and scored on an error now we started talking about some of the other series with the red sox here having a chance to put the hammer down once and for all on the angels the yankees struggled just to get out of that extra indie game in game two to tie their series the dodgers uh looking woeful in their first two games although they're going home against the just a great lineup for st louis and the for cal home run the rare shortstop home run to win a postseason game keeps that series at 1-1 with rampaging houston oh what a surprise johnny demon with a base hit so damon aboard three of his four times tony you would know a lot more about offensively what it takes to keep it together than any of us but the one thing that could help the boston red sox by having that time off i mean they pushed him to the limit with that pitch count in game two and you think about the right ankle of curt schilling absolutely they want to get schilling ready to go in game one regardless of who it's against but they'd also like to give him time and the training staff and the doctors to get that pain out of that right ankle get him as close at 100 as they can well and it would be a complete week for each tuesday and wednesday as brendan donnelly who did not pitch well obviously in what he entered in game number two is up uh throwing in the pen for mike social another we showed all the other series and they're shilling well this is what we want to look at this afternoon set well just to see him out there tells you right there he's only going to go at about 50 you say let's nothing like what we see in the game from him you don't see anything like that down there in the bullpen it's just kind of like taking your thoroughbred out for a little jog in the park hey we on johnny damon here by the way before we forget here did we have a feeling that this would be a big series for him but we talked about him as the mvp of the american league and if not the mvp i mean he's got to be in the top five i think vladimir will win the award because of what he did down the stretch but when you look at what johnny damon has done all year long the run scored the rbis the home runs the defense what a year first thing and it's kurt chilling out well if he'd been out a minute ago we'd have had him on but he was up in the clubhouse listening to us talking about the video of him and he came out so we could put it on he knew our camera guys would find him well he knew how to pay without one of his great outings but uh hey he came here to be with pedro ace and ace and that's the position i love that they said in the boston globe not thrilling just chilling yup just another postseason victory foul bat you know what i just want to get this while we're talking about pitching we looked at all the other series how about joe nathan going three innings john smoltz going three innings brad lidge going three innings when can you tell us the postseason i think that's what's going to test the minnesota twins though they were 64-1 during the regular season with the lead after seven innings they had the lead against the yankees but they came back and took that game away from their closing so be it three-inning will he be at 100 percent being able to go later on tonight and will they be as confident as they were going into game two that's a tough thing for a young team [Applause] bellhorn does what he does often either walks or strikes out he does that now two down and a guy that these fans think should be the mvp manny ramirez coming up red sox at home with 55 wins that have hit so well on the road and hell in this series hello 300 batting average lead the majors with almost six and a half runs a game i'm sorry just to add to rick's point here i think you saw it in both cases in the in a minnesota game minnesota yankees game houston atlanta game both of those teams had a chance to be where the red sox are right now leading two games to noon and when you have that opportunity to get down the right field side and manny that will be foul almost at a home run down the right field line almost a grand slam in anaheim and i think when you get to that 2-0 position the game is a little bit easier you can manage it a little bit easier you can decide who you want to pitch you know for a long time they didn't know if they were going to go with arroyo or wakefield while you get a two-nothing lead you can go with the guy you want you can rest your number one maybe in one more game instead of bringing them back three days you can bring them back on four days so getting to that position is such an advantage that's why you saw the twins go with nathan you saw houston go with lidge fisted for a base hit miller scores boston on the board again 6-1 socks [Applause] that'll be it for shields the red sox starting to pour it on they can taste a move ahead 6-1 now boston with runners at the corners they're threatening for more they have knocked out the first reliever scott shields and now brendan donnelly normally outstanding in the pen but touched up in game number two as you can see the numbers as boston got right on him [Applause] pitched in that four run ninth in game two wednesday night the red sox put it away and here's david ortiz ortiz has doubled twice so ramirez with two rbis lalar by the way gets an rbi inning goal on the air to extend so he has two nicks in a review ortiza ribby i mean it's everywhere ortiz and manny ramirez so close in their offensive numbers and and so close personally as well i think back to the all-star game when manny hit that home run off roger clemens in the first inning all of the sudden he had his second at-bat he took himself out of the ball game so that his buddy david ortiz could come in ortiz walked in the fourth and then he too hit a home run in the mid-summer classic during the sixth inning [Applause] way up top and that's a teammate tony i mean manny could have maybe been the mvp of that game he could have had four or five at bats and now look i won't let my buddy get in there i think that's the way that red sox play too they all get along they all you know are pulling for one another and they all want to see each other do well [Music] manny ramirez dancing around her first night my scene they caught my eye too i thought maybe damon's at third i thought maybe ortiz saw him bluff a steal too and maybe threw him off but you know again it just it just kind of goes to how the red sox are playing baseball right now they're just playing real good team baseball high cheese there from donnelly which we know we can throw kona talked about i mentioned earlier bill miller not running not being one of those guys he said neither would he want ortiz or manny ramirez to run because of one thing he doesn't want to risk them getting hurt [Applause] watching this series [Applause] as lumbering as they can be then you look at vladimir guerrero and garrett anderson on the other side of the event they're hurting you know boston's moving better than they are guys but everybody on their feet red sox fans smelling the kill instead ortiz frozen by donnelly so what a surprise a couple more stranded but what a surprise more runs scored by boston a hot time in the old town tonight and speaking of twilight how about the red sox fans kurt gowdy who called the sox games for years and years and years and one of our all-time favorites and stephen king so a long time red sox fan stephen lived out the main so let's see if anything is written or spoken about the red sox those are two pretty good guys to have in those capacities stephen king writing a uh a book on this season just in case huh that ball line to manny ramirez and looking very smooth out there sean figgins is gone again our aerial coverage for today's broadcast ameriquest airship liberty scott daniker quirky uh the liberty is the airship of ameriquest mortgage company the official mortgage company of major league baseball all right something lost in all the runners and all the runs kurt schilling ace wins game one gives up nine hits pedro martinez ace wins game two gives up six hits bronson arroyo okay fourth now third starter here they are in the six is giving up two hits i'd say he's one of the best fifth starters in all of baseball this year not the fifth anymore look at the ten wins that he had only nine losses you look at 5-0 in his last nine starts you mentioned earlier boomer that boston won all nine of those starts 29 starts on the year and they won 17 of them 27 years of age they found something that the pittsburgh pirates for some reason didn't want up top to darren erstad one and two he's had great command of the breaking ball today he's been able to throw a first strike on both halves located fastball been ahead most of the most of the day it just kind of came on you know i mean it was his first full-time season in the bigs either with pittsburgh he was still up and down with them last year won 12 games of pawtucket before being on the postseason roster here and didn't pitch in the opening round against oakland we told you pitch three times against the yankees but he'll be pitching again this postseason you've even got pedro martinez making nice defensive plays for them now tony that's what happens when you throw strikes all the time the defenders are ready look at these people running out of the way they're pedro right there at his glove wow that looked very it was smooth are they having a good time they i mean are they having final it's easy to have fun when you have three big scores a little game two as a was a nail biter until the end but they're just enjoying what they've got here and since middle august it's been lights out herstad will send this one into the seats something i mean you never know i'm just going to put this out there okay because i think i understand the fans here i've been to this park many many times as a paying customer for a dollar through those years out in the bleachers where those great teams in the 60s uh most notably the 70s and erstag gets on i i just if they get to the alcs and the yankees aren't there i'm talking fans now the players don't care the yankees aren't there and they play the twins and happen to beat the twins and go on to win the world series and then the curse of the bambino will they be happy enough here because they didn't go through the yankees yes of course a purist would say they win the world series and i'm not suggesting that they are but if they don't play the yankees will it be complete or one other part i'm just going to let it linger if they beat the yankees if that's the way it goes and get in the world series against saint louis and have a noble seven-game stand as they did in 67 and 46 but lose to the cardinals with the best record baseball but beat the yankees is that going to be good enough ah you're the swami hey tony and i we're still good the i'm just telling you boston fans out there think about that because i asked quite a few long-timers today and they said this will be something missing if they win the whole i said come on they haven't won since 1918. again we're a long way off from this series too but you know these are dilemmas that they're gonna have i'm telling you i know i know what i'm talking about you know one thing that hadn't been missing here all year long for the first time in the 92 year history of this ballpark is an empty seat every ticket to every game that's was sold amazing this year and you know who deserves the credit i mean he he did it in baltimore with camden yard he went to san diego and helped get the new stadium built there tony good i mean this is larry lucino and his staff that have put together this atmosphere here that i mean i mean this is a they've always compared fenway to wrigley and what have you i didn't see a comparison until the last couple of years it is it is it is right there now with the friendly confidence john henry and kino theo epstein tom warner you mentioned the names mike b guerrero meanwhile big strikeout for arroyo number seven for him and royal deserves a whole lot of credit he's done nothing today but throw strikes well i think what bloomer said too tony he mentioned theo epstein and the thing about theo the reason this team was able to evolve is because he has done such a great job evaluating he was the one that said brunson arroyo is a guy that can pitch for it he's the one that agreed with terry francona yeah he's our he's our third game guy and he had the guts to pull some you know you don't just trade a symbol of the franchise and expect it to go away but here they are and it's not that nomar is going to be a great player somewhere else as he was a great red sox but and that takes some guts to even pull a trigger on a move like that well they knew he wasn't going to be healthy all year that achilles problem was not going to go away and they needed defense to get to where they're at and they were able to come up with it because theo made the move that everybody said he shouldn't do well see i think it's a little bit more than that too rick i think it's not only did they know he wasn't going to play but i think there was some question as to whether or not he was going to come back next year so and from the player's standpoint you know they're winning they're in the hood they're fighting trying to get to this position and you you know you kind of that question was lingering almost all summer long and they had to make a decision and and when they made it that that disappeared we kind of focused in on what the job at hand was playing baseball off the glove of arroyo can anderson beat it out yes he can so very quietly with a walk and a little infield chopper for garrett anderson who now has two hits after having none going into this game and anaheim is two on and you hear the hush you know why there's a hush because of the noise made off the bat of the man at home plate right now there's going to be a discussion on the mound right now because troy gloss could put the angels right back in this thing the pitching coach dave wallace waterbury connecticut native out on the hill he's done a good job huh he knows that he knows pitching that's for darn sure you know that from the dodger system set he's been responsible for helping a lot of young pitchers become major league starters relievers have a lot of success and alan embry the lefty up in the pen would not necessarily be the guy to deal with how about this home run that it shattered the coke bottles just and it's a new sound effect that was disc two tony gloss fouls this one off what does wallace go out and just say we i mean arroyo remembers it was a long home run what do you tell him if you walk him it's not the worst thing because that's why they're getting emory ready because we know tony about the drop off in the anaheim angel lineup after troy glass and the other thing is gloss is the only one who's taking a good a real good whack at that breaking ball everybody else has been way out in front look at where veratech was sitting up just to showing that fastball out there and now my guess would be you come back with a breaking ball somewhere near that location by design now linfield pulled around second baseman bellhorn not exactly behind second but certainly pulled way over and guarding the line at third as miller and that is hit in the hole but ready for it is cabrera and the force over to bellhorn and two is stranded the red sox are nine outs away from moving on to the alcs [Music] well they built it and if you build it they will win thank you theo 30 years of age [Music] having the guts to make the calls and first he got last year putting together the the quote the traveling idiots if you will the the malars and the millers and the you know the kind of the the dirt balls which is an affectionate baseball term uh you know the track nixon was already here but he certainly fits into that category and then you know giving them the purse strings to go out and sign a shilling go out and get a closer in folk and then the guts to make the move with no more to get the defense like cabrera and matt cabbage and make the little moves the dave roberts type moves mike meyer yeah mike myers type move the scanic they come up with i mean it's all been really impressive pieces for a team that won 98 games and i might add more wins than the last three red sox world series teams more than 86 more than 75 more than 67 just throwing it out there they're good this is a good tee there's no question mathil's done a nice job trot nixon other way but that's right at jeff devana well nixon's starting to swing a better bat let's head to the studio fellas thanks chris dave ramsey steve phillips with you high drama wednesday night hideki matsui the sac fly in the 12th to even the yank series with the twins in one which team has more pressure tonight in game three steve twins have to bounce back with tough loss but i think they have home field advantage pressures on the yankees especially with the specter of johann santana scheduled to pitch game four kevin brown against carlos silva eight eastern espn kevin millar up thank you david steve i'll be tuning in tonight that's for sure you know i it's buzz what a weekend of sports this can be up here in new england the new england patriots are going to set the all-time nfl record if they can beat miami at home at one o'clock of 19 straight wins over two seasons the red sox have a chance to move forward to the american league championship series back to back appearances there and that doesn't happen well that doesn't happen here they make the postseason but as far as getting there not the case for them so talk about professional sports activity you know that'll be in the history books happening on this weekend they should enjoy it i mean i think the players are thinking every day just uh just kind of walking around town today i just didn't get that sense i just got a sense of this was too easy they were holding their breath they couldn't believe that their team has played this well and granted now the angels have not really helped themselves defensively in this series but i mean let's face it the red sox have really swung the bats pretty well kyle peterson with a special guest i think we know him kyle down here with peter games and peter season ticket holder for 20 years what makes this place what makes fenway so unique well first of all fans here anticipate almost like play-by-play broadcasters i mean it's amazing the passion you get here but fans are so crazy and i counted 10 or 12 kids wearing mark bellhorn jerseys where else in the world would somebody be wearing a mark bell horn arroyo tonight who's been so good last year caught up in september uh but and never really had a full season to big leagues what's changed for him this year well the last couple of years last year were the pirates and then the first year after they claimed him on waivers here he just got more and more commander of the strike zone you look at his walk strikeout ratio it changed every year it was funny this last winter i i have this fundraiser a rock and roll concert every winter and theo epstein and his band plays i my band plays but boston asked if he could get up on stage and play so i saw sure he get up he got up he did an absolutely perfect version of pearl jam's black and theo and i looked at each other you know he said he's got it he was in the rotation after doing progress that's all it took the last one the twins and yankees follow us right after this game what you taking that series we think it's going to pull that one out well i really believe that if the yankees are going to go a long way kevin brown has to win i my guess is i know he really wants to redeem himself he was terribly embarrassed about breaking his hand i think he's going to come up huge and i think he's going to be a major factor the rest of the way peter thanks for taking the time great to see you come down stay here anytime all right sounds good boom kyle tell peter you got an in now with stephen tyler at his next rock and roll concert that that would bring the doors down strike to jason veratech got a lot of guitar players on that boston red sox team johnny damon picking it up i don't play guitar like his boys can but no theof's he looks like he should be a guitar player very very much i think a member of the of the doors we were enjoying listen to the doors last night at any rate the door starting to get slammed shut on the angels can they run rick sutcliffe tony kyle peterson with you 6-1 boston over anaheim stephen tyler stephen king peter gammons and doug mancavitz doug batt man cavitch although he's in there for being a glove man tries to come on again as kevin milar said his third save of the season of the series at first base milar goes six here's mancavitch in there for defense as davanan molina mcpherson 6-7-8 for anaheim running out of innings running out of outs against bronson arroyo who is commons most notably a better road pitcher than in boston but he can pitch like this you can pitch on the moon another outing that he has had and following up pedro and schilling's hours anaheim with just three hits down the one run you know how kids like to emulate their heroes i mean i'm i'm just afraid that as well as he's pitching today we're gonna we're gonna see cornrows all around the little leagues too hard to do though tony they'll listen to you will you tell them those cornrows have nothing to do with how well he's doing absolutely nothing mike timlin who is impressed very much so in this series and the lefty that wild and crazy guy mike byers is up with the uh with the submarine delivery from the port side davanan walks and we talked about the traveling quote idiots self-described by the red sox johnny damon terry francona says i love these guys i care about us playing the game right you know respecting the game and by that i mean trying to play it right i think we do that regardless of the length of our hair or the beard they may have or whatever the way they dress they enjoy playing baseball and because of that those three hours or whatever we have during the game are the most pleasurable for me by far that says it all right the three hours play it right well for the professional level sure uh college or high school level you're going to be a little bit concerned about rates and stuff but it really doesn't matter jerry frank corner's come out to the man and everybody on their feet for bronson arroyo for the 21st time he's pitched six or more and he leads to a standing o and a 6-1 lead which the red sox lit up the scoreboard again bronson arroyo was stellar on the mound so he leaves pitching into the seventh inning with just three hits well a year ago in the minor leagues he pitched a perfect game but that will pale in comparison tony to what he did out there what started to be this afternoon pretty good run here as mike myers the lefty who will uh really scrape the dirt with his knuckles to deliver be as you pointed out said earlier let's see uh royal on the mound when they clinch a playoff berth last time he had a three inning outing in baltimore but the weekend just to stay sharp now the next week okay he's on the mound and perhaps a clincher division series what's i'll next you what mike myers coming in did this is jose molina pitching pinch hitting for the announced pinch hitter casey kotchman when frank kona went out so mike myers essentially got rid of two guys off of mike socha's bench here jose molina eventually is batting for the catcher benji malone he's going to get rid of more than that because mcpherson's heading back to the dugout now and adam riggs has come out to the on deck circle so you bring myers in and you use up three guys and you use up freak you could use up three guys but if you're mike social right now tony you manage you got to go for it now you're not going to pitch it for anybody in those first five you you whatever bullet you have in your gun on your bench you got to put them in the chamber so you're left a lefty pitching you going with righty hitters you're going to try to play the percentages here take two here oh i would take two three and oh the count to jose molina de vanden with a walk at first and there [Applause] myers has done different boomer this year he really struggled with right-handers the last couple of years you see him now at times going back up top he's changed that release point and he's been more effective along with that well two walks have put two on for the angels they have come back twice in the postseason from five run deficits including a world series game that'll be talked about for centuries in game six against san francisco can they do they have another one in their holster so here as you describe as adam riggs and now terry francona is out and we expect to see mike timlin so the wheels turning here in the seventh inning as the angels is trying anything to get back in the game and the red sox are trying anything to keep them at bay the seventh chris berman rick scott clipped tony gwynn and our espn crew as we look at night time now on fenway the angels trying to hold off nighttime in their season they have gotten two walks and now the wheels are turning mike timlin who is now pitching all three games of this series was pitched two strong ones in game number one struck out the side actually in the ninth he comes on to face well was announced first adam riggs as the pin for dallas mcpherson but now is curtis pride so these two slots have had six players in them if you will because they're all pin shooters in the first place you know you're down five runs you gotta try to figure out a way to put some runs on the board to get back into this ball game miller in on the grass at third pride runs well in case he drops one but you wouldn't think that's what he's doing unless he's looking for a base hit i'm thinking he's looking to get a ball and maybe drive a ball in the gap and get a run home and get themselves in scoring position because at this at this point you need runs they're hard to come by off of this guy been very good this whole red sox bullpen has been very good this is great to see both managers do exactly the right thing i mean this is the last thing mike socia can do as a manager you're not going to pinch it with josh paul or invest they're not going to hit for any of the guys you've already got out there he's at the bottom part of the order tony he's just trying to turn it over to the top part of the order exactly and maybe get vladimir up there as the tying run somehow someway that's exactly right you just trying to get some guys on base so that when the order turns around you might have a chance to score and how about just basically a story and perseverance by young man curtis pride def you know a great a great athlete boy a great basketball player for the washington d.c area and play with the expos he's been around and you know hardship forget about it he's smiling his face every day and here he is with a chance to do something in the postseason we love hearing stories like that just as we loved in in game two watching jim abbott throw out the first pitch and just a remarkable career that he had right just hoping as you mentioned you get something going then maybe little eckstein can get a little sting on something and you're right yeah a couple yeah irstad guerrero coming but first things first timling they had one and two with two on and none out [Applause] and the flare and he tried to deep demand and he got back there quickly but ball was snared by cabrera and there's one out i don't know tony thinking you know about it again why not let it bounce right now maybe yeah you let it bounce now you tag the bag first you tag the runner you just got yourself a double play there but you know sometimes those balls can take some funny hops and you know you look at that infield there's been a lot of traffic out there around that area hits off one of those footprints and kicks into the outfield you know he did the right thing and the other thing this is a playoff game maybe in a regular season game you do that or things happen sometimes your mind doesn't think that clearly when things are happening quickly well they're counting outs right now yeah they are right they got eight left and that's that's what you're doing you're in this situation you're trying to get apps you'll give up a run to get an app david eckstein over two has made an error he told you the beginning of the game came up in red sox farm system years ago timmy in there for strike two 38 years and throwing as strong as he ever has a couple of world championship rings mike timlin with toronto in 92 and 93. has a chance at another one little flare eckstein and that's what we're talking about the runners had to hold and so therefore that's why barreling in the second was jose molina but here we go base is loaded for anaheim on two walks and a flare with one out the top of the order sean figgins up then erstad and guerrero figgins like eckstein is a guy that's been getting on base all year long tony if he's able to do that now you bring up some power in erstadt he's already hit a home run in this series you got vladimir after that i mean mike social has done everything he has good job son he has they're in a position to get in it they battled and sprite scraped and clawed and that's a great at-bat by eckstein that ball is out of the zone up high he fights it off in the right field to load the bases and if figgins could get on or or just prolong the inning now you got some guys who are capable of hitting the ball out of the ball coming to the point fight and claw isn't that what anaheim has done all year round nothing less and they're not going to just hold their tit they're going to keep scratching and clawing trying to get back in it's only only the seventh inning that's the last thing social told us in the managers meeting see you guys tomorrow morning a minute too of course however figgins goes out with some high cheese from timlin you gotta feel a little bit sorry for that young man he's a big part of the reason figgins is that they got to the postseason but it has been difficult for him since he's this series has started there have been some players much better than him bonds bonilla think of the pittsburgh you think of our friends on the astros bagwell bijo no longer having that trouble so he's not alone meanwhile the lefty allen emery continues to throw and the dangerous darren er status up with the bases loaded first add 0 for two of the wall [Applause] four for nine in the series and hello off the cross bars down there and the seats came in there quick so divan and the runner at third base and jose molina is he hurt oh boy that wasn't a crossbar and he's had no chance that close that's tough i hope he's all right devana molina eckstein this canic also up the right-hander curtis liskanick [Applause] he goes fishing at zoe and two and now everybody in the sellout crowd on their feet that was a nasty sinking fastball perfect location that's how you pitch as well in the postseason as timlin has by making pitches like that he's got to make one more are these not two hard-nosed guys right here timlin and there's that huh you feel the grinding going on yep neither one's gonna give it give an inch just setting everything up as veritech has done throughout this series he set up vladimir guerrero with a huge out in game two he's trying to do the same thing to erstad here you see all of the signs down the line but [Applause] comes right back tony after showing that high hard fastball with an off speed pitch down and away he thought he could get him right here there it is look at that perfect location down just a great piece of hitting by erstadt to stay in this at bat now they'll go out and talk i mean this is verotech taking charge here you know what i just did my thing all right i mean you got to give him credit i didn't i wasn't able to get him out what do you think right now let's let's be thinking on the same page because you don't want to face the guy in the circle as the tying that's why this bat right here is huge and he went for the kill and the ball away erstad did a great job just fouling off first that waits it out to two and two one pitch away from our favorite tony you watch both of these guys though you just they don't even hear the crowd right now do that they've got that calm that and that confidence that you just you feel like if you're social you feel like ears dad's gonna get on if your friend coney you feel like timmy's gonna get him out all right here we go now it's the best moment in baseball three and two two out bases loaded everybody moving so devana jose molina david eckstein on the move timlin staring in urstat digging in all four so erstad after owen two draws a walk and vladimir guerrero coming up with the bases juiced 6-2 he did it tony he did it mike sosha created this opportunity for his possible mvp of the american league with one swing of the bat as bad as things have been offensively defensively you lost your starting pitcher in the fourth inning he could be tied vlad swinging at the first pitch again as he's done so often this series strike one timlin ran that ball in on him they know if they know the situation the last thing timlin wants to do is leave a ball out over the middle of the plate that guerrero could possibly get up and drive out of here so you know he's still got to focus in on making good pitches he hits this ball a long way to right back it goes back back back gone tied up a game that seemed so easy so much of a foregone conclusion [Applause] is now tied out of nowhere have come the angels the silence deafening rick you set it up that's that's this is exactly what social wanted he wanted to give his guy an opportunity to maybe tie this game with one swing and a bat and look at that vladimir guerrero has not touched home plate in this series until right now i think he picked the perfect spot mike timlin has been automatic for two years until right now that's why they play the whole game vladimir guerrero noticed by his silence in this series silent no more grand slam has changed everything as the angels scrapping clawing as sutton tony you've described and we now have a new game mike timlin has been outstanding but guerrero took him deep on a pitch that well we'll show it to you and now garrett anderson who quietly has had two hits goes up against the left-hander alan embry embry fittingly as mount saint helens starts to erupt from vancouver washington where that volcano is he's coming in to try to quell this angel eruption good breaking ball there by embry the guy that throws a high percentage of fastballs too i agree with you he wouldn't have moved around as much as he has if he'd have been that consistent with that breaking ball he's been real good in that red sox uniform [Applause] seventh inning when they're down by five runs those anaheim angels where have we seen this before you've got some giant fans yeah man you're right i'm one of them i'm mad at me i think it's a testament to mike socialism these guys did not quit they kept pecking away and it wasn't glamorous at bats by by molina or by uh eckstein they just battled gave themselves a chance or x first at the last at-bat you know the 3-2 walk after being down 0-2 and guerrero comes up and does what power hitters number three hitters number four hitters are supposed to do he drove in a stunned crowd trying to help embry now a little chopper by garrett anderson bell horn to mancavish and the angels are gone but not until a grand slam from vladimir guerrero five in all seventh inning stretch and all of a sudden we got a tie ball game espn's major league baseball division series presented by budweiser budweiser grab a cold fresh budweiser it's game time [Music] evening in boston a stunned boston because vladimir guerrero's grand slam has helped the angels hang a five spot in a game that boston seemingly had in hand a bunch of at bats to load the bases quality of bats in the pitch right over the heart of the plate yeah that ball is supposed to be in under vladimir gerardo's knuckles instead it's out over the plate and he does what what he's supposed to do he knew it as soon as he hit it the angels are back to even and we got a new ball game now mike social spent about an hour half of an hour about two minutes out there with uh with rangi showing all the changes that he's making just about used everyone now with the double pinch hitters in two of the spots as myers came in and then timlin came in and vladimir guerrero maybe he just needed the sun to go down there and right field and then center field and everything has changed for mike timlin look there's no way he's trying to throw the pitch there there's a human element involved in this game and one of the most powerful humans in baseball was the top free agent on everybody's list over the winner that being vladimir guerrero but credit has to go to their owner artie moreno for coming up with the money creating the opportunity to sign this guy and mike social managing there in the top of the seventh as well he gave up his whole bench but he knew he had to that's his one shot right there to try to get vladimir up as a tying run and mike social and his bench got it done well now boston fans i can hear the murmur and we showed you the first night in 1986. angel's about to go to the world series dave henderson the home run and they win the extra innings and then they go on and win game six and seven now they're saying oh could it come back now we're up 2-0 up 6-1 and i i'm getting ahead of myself you saw figgins move around a messicka who started game one at second base is in figgins is a third now all of a sudden [Applause] the red sox now need to rally all those left on base is it two in the first five innings in each inning ten runners left on base that's six one what difference does it make that's what a lot of people thought too is that and we kind of touched on it early they had they were leaving guys on base at every inning and even though they had a lead they really had an opportunity to blow this thing open and it really didn't show itself until guerrero's ball went down the ballpark and now all of a sudden it's a 6-6 game talk about a story of perseverance as cabrera strikes out what we'll talk about in a minute here's dave rebson in the studio thanks boomer here with steve phillips sportscenter after the game then yanks in twins pivotal third game what are you looking for out of this pitching matchup steve well two synchro ball pitchers they've got to keep the ball in the ballpark i think the guy who keeps the bullpen in the bullpen the longest will be the most successful again that one eight eastern on espn boomer all right fellas we'll be watching there meanwhile bill miller up he's been on base all three times two singles has gotten on on an error by figgins a second baseman and has scored two runs he pops this up and erstad is there at first and billy miller is gone and now that brendan donnelly came in [Applause] two outs in the fifth to settle and to strand two bases in the fifth inning two on base pitched to one two three six and did his part to get the angels to get to this point frankie rodriguez back to donnelly the nose broken on a drive back through the boxing spring training three different surgeries there's another perseverance story we talked about the big life picture of a fellow like curtis pride donnelly's gone through something that an excruciating year in many ways we've seen pitchers and he wasn't on the mound when he got hit but we've seen pitchers that have been hit by a baseball who have never come back to be the same we've seen the same thing with hitters credit to this guy for coming back and pitching well it's kind of a frequent right in the outfield or just but it wasn't right after one surgery either you know and you say well what was he doing out there mike sosha is a manager who hates to have his pitchers shat tony he doesn't want him out there they said all they're going to do they're going to get hurt we'll get other people out there that are more comfortable but he was there he's back and he is throwing well well so much for donnelly not delivering in game two he's delivered here with seven straight outs tied headed to the eighth back at fenway park in boston the angels have battled from way back to tie this thing at six as we head to the top of the eighth inning and the dangerous troy gloss coming to the plate gloss who had an absolute bomb off the coke bottles earlier in this game that's the one the five you see there for them courtesy of vladimir guerrero's shot into the angel bullpen and here is gloss against the lefty allen embry interesting matchup he couldn't wait to get in the batter's box against the left-handed pitcher i mean you gotta figure troy gloss loving anybody from the left side he has faced allen embry before and one of the three hits went out of the ballpark [Applause] so here is embry who came on after the slam by guerrero to get garrett anderson here's where it comes tough though for mike social he needs a run in the worst way here because then he doesn't have to over extend donnelly tony he can go to k-rod and then have percival for the ninth but if he doesn't get the run here he has gone through a lot of those arms down there already embry just appeared briefly john won out in game number one but he like timlin pitch dated the 12 post season games last year for boston very quickly the count 2-0 as embry's got to be careful with gloss came in on him a little bit and that ball will be out of play he throws hard he's one of the hardest throwing left-handers really i mean he's not billy wagner but he's just what tony a notch below that you faced him yeah he throws extremely hard the thing about it is straight though you know and a guy like troy glaus he realizes where he is at the angels lineup right now he's looking for a ball that maybe he can drive out right center field right field getting to the bottom bottom third of that uh with the angels lineup where they pinch hit and you get guys like you know molina still down there the vanden's still down there looking for a quick strike troy's had his opinions in the box he's got a reason to be upset we saw one just like that earlier in the ball game that was called a strike on him big big difference tony between three and one and a count that's two and two [Applause] center coming on damon got a good jump on the ball because gloss takes such a big swing and the dangerous gloss is out with one out here in the eighth october eight teams one champion the race to the world series is on and you can catch all the action on espn at espn2 don't miss it it's a little late for me to tell you that it's friday we've been going since tuesday all these series but just a weekend reminder on your hand in school if you watch this game i'm sure that that reminds you that anything can happen in these and there for a strike to jeff devanet whose seemingly harmless walk was the last batter that bronson arroyo faced went out to a big standing ovation as well he should have and frank kona making the right move at that point he goes all right royale far enough there's a walk and that ball bounced i don't really disagree with anything terry francona has done the one thing that he will be questioned about after the game was the er static bat you had embry up and throwing if you get erstad out you don't have to face vladimir guerrero in that big five run seventh inning but when you look at the numbers erstad actually had a much higher average against emory than he did timlin so now you know why right what you got left-hander you know why yeah we know why he made it right just made a mistake with his location tony pointed that [Applause] [Music] [Applause] one and two now to jeff devane and his embryo so he lives up where randy myers another interesting bullpen ace left vancouver washington another lefty i guess only lefties live in the shadow of the volcano see that picture of the paper guys sitting in his seat just out there with a cooler alone with binoculars watching the volcano steam yep emery just misses there and the count now full tony mickey hatcher is talking about the van and how he you know with all the injuries he has filled in at all three outfield positions but how he has so matured as far as his at bats are concerned you see that yeah and i think it happens when you get consistent at bats and with these guys being injured he's gotten a chance to play some center some right some left and going out every day and getting some consistent at best and as you get it back you get more confident so it just starts with talent obviously yeah it does and then it comes with playing time but playing time allows you to kind of test out all this stuff people are trying to teach you know the box score will show 0 for 2 for jeff devanan it's the second walk he's grabbed in late inning play terry frank kona will make a move we'll be back chris berman rick sutcliffe tony gwynn kyle peterson with you here at fenway quiet fenway 6-1 socks has turned into 6-6 here in the top of the eighth the angels have the go-ahead runner on and jeff devana with a walk with one out and now the catcher jose molina is on against the red sox closer keith full he told you joe nathan pitched three brett lynch pitched three john smoltz picked three so here we are tie game eighth and the red sox closer keith full on pitch way up top well you get an opportunity to run here tony you got a right hander on the mound the van and 18 for 21 a stolen base department you don't look for a whole lot of power out of jose molina he's a backup catcher i mean maybe a little bit of motion maybe a hit and run maybe just a flat stolen base maybe a new pitcher in the game not only just after that lasting and all the moves so she made to pay off like it did you gotta find her you gotta figure he's got the hot hand right now anything he pulls out might work for him he's the guy in that seat looking at the vault exactly right he just they don't have a lot of moves left but there's one of them oh hitting and running take a shot at it away good jump by defending yeah the vanna had a good job molina had a tough pitch to try to handle he tried to hit it to the right side and you know by a guy swinging at a pitch like that that it was the hit and run and mike sosha did try to play that hot hand there it is you see him take off you see him look back at the hitter to see where the baseball was outstanding base running there by the young outfielder [Applause] go ahead you hit and run on would you say most of the time with san diego state actually at state we hit usually one strike kind of let the hitter get ahead where you figure he's going to get a good pitch to hit nothing doing on the base pass there and a big swing and miss from jose molina full pitch and ending in the third on wednesday's game good little slider in a perfect location folk a different sort of closure not the flame thrower that you you get with a guy with 35 in the 40s best pitch is this change yet but he's got a pretty good pretty fast ball good little breaking ball other way and foul for molina rick you are asking me as a coach when i like to play hit and run as a player i love to do it with two strikes because really with two strikes that's kind of the last thing they would expect and if you were a guy you know they could handle the bat there'd be plenty holes to shoot at with two strikes so so she's not going to do that here and so if the vanden decides to go it's going to be a straight steal on his part [Applause] but i kind of i kind of agree with soch in the sense that the red sox have really just tried to put the pressure on the angels and the angels haven't been the one to to respond and now you get even and now you kind of want to get back to playing the kind of baseball that got you here they need to be aggressive here he was going well you're right and why not i mean you don't expect a lot of offense from molina you don't expect a lot from a messica i mean he's a guy that had very few hits all year long he was leaning right there i mean i wouldn't let him steal second steal third and then try a suicide squeeze i mean you just don't look for those big bases from from these guys if you're mike social if he gets thrown out i mean you know he gets thrown out here he goes fisted damon there and devana is going to have to sprint it back so two outs that ball didn't quite hit the blimp but again we thank our friends at ameriquest airship liberty airship from ameriquest mortgage company the official mortgage company of major league baseball thank you fellas appreciate the views it's been picturesque late afternoon and now early evening boy the lee's going to change up here in about 10 days usually columbus day in northern new england is a great ride for vermont or new hampshire and maine to see the leaves and then in massachusetts about five seven days later and then connecticut rhode island about five days after that leaves have changed in this game thanks to vladimir guerrero's grand slam in the seventh would make it a tie game this is alfredo amezika went into play second base after the double pinch hit spot riggs and then pride the last time around in this spot the eight hole this reminds you a lot of trevor hawkins doesn't it coffee's had a little bit a lot more movement i think but same kind of stuff yeah same kind of success because they take so much off of it folk usually in a position of a save situation he's hoping the key can come away with a win pitch out nothing going [Applause] you know people will blame francona saying you know it didn't work there i blame keith folk there you got to come set a little bit longer and give give that base runner a chance to get going he came set and kind of quick pitched him he had no chance to run there you gotta sell that pitch out a little bit better than what he was able to do there for a tough spot to send the runner though yeah it gets thrown out you don't want abezca leading off in the top of the ninth inning i think he's got to sit and watch [Music] rid of him there was all shots until vladimir guerrero got involved that's a-rod you just saw you're going to see k-rod in a minute on the mound as uh 2-3-4 for the red sox coming up but our game track brought to you by bristol meyer squibb manny ramirez a pair of rbis including that single boston in front 6-1 until a five spot the last four with the slam by vladimir guerrero in the seventh and we are anew at 6-6 heading to the bottom of the eighth inning bellhorn ramirez ortiz coming in against francisco rodriguez and how about the job that donnelly did didn't pitch well at all and the red sox had ninth inning in game number two seven up seven down for him well mike social got what he wanted tony when he went into the series he wanted it to be a battle of the bullpen he just didn't want to get into that bullpen in the fourth inning when he had two tonight starts mark bellhorn off with a ball bellhorn has walked twice scored both of those times so for two tonight but two-run score [Applause] swings through that one and we all know what frank cisco rodriguez did k-rod coming up out of nowhere in september in 2002 and then proceeded to win five of the 11 postseason games for the angels in 2002 most wins in one post season by a pitcher only randy johnson's won five i mean you won five games in a post season that's a career how do you get that starts out of the zone looks like it's going to come into the zone but never does [Applause] that one passed through the zone and bellhorn has struck out for the third time tonight well their big boys struck that being vladimir guerrero but all of the sudden now with this strikeout to bellhorn turns into manny ramirez time this is why you come to the ballpark some of the fans chanting mvp it's in a direct response to guerrero's grand slam it's almost like they took it personally tony i think it's big right now that boston scores here i agree closer already in if anaheim wins tonight boston and their fans start thinking about wow we don't win tomorrow it goes back to california popped by aristad will give it a chase and it'll just land on the roof of course you know everybody's thinking the same thing that four-run lead had a four-run lead and and they let it get away from now they're closers in the game [Applause] boy johnny damon i love what he did right there i saw two son not gonna say the same thing urstat going hard i mean everybody's playing hard but he stood up to try to help protect him if he were to fall into that dugout i mean that's just a good human being there i mean you compete but look at johnny damon there he wasn't trying to keep him from making the play he was just trying to keep him from seriously getting hurt [Applause] whoa paul's like passing through the strike zone kind of just grazing it isn't it the break on this breaking ball it's a big breaking breaking ball manny ramirez just standing there like really like he wasn't ready to pull the trigger took it for strike two and he pulled the chain on that one and ramirez is struck out two down in the eighth can you see why mike social wanted a battle of the bullpens i mean you take one of the best hitters in the game and and you just simply take the bat away from him with what k-rod did look at that tony way out in front very rarely do you see manny that far out in front he's usually pretty much right in the zone than that at bat way out front [Applause] if i'm not mistaken the bullpen for the angels bullpen numbers only eight strikeouts now brian runge gets down to look at the pitch and then he stands up to make that strike call i think with k rod on the mount i just keep standing up i mean it saves a lot of movement there there it is oh look at the way they're playing ortiz now they have the second baseman a messica way deep like a the tenth fielder the short fielder in softball but then the shortstop is not over on that side of the bag so basically there's a huge gap up the right center field alley for ortiz [Applause] and that's where he goes maybe but this would be quite a throw almost by a messicka almost like he needed to hit the cutoff man from the outfield he made it almost made it think you got to go to the bench now if you're terry francona an infield hit here by ortiz up the middle look at him hustling down the line tony and you guys have a way of smelling those bases yeah but you got a chance to beat one out and this is his second infield hit in the series see him beat that ball out so two doubles and then this single oh he's hustling right now but i i might try to add some more speed down there on the base path in case trot nixon were to hit a double something in the gap you've got other people that might be able to score well you're thinking dave roberts specifically aren't you well with that high leg kick i'm thinking stolen base and we know he he inserted roberts you know in game two and he did not get the jump but he was you know it was a force play on a ball hit by johnny damon the key was though even though johnny damon hit into the force play johnny damon scored that yeah he stole the base and stuff let me ask you this question one out does he make the move i i make the move no outs one out two and i know that i'll tell you one out do you think he makes the move i'm sure he would have there but you i you've already got your closer in the game i don't want to keep ortiza's bat in the game for later on tony i i agree with you but i think that's what he's thinking he wants to [Applause] see rooney jump out in front of the plate there i guess k-rod must have said something but i think that's what he's thinking he's thinking you know this extra ending game i don't want to take one of my best bets out right now for an opportunity to score a run now if nixon walks or gets himself in scoring position or gets ortiz in scoring position it might change his thinking then from first base sometimes it's kind of hard to you know guarantee a ball in the gap he's going to be able to score or not so wait till you get him in scoring position nixon with a huge at bat in the ninth inning of game two now has the count at two and one got one for three singled in the third and there's the roberts but far and away the fellow he and damon that the guys who can move on this team roberts coming over from the dodgers we had what in the 30s is still in stolen bases [Applause] remember that was man cave at you saw not malar the game is different now right now wait a minute what did you know i forgot for a second of course they traded uniforms in batting [Applause] good call but now and you can't send ortiz in this situation but if he had roberts 3-1 tony how am i letting go [Applause] well nixon will walk ortiz to second doesn't change your move let's see if he makes a move then don't you have to i think you do now well what's i always say you know what's this conversation with the manager not but black who usually goes in a non-change situation he's bringing all the infield in here i mean you've got a young infield you've got figgins there in a mezuka all he's doing boomers saying look you guys play as deep as you possibly can you have to try to knock it down to keep that ground ball from getting through now he will go to the pitcher in the catcher mike social there was no one ever better at calling a game and helping a pitcher get out of a difficult spot he's looking back on that plus he's trying to work home plate umpire brian runge there have been conversation from the dugout they've looked back and forth he's just trying to open up that strike zone for his pitcher the other thing he's he's telling his infielders hey you guys sure stop second and first you guys got to knock something down if it goes it's a clean single to left field the vanden is going to have a chance to make a play at the plate anywhere else the infielders are going to have to try to knock the ball down remember the other night ben cave has dropped a perfect flip down for a base hit figgins is giving him that again [Applause] doug mancavig will it be a lucky number 13 at the plate for boston looks at ball one he's really the only one tony with any numbers against robbery very impressive three for six ground ball a mexican flip to eggstein and they make the play well mike social backed him up to where they had time to make the play he's done this before still tied well how quickly things can change in baseball the angels have done that with the slam by vlad guerrero the five run seven the red sox counting out towards moving on and now they just want to move forward not even thinking about any other thing they just don't want to play baseball tomorrow it's not all let's have a party and move on the angels have done all the right moves how about the plays of a messicka the one that he didn't quite throw out ortiz both from the outfield grass inning that's the same ball figgins booted in the game it went for a hit but it should have been an error yeah the last ball that uh and cavitch hit that's the wall the thickets booted and messing up makes a great play and gets them out of the end this is eckstein to lead off the ninth inning for anaheim in a tie game it's 1-1 and it's another play amezika boots in the first inning of game one we haven't seen him since really they needed to make plays today they've made them it took them two and a half games to make it since two and a half innings and about oh six innings they catch themselves in time it's long mountain to climb yet but eckstein who's single how about that at bat that he had last time up one of the many clutch at bats to allow guerrero the chance to hit the slam manny ramirez and left one out to the studio they're chomping at their bit in minnesota aren't they fella yeah chris story hunter and the twins getting ready for their pivotal third game with the yanks coming up at the top of the hour minnesota one and nine all-time in game threes if this game goes past eight eastern twins and yanks start on espn2 [Music] all right dave thank you one out on the top of the angels sean figgins over three in a hit by pitch shows bunt charging miller just in case i think there's ever been a guy who needed a base hit that's probably sean figgins he's a hug just yeah just something to keep going something positive he's still taking good swings he's just been a little bit late he just needs to get on base yeah just get on base the angels were down to their last prayer but with one swing of the bat mike social's prayer was answered by vladimir guerrero and if either figgins or erstadt can get on base it'll be vladimir guerrero again and troy percival hoping to get in this series and that would probably mean that the angels have gone ahead not necessarily probably once again that's why this bat right here is huge i doubt that percival would come in in the tie game in this situation i think he's just getting close to being ready in case let's say figgins makes an out and erstad hits a homer and vladimir makes an out on the first pitch mike social has him up to getting close to where he could come in for that save well look look at it this way we've played three full games the ninth inning the angels have led for half in here that's a [Applause] just got a piece of it you know fighting the end of that glove there [Applause] 3-2 pitch figgins drops one to left in front of ramirez so he's on with the go-ahead run in the ninth for anaheim and that's a huge at-bat right there because now you got you got a guy on base who could run who could steal your base you got a guy at the plate who can handle the bat figgins 3-2 pitch battles hard lines his ball to left field you got a guy with 34 stolen bases down there he's going to have the green light he can go whenever he wants urstat as good as there is tony in this spot protecting that runner [Applause] and how about the at-bat that he had owen ii against timlin it's like two gunslingers staring each other down on that 3-2 pitch you know it seemed forever neither stepped out or off the rubber and then it was ball four and then guerrero then you're not gonna be able to read that in a box score no tomorrow you see he's over two yeah he was only when he coached that walk he worked the camp to get that walk pretty close there [Music] walk did drive in a run he made it 6-2 and then the slam look he's leaning at some point he's going to go there's no question the question for for erstadt's going to be because he'll be he'll be checking trying to get a good view as is whether to swing or let him steal it well derek low up [Applause] in the year and much of the year is the number three starter and that one misses to erstow what an eye he's got it 2-0 so now low who has been this team's closer an all-star closer and i know that vladimir guerrero's two for nine off of derrick lowe vladimir's two for two with a homer off keith hulk but i can't imagine you bring him in here i don't think so look at her is there a better player this time of the year he's great set it for three games you feet you feel the grind all the way up here when he's in the batter's box i think we're gonna have action here so on three and one really what we got go you got the runner probably going you got erstet the green light if it's a if it's a strike go ahead take a whack it's a ball take it and if it's a changeup he should be able to steal it zach just don't get picked off just don't get picked off too many options here there he goes burst that drives it well to left center field ramirez gonna have to play it off the wall figgins to third being held up there double by darren erstad what a great deak by manny ramirez the way he took off after that ball you weren't sure if he was going to be able to catch it or if it was going to go off the wall and sean figgins had to stop at second base to see her stat drives this ball into left center field now watch manny ramirez he shifts over when he realizes he can't catch it and figgins was at second base waiting to see he goes right now there's a chance he scores exactly if he's if he continues to go he might have a chance to score well vladimir guerrero is not going to drive anyone in here he's going to be intentionally walked and garrett anderson will come up with the bases loaded the red sox who led 6-1 stranded 10 runners in the first five innings [Music] and now it's the angels who have a bunch of guys on they delivered certainly vlad did with his slam in the seventh garrett anderson who didn't have a hit in either of the first two games is two for four in this game the last time that the base is loaded into the pen and with that helmet that i don't know what that is on there [Music] the difference huh they woke up didn't they and right here's a guy that even though he's not at 100 percent garrett anderson has had a lot of success against six for 11. that's 5 45 with a homer against keith bolton look at the wall just the same kind of spot that maybe erstad hit it off although he comes inside that's certainly not a wall pitch there strike one big pitch full really surprised he even started him out inside with a fastball [Applause] you know i think even garrett's up there knowing he's going to try to get him out of the way it's just a matter of if he can stay back and hit a ball to left field or not be foul and now folk advantage has two quick strikes on garrett anderson pretty gutsy from fault coming inside twice maybe that's veritek says hey let's change it up on him he knows we've been going away and he's had success against him in the past i agree with him let me let me just bust him in under his nook and see if we can surprise bust him up and in it's one and two troy gloss was homer in the on deck circle he has gotten right on top of that plate now he's trying to take that change up away from the fall as folk was coming set he was creeping up in a batter's box gets him to wave at it what a big jump by faulk and garrett anderson you think it would just be able to loft one that's all they need with a fence man at third but he couldn't get it done tony is a hitter a lot of times you will feel the catcher move behind you what veritek did on that pitch he moved inside to begin with he set up inside and then you can see right there at the end late he moved away i think setting up that big pitch in that strikeout i agree and i also think jared anderson was sitting on that changeup the whole time swings and misses at strike one and he busted him in two times with the fast ball straightened him up going up and in went away with the changeup and as he was coming set anderson was creeping up in the batter's box looking for that change up and he still couldn't hit it gloss steps out figgins urstad and guerrero they want to be on the move full wants to sit gloss down buzzes him inside one-on-one veritech cabrera miller coming up for boston bottom nine that's a good pitch right there not trying to hit anybody just letting him know [Applause] would be the go ahead right yeah i got the i got to get inside i got to get you conscious of this ball inside in their first strike on the corner one and two works them in works them out again veritek setting up late faking like he was setting up in going away glass feeling like that ball is not really a strike yes he gets him the agonizing weight gloss is struck out focus stranded the base is full and the red sox head to the bottom of the knife with a chance to win this al division series if they can just scratch one run across oh we got some noise here at friendly fenway here on the bottom of the knife jason varetek orlando cabrera billy miller up against francisco rodriguez the angels had their opportunity to take a rare lead for them at any point in the series and now the red sox try to win it in their last at-bat and move on to the al championship series in 1912 when this building just it was a baby it was his first five six months and the red sox history their only post-season walk-off series win the 1912 series in game eight of the world series against the new york giants that's a long long long time ago four three and one eight game eight they won four they lost three and they tied one i guess it got dark come on back tomorrow boys watch what veritek does here to help get the strikeout with garrett anderson he's really been the key in this series look how he moves inside tony i mean a hitter can feel that erstead might have given location there and what happened he set that change up up he got the strikeout from garrett anderson the guy that had owned keith folk up to that moment this is veritech's moment veritech to erstad and darren has it one out veritech whose two-run home run in game two he raced the only angel lead of the series and now fairtek has gone and he'll have those uh the chest protector on in two pitches look at her look at how quick he mike social says he's the best defensive first baseman in the game i mean there's some good ones out there there's a guy in san francisco but social has seen him day in day out and what a transition from being one of the best defensive outfielders in the a couple game gloves out in the outfield now in the hunt to win one at first yeah we laugh about the kevin millar and colin mattingly hernandez or jt snow as you say but ernst that could be orlando cabrera swings at that one how about the way this ball dances in the strike zone fellas i just love the focus of francisco rodriguez i mean he went from being out of the ball game and percival in to win it so all of a sudden now right back into the heat of the battle i mean one mistake you lose the ball game you go home he has not made that mistake yet figgin archdad and he digs it up higgins is scared out there defensively tony that there's not an easier throw than that for a third baseman and without erstad he throws it away and it possibly could have been a runner in scoring position i don't think there's any question he's definitely thinking about every time a ball is being hit to him and he gets this ball plenty of time to set his feet and make a good throw but just throws short and erstat does what gold glove first basements do they pick up their teammates out there and he did a great job picking him paul out of the dirt social might be right firsthand he's making catching five balls down the line billy miller two for four scored twice it happened right off the bat for figgins top of the first two outs nobody on and manny ramirez hit that top spin to him and he just hasn't been the same defensively since way outside 101. i'm marvel bloomer at these relievers this time of the year all of the appearances that they've had all of the pressure packs this guy only pitches with the lead or the game tied late in the game and yet still throwing well chop that'll be wide of first so k-rod ahead of miller one and two how much longer you think he manager terry francona is going to go with fault if he doesn't score he's going to go with derrick lowe here wow the lead folk in the game everybody else go that doesn't mean anything but we've mentioned it the whole game three closers have gone three innings in this division series round [Applause] we looked we looked up to the 1975 series that the red sox swept oakland their only sweep i might add uh in the history of boston at the series sweep not just going through the boxes raleigh fingers came on one of those games in the fifth and pitched the rest of the goal for oakland fifth well i don't think you have derek lowe up right now if you're not going to bring him in i mean if they score a run he's up and throwing he's ready to go you have to figure that he will pitch in the top of the tent if we get there [Applause] miller works the count to two and two two out none on bottom of the ninth red sox let it 6-1 stranding 10 other runners in the first five innings [Applause] vladimir guerrero's grand slam in the seventh tied it at six glad you could join us here at fenway we the angels have scrapped and clawed the red sox have been so impressive at the bats chris berman rick sutcliffe tony gwynn kyle peterson the thrill to bring it to you miller to left jeff divanan is there and let's play some more shall we going to extra innings at the fence all right dave because we are not done here the angels have come from way back to tie the red sox and now we go to extra innings if the angels are going to exit this playoffs it's not going to be very easily and now as such you suspected derek lowe was on the hill two years ago to clinch this very round against oakland getting with the bases loaded terrence long game five in oakland now low much of the year the number three starter has come on to pitch relief funny he wasn't good enough to start this game but he's good enough to come on and pitch in extra innings and you had to go somewhere if you're terry francona the reason is keith faulk left everything he had in his body on the mound getting out of that jam in the top of the ninth inning derrick lowe has had experience in the postseason we saw him in the postseason in this role last year against the oakland a's started and relieved last year he starts off against jeff debano who hits it well the center field gaming back to the trunk and he hauls it in well that ball kept going and going and going and damon had a good beat on it right off the bat got a great jump supervanick got a pitch hanging in the strike zone and damon goes back has a great jump on it and makes the play i'm gonna say this was the part of the lineup that sos really had to work to give his the middle part of his lineup a chance to to get him back in the ball game a few innings ago and so again you got molina here and well you know you have molina here it's just which one yeah this is jose molina and then amezika after him and so very tough on the angels here offensively somebody's going to have to try to swing the bats and get something go to get something going [Applause] well derek lowe is a guy that depends on his defense he was leading all of baseball and unearned runs allowed until they were able to acquire cabrero the shortstop when he's at his best he's a sinking fastball type guy gets a lot of ground balls i think johnny damon is vastly underrated defensively himself that was a nice play he made especially in this ballpark with all that moon on the right side of this field here that was a heck of a play it was the ball was about to rattle off the garage door out there in center field who knows which way it would have found nobody knows to hit out there earlier the shadows then the garage door it's always a mystery who knows what evil lurks the garage doors how about derrick law i'm gonna change his mindset you know all of a sudden you're not one of the starters we'll see how we use you and you see what you'll be ready [Music] yeah i guess he was so locked in [Music] well the angels the red sox have found out what everyone else in the american league has found out that no quit them right mike societ people go out there and play their game uh for for a team to to uh for us not to win a series a team is going to have to go out there and beat us and that's a good feeling when you're when you're managing a club because uh they're not going to give the other club anything they're not going to quit when they get behind they're not going to quit when they get ahead these guys are going to play to get a pawn all the way out so the other team's got to step up and beat you and that uh you know that makes us feel good mike sosha's angels have nodded this thing at six and low throwing over to take a look at jose molina i mean i i can't believe he's well that's there it is the bunt laid down and tough throw nicely done by bill miller so amazing bunts it molina the second and it wasn't that that was a nice play there that was a great play by billy miller put it down exactly where you needed to put it down and miller came a long way for this ball and bare hands and throws right on the money well here's the big picture now right here's a team that couldn't field or bunt for two and a half games but all of the sudden exactly boomer we're starting to see productive outs from anaheim they led the american league in that category this year mike socia didn't expect the mezzaka to drive in a run or even get a hit but he has seen david eckstein get a lot of hits a hit right now could mean the lead eckstein chops it cabrera miller made a first move for the ball of course the runner molina is in the eye side as well though cabrera's made that play a lot just x time with his little wheels just beat it out and it's you know this hit and see well maybe cabrera does all he could do plants his foot and makes a good throw but this is angel baseball right here guys putting the bat on the ball eckstein getting down the line beating it out it's like it's like a little fiat running up the line you know it's like he said in that little sound bite we had before game two's i'm just a little pest i just you know i just try to get a little hit when they don't want me to try to make a play when they don't expect me to you talked about figgins needing a base hit and has laughed at bat tony he got it he should have more confidence than at any point in this series molina the catcher lead and showed bunt in figures nina leads off third eckstein off first she'll strike one for derek lowe mike social is just irate right now with that first pitch being called a strike he thought it was low and from the dugouts i mean you got derek low on the mound but from the dugouts you can't tell if the ball's on a corner or not but you can see if the ball was up or down social thought once that ball was low but as you see it crossing carry zone it was the correct call [Applause] [Music] [Applause] up the middle cabrera over the first against the speedy figgins so the angels strand two low does the job bolston has a chance to win it in the bottom of the dead bottom of the tenth here at fenway and orlando cabrera knowing that figgins had wheels how big was he on this slow chopper fellas just huge i mean not too many shortstops are going to make this play and you see x time was already at second base he had to go to first base and with the way figgins can run he knew he had to get rid of it in her and he made it look easy johnny damon who batted four times in the first five innings and got aboard three of those now leads off the 10th against francisco rodriguez pitching his third inning you just have the feel that damon will somehow find a way to get on well boomer and you talked earlier about closers throwing three innings and sometimes it worked with smoke sometimes it has not haven't seen too many swings like that from damon havert no we haven't we've seen a lot of those since k-rod came here we saw manny ramirez go after a breaking ball a lot like that i mean that's just that does not happen to johnny damon very often i don't think there's many guys that can throw a breaking ball that breaks that much either like rodriguez can [Applause] damn it up the middle you just know it on board for the fourth time tonight the tenth time this series did the guys he's one of the best lead off men that we've seen in a while breaking ball back door breaking ball stays on it hits it back where it came from [Applause] that broken ball didn't have as much break as the one before that but he was right on it now mark bellhorn up the guys with the migraines now are the angels thanks to damon suck got it [Applause] pulls it back for ball one i think you gotta turn around and think sacrifice one more time but tony if the count goes 2-0 manage for us a little bit try to steal well for me i'm i'm i'm button here i'm sacrificing the at-bat to get this guy in scoring position i know they're gonna walk manny ramirez and i'm gonna i'm gonna take my shot with ortiz up there one figgins can he make this throw man he made it difficult but a big time play eckstein was unbelievable on this ball this could have been another error for figgins he made the right move he went in the right direction he was in to begin with the bun was right to him but watch the throw and watch the play by x time look at the stretch look at him come up with it stay on the back it does not get any better than that that's exactly i couldn't describe it any better you knew it as soon as you was throwing it you knew it would be dicey yeah i said oh the ball went down figgis charged it fine was in position made a poor throw but eckstein saved him with a great scoop stretching to stay on the bag he is out and now the pinch runner for bellhorn at first as manny ramirez it's pokey reese out yeah that's right because he'll go to second of roberts exactly right bulky reese the pinch runner who if boston doesn't win it here will obviously stay to play in the field for belhorn and he struck out against k ryder the eighth two for four with two ribbons in there for a strike good pitch one and one [Applause] there's that 7-6 game we were talking about the other night huh came from nowhere yeah just i mean even tonight's game you wouldn't have expected it especially the way things were going [Applause] you early still you know it's even though it's a tie game you get pokey lisa first who can run a little bit that big leg kick by rodriguez i still wouldn't be afraid to maybe try to steal a bag here [Applause] always that chance for a wild pitch too and two [Applause] i agree with you though if i'm terry francona i i i've got a i've got to push the issue a little bit right now your closer is gone most of your bullpen is gone you got one of your starters out there already i mean i i take a chance they throw it away and you know you're still going to have the at-bat from annie ramirez here i agree with you i i'm going to push the envelope i got a two-left lead in the series you know at the very least i'm gonna be back here tomorrow so i'm gonna push it a little bit and manny knew it completely fooled him and was headed to the dugout as soon as the ball hit molina's mid looking for a breaking ball rodriguez pumped in a fastball and now social's got a decision to make am i gonna let rodriguez pitch to ortiz i get looks like washburn standing there in the bullpen i yeah but he he's now we he says john lackey for tomorrow if there is one i know there's no tomorrow unless you win but i'm not so sure washburn doesn't start tomorrow if we get there but we'll know in about 20 seconds he's going to discuss this one yep and everybody in will huddle up on the mound this is where you look into the eyes of that reliever to try to see what's in his heart and soul as far as the truth is what do you got left i mean this is you have to admire rodriguez tony and and for social this is an easier job than it is for a lot of other managers because he's been behind the plate he can he knows when a pitcher is starting to lose a little bit making the move will it be washburn you would think so much for that theory frankie out bottom of the tent frankie rodriguez has gone about as far as he can go and mike social went out as rick sutcliffe you described it look in his eye took a minute and now he's back with the starter in game number one and the reason jared washburn can do that is he was gone in that fourth inning remember malar hit the big homer off him washburn certainly no stranger to postseason heroics or tough spots really a difficult decision to make because in game one ortiz had a base hit and rbi in the first inning he walked in his second at-bat he has had a lot of success against washburn but you have to understand rodriguez gave him everything he possibly had as has just about everybody out there on the field today ellie went two and two thirds did k-rod and here's david ortiz you see that number today with three hits this could be four back it goes it's over the red sox win and they're moving on up [Applause] um in the end too much thunder in the boston lineup mike sosha made all the right moves until the last one david ortiz was ready for washburn and the red sox win it 8-6 before it comes down to a move that terry francona did not make we talked about it the bottom of the eighth he had ortiz at first base he had two outs he could have pitch run for ortiz with dave roberts trying to steal a base maybe steal the ball game he did not make that move he kept ortiz as bat in the ball game and it's a difference in the series [Applause] so for the second year in a row the wild card red sox bounced the aos champs because david ortiz saw one pitch and he unloaded and the october 8 2004 boston d party as in division series is underway they've just got a lot of answers at the plate huh guys they did rick shutcliff tony gwynn enjoyed it good as always boomer will this year be different for boston you cannot go on and think world series unless you start winning series only their second sweep in franchise history in the postseason they made it then in 75 when they swept open the final an ortiz's homer in 10 red sox eight the angel six for all of us at fenway thanks for watching john miller joe morgan in minneapolis

Channel: raj32566

Views: 3,147

Rating: 4.9024391 out of 5

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Id: -eECmR_kDe0

Length: 204min 16sec (12256 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020