2007 American League Division Series 1

2007 American League Division Series

Boston Red Sox 96 - 66 in the AL	3 - 0 Series Summary	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 94 - 68 in the AL

2007 MLB Postseason
LG	Division Series	League Champ.	World Series
AL	BOS - LAA	BOS - CLE	BOS - COL
AL	CLE - NYY	BOS - CLE

NL	ARI - CHC	ARI - COL
NL	PHI - COL	ARI - COL
<< 2006		2008 >>

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Red Sox: Terry Francona | Angels: Mike Scioscia

Red Sox

Angels

Umpires[edit]

Gary Darling, Dan Iassogna, Brian Runge, Ted Barrett, Tim Tschida, C.B. Bucknor

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Los Angeles Angels 0 Boston Red Sox 4	October 3	John Lackey (0-1) Josh Beckett (1-0)	6:37 p.m.
2	Los Angeles Angels 3 Boston Red Sox 6	October 5	Kelvim Escobar (ND) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (ND)	8:37 p.m.
3	Boston Red Sox 9 at Los Angeles Angels 1	October 7	Curt Schilling (1-0) vs. Jered Weaver (0-1)	3:07 p.m.

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ Fenway Park[edit]

Wednesday, October 3rd - Boston, MA - 6:37 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Angels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Red Sox	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	X	4	9	0
WP: Josh Beckett (1-0), LP: John Lackey (0-1)
Home Runs: BOS - Kevin Youkilis (1), David Ortiz (1)

Attendance: 37,597

Game 2 @ Fenway Park[edit]

Friday, October 5th - Boston, MA - 8:37 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Angels	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	0
Red Sox	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	6	6	1
WP: Jonathan Papelbon (1-0) , LP: Justin Speier (0-1)
Home Runs: BOS - Manny Ramirez (1)

Attendance: 37,706

The Boston Red Sox took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series thanks to a dramatic two-out, three-run home-run over Fenway Park's Green Monster by Manny Ramirez. At that point, the teams had been tied at 3-all since the 5th inning. The blast off Angels ace closer Francisco Rodriguez gave Boston a 6-3 victory.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Red Sox's 100-million dollar rookie, started the game for Boston, but was not at his best. Staked a 2-0 1st-inning lead, thanks to J.D. Drew's bases-loaded two-out single, he gave back three runs in the 2nd. Casey Kotchman led off with a walk and Kendry Morales followed with a single, moving Kotchman to third. After a ground out scored a first run, back-to-back doubles by Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera gave the Angels the lead. "Dice-K" and Angels' starter Kelvim Escobar settled down after those early fireworks, until the 5th when Boston tied the score on Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.

The bullpens then went to work, as Manny Delcarmen and Scot Shields were sent to start the 6th for Boston and Los Angeles respectively. They and their successors kept the score tied at three until the bottom of the 9th, which Julio Lugo led off with a single off Justin Speier. Dustin Pedroia moved Lugo to second with a ground out. Angels manager Mike Scioscia called on his closer Rodriguez to face the heart of the Red Sox batting order. He struck out Kevin Youkilis and intentionally walked David Ortiz to face Ramirez, who was coming off his worst season in years and an injury-plagued month of September. Ramirez hit a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall to send Boston's fans home happy.

Game 3 @ Angel Stadium of Anaheim[edit]

Sunday, October 7th - Anaheim, CA - 3:07 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Red Sox	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	7	0	9	10	0
Angels	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	0
WP: Curt Schilling (1-0) , LP: Jered Weaver (0-1)
Home Runs: BOS - David Ortiz (2), Manny Ramirez (2)

Attendance: 45,262

The series moved to Anaheim, CA for the third game, but this did not slow Boston's momentum. The Red Sox sent Curt Schilling to the mound, in his first postseason appearance since his dramatic "bloody sock" heroics in the 2004 Postseason. The 40-year-old was facing second-year pitcher Jered Weaver, who was making his postseason debut. Boston had the first chance to score in the 2nd inning when Manny Ramirez drew a lead-off walk, followed by a double to left by Mike Lowell. However, Weaver then got J.D. Drew on a comebacker to the mound and struck out the next two batters to escape the inning unscathed. Yet, there was a cost to the Angels, as manager Mike Scioscia pulled left fielder Garret Anderson from the game, as he was suffering from conjunctivitis which prevented him from seeing Lowell's hit properly. The Angels were already without center fielder Gary Matthews, out of the series with a sprained ankle, and first baseman Casey Kotchman, felled by a virus, so they had a much weaker team than usual on the field at that point.

Boston broke through in the 4th inning when David Ortiz and Ramirez hit back-to-back home runs, giving them a 2-0 lead. This was all the help Schilling needed, as he mowed the Angels down inning after inning, leaving with a 2-0 lead at the end of seven innings of work. The Red Sox then broke through against the Angels' bullpen, scoring seven runs in the 8th inning against relievers Scot Shields, Justin Speier and Darren Oliver as six different players collected an RBI. Los Angeles scored one run in the 9th off Eric Gagné, when Howie Kendrick drove in Maicer Izturis with a sacrifice fly. It was much too little, much too late. Boston ended the game with a 9-1 victory and a series sweep, having limited the Angels to 4 runs and a .192 batting average over the three games.