Picture courtesy of Kelly O’Connor

The longer these games went, the more I started worrying that we were seeing the 2003 ALDS in reverse. If you think about it, both the 03 Sox and the 08 Angels were down 0-2. They had no momentum. But then the Sox won game 3 of the 03 ALDS in 12 innings, and eerily the Angels won game 3 of the 08 ALDS in 12 innings.

Now we come to game 4. In the 03 ALDS, the A’s had a 4-3 lead going into the 8th. Things weren’t looking good for the Sox, facing one of the best closers that year, Keith Foulke. With two down and runners on the corners, Papi lined a double to the wall in right, and the Sox took a 5-4 lead. All of a sudden the momentum had shifted, and the Sox took game 5.

Fast forward to tonight, where the Sox had a 2-0 lead going into the 8th. Okijima retired the first two batters, but walked Texieria on four pitches. Masterson came in and walked Vladdy after having a 0-2 count. A wild pitch and a Torii Hunter single later, the game was tied and Mark Kotsay had to be thinking “here we go again.” (In case you forgot, Kotsay was on that ‘03 A’s squad.)

Los Los Angeles Angeles de Anaheim got a pinch-hit double to lead off the 9th, bunted Morales to third and then fucked it all up. Rather than try for a normal run such as an RBI groundout, a sac fly or, you know, a single, the Angels went fancy and tried for a suicide squeeze. Problem is, with a 2-0 count, Erick Aybar totally missed making contact and Tek chased pinch-runner Reggie Willits back to third, leapt, and tagged him out. I wish I could say that I was jumping for joy at this point, but to be perfectly honest, I was so shocked by the drastic turn of events, I could hardly move. To be fair to Mike Scioscia, it could have been worse, Dusty Baker would have called for the suicide squeeze with an 0-2 count and nobody on.

Then the Ugly Boys went to work (between them and Nancy Drew, no 9th inning is a mystery). With one down, Bay looped a double down the right field line that Willits dove for and missed by 5 feet. It probably would have been an inside the parker except that it bounced into the stands. Kotsay who is clearly not a member of the Ugly Boys (have you seen his wife?!) came up and ripped a ball right at a diving Texieria for the second out. And then Stanford boy came to the plate. Lowrie, who is still waiting for that orthodontics sponsorship, grounded a curveball into right. Fenway held its breath until Bay slid headfirst, getting spiked on the hand as he touched home. By the time Bay touched home half the team was already waiting for him, with the other half ready to jump on Lowrie. Freaking unbelievable. I hope Lowrie enjoys his new name in Southern California (and the Julio Lugo household) where he’ll now be forever known as “Jed Motherfucking Lowrie.”

Going into this series I didn’t have many expectations. Drew and Lowell were hurt, Beckett’s start was pushed back, and to be perfectly honest, the series had “World Series Hangover” written all over it. But it’s amazing what 14 innings of 0 ER from Lester will do. You read that correctly, ZERO earned runs. I could have done without the extra stress in the last game (this graph pretty much describes my blood pressure last night), but these were two great games, capped by a tremendous walk-off. As a result, it looks like the only hangover will be Paps’. As Tom Caron put it “[Papelbon] would celebrate a win in April like this if they’d put the plastic on the lockers.” And if you’re worried about Bay’s hand, well, “It’s just a tiny little nick,” Bay said, “but it hurts when I get champagne in there.”

Now on to the ALCS, for only the fourth time in six years.