Under the dark and cold skies of a Boston night in October, Fenway Park, one of the great cathedrals in all of baseball, was silent as a graveyard. Even in this hour of silence you couldn't hear any beating. But there was one beneath the white jerseys of the Red Sox. Somewhere inside of them a fire was burning and a heart was beating. Still beating. And it was the heart of a champion.
Trailing the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series by 3-1, the Red Sox faced elimination in Game 5 on Thursday night. And the end of their season was inching closer and closer with every inning. They Rays jumped in front by 7-0 and with evey passing at bat, more and more fans left Fenway Park. Stunned, shocked, hopeless. But for those who stayed, who kept believing in their proud team, the rough hours turned into a night to remember. David Ortiz, struggling all series long, made it 7-4 with a homerun in the bottom of the seventh. J.D. Drew followed him up with a homer in the eighth and Fenway erupted as if the Sox had just won the World Series. All of a sudden the swagger, the pride and the hope, it all was back. And when Coco Crisp singled in the tying run off Dan Wheeler, you could hear it beating all around Boston. It weren't the hearts of the Red Sox players but the stands in a ballpark that had turned from a graveyard into a frenzy. And to make this a legend that will be told for many many years, Drew got his second clutch hit in the 9th as he singled home Kevin Youkilis who was greeted by thunderous cheers and his emphatic teammates at homeplate. After the game, which lasted almost 5 hours, Terry Francona maybe put it best: "It was simply magical."
Damn sure it was. In 79 years baseball hadn't seen such a comeback on as big a stage as there is, with everything on the line in an elimination playoff game. But Francona also reminded Red Sox Nation that it's only the first step on a long climb that lies in front of his team. "Hopefully there will be a moment when we can sit back and say that this was what put us over the hump. But we are still climbing." They are as the series will go back to St. Petersburg on Saturday for Game Six. Josh Beckett will start for Boston and face James Shields, trying to keep the momentum on the side of the defending World Champions. It's still a long way to go but with last night in the books, no matter what happens from now on, the Red Sox can end their season with their heads up high. But that's all in the future. For now, Boston lives to fight another day. And as we saw around midnight at Fenway yesterday, they will fight... until the very end. With the heart of a champion.
Trailing the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series by 3-1, the Red Sox faced elimination in Game 5 on Thursday night. And the end of their season was inching closer and closer with every inning. They Rays jumped in front by 7-0 and with evey passing at bat, more and more fans left Fenway Park. Stunned, shocked, hopeless. But for those who stayed, who kept believing in their proud team, the rough hours turned into a night to remember. David Ortiz, struggling all series long, made it 7-4 with a homerun in the bottom of the seventh. J.D. Drew followed him up with a homer in the eighth and Fenway erupted as if the Sox had just won the World Series. All of a sudden the swagger, the pride and the hope, it all was back. And when Coco Crisp singled in the tying run off Dan Wheeler, you could hear it beating all around Boston. It weren't the hearts of the Red Sox players but the stands in a ballpark that had turned from a graveyard into a frenzy. And to make this a legend that will be told for many many years, Drew got his second clutch hit in the 9th as he singled home Kevin Youkilis who was greeted by thunderous cheers and his emphatic teammates at homeplate. After the game, which lasted almost 5 hours, Terry Francona maybe put it best: "It was simply magical."
Damn sure it was. In 79 years baseball hadn't seen such a comeback on as big a stage as there is, with everything on the line in an elimination playoff game. But Francona also reminded Red Sox Nation that it's only the first step on a long climb that lies in front of his team. "Hopefully there will be a moment when we can sit back and say that this was what put us over the hump. But we are still climbing." They are as the series will go back to St. Petersburg on Saturday for Game Six. Josh Beckett will start for Boston and face James Shields, trying to keep the momentum on the side of the defending World Champions. It's still a long way to go but with last night in the books, no matter what happens from now on, the Red Sox can end their season with their heads up high. But that's all in the future. For now, Boston lives to fight another day. And as we saw around midnight at Fenway yesterday, they will fight... until the very end. With the heart of a champion.
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