Projo Sox Blog

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON _ The loudest guy in the Red Sox dugout during their historic 8-7 victory over the Rays in Game Five of the American League Championship Series was clubhouse attendant Edwin "Pookie" Jackson.

"I don't know what he was saying," closer Jonathan Papelbon said. "I don't speak that jibber-jabber he speaks."

The guys really in charge were as Alex Cora and Mike Lowell. The pair of veterans were not in the lineup in Game Five - Cora was on the bench as Lowell prepares for hip surgery on Monday in New York - but they were both helping their teammates create one of the most improbable comebacks in postseason history.

Boston was down 7-0 to the Rays before it began to chip away at the lead with ease until the offense exploded like never before.

The Red Sox scored eight runs over the last three innings en route to victory.

Manager Terry Francona talks about "keeping the line moving" time and again in order for a club to have success. Well, that's exactly what Boston did as it stunned the Rays.

Cora was telling his teammates to win every pitch. That's what they did.

"It's like a relay race," explained Cora. "You have to believe in the next guy. Mike (Lowell) and me were saying 'just get on for the next guy' and from now on it's going to be our motto. It's not that we forgot, but you can't hit a seven-run home run. You can hit a three-run homer (David Ortiz) and put us back in the game. It's amazing. . . amazing. I've never seen anything like this. . . ever."

After the win the Red Sox player said they never stopped believing.

"Once we got down 7-0, the sense in the dugout was to grind it out and play as hard as you can, and whatever happens, happens," said Dustin Pedroia. "Not much was going our way at that point, we had some great at-bats and kept believing if we chipped away we might have a shot at the end. And we got it."

 Tags  ALCS Alex Cora Mike Lowell Red Sox

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