Projo Sox Blog

Courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. department . . .

RED SOX NOTES
-- Boston won its 5th of 8 ALDS in club history

-- Boston's last 3 Division Series wins have come against the Angels, also in 2007 (3 games) and 2004 (3 games).

-- It marks the 23rd time in postseason history that a series has been decided by a walk-off hit, the first since a three-run, walk-off homer by Magglio Ordonez in the 9th inning gave the Tigers to a 4-game sweep over the Athletics in the 2006 ALCS.

-- Boston last walked off with a postseason win when Manny Ramirez hit a three-run homer in the 9th inning in Game Two of the 2007 ALDS vs. Los Angeles and last did it in a clinching game when David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in Game 3 of the 2004 ALDS vs. Los Angeles to give Boston a 3-game sweep.

-- It was the 10th postseason walk-off win in club history and Boston's sixth since 2003.

-- Boston had not won a post-season series after leading 2-1 since 1918 when the Red
Sox defeated Chicago in the World Series.

JON LESTER
In the series, Lester did not allow an earned run in 14.0 innings, the most ever innings for a pitcher with a 0.00 ERA during any one Division Series. Pedro Martinez had held the mark with no earned runs in 10.0 innings with Boston in the 1999 Division Series against Cleveland . . . Lester has not surrendered a earned run in his last 22.2 post-season innings, last giving up 2 runs over 0.2 relief frames in Game 2 of the 2007 ALCS vs. Cleveland.

JASON VARITEK
Tonight was Jason Varitek's 22nd career start as catcher and his 23rd appearance behind the plate in Division Series play, moving him past Sandy Alomar, Jr. and Ramon Hernandez for second place on the all-time list for starts, behind Jorge Posada (36), and past Hernandez for second place on the all-time list for appearances at catcher behind Posada (39) . . . Varitek's single in the 5th inning was his 53rd career post-season hit, all with Boston, tying Manny Ramirez for 2nd on the club's all-time list . . . David Ortiz ranks first with 56.

JACOBY ELLSBURY
Jacoby Ellsbury tallied his sixth RBI of the 2008 postseason in the fifth inning, matching the Los Angeles Dodgers' James Loney for the most postseason RBI this year.

DUSTIN PEDROIA
Dustin Pedroia had been 0-for-15 in this year's postseason before belting an RBI double in the 5th tonight . . . He had been hitless in his last 19 postseason at bats dating back to an eighth-inning double in Game Three of the 2007 World Series.

JED LOWRIE
Jed Lowrie hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th inning . . . He was 2-for-4 for his 1st career multi-hit postseason hit . . . He hit safely in three games in the series and finishes the series batting .364 (4-for-11) in that time.

JASON BAY
Jason Bay scored a run in each of Boston's wins in the series...He finishes his first playoff series batting .412 (7-for-17) with 4 extra-base hits (2 doubles, 2 home runs) . . . He drove in 5 runs during the first two games.

ANGELS NOTES
-- For the second season in a row, Los Angeles fell to Boston in the A.L. Division Series, losing in 4 games.

-- It marks the Angels' 3rd loss in 5 Division Series in club history

-- Los Angeles' World Series win over San Francisco in the 2002 World Series was the club's last post-season series win.
-- The Angels left 43 runners on base in the series: 9 in Game 1, 11 in Game 2, 16 in Game 3, and 7 in Game 4, The record for most LOB by one team in a Division Series is 49 by Seattle in 1995.

KENDRY MORALES
Kendry Morales recorded his 2nd pinch hit of the series in the 9th inning, matching an American League record for pinch hits in a Division Series.

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