SWEPT AWAY BY A "RALLY MONKEY" ...
 2009 ALDS, GAME #3
The Sox blow the game and the series

October 11, 2009 ... The Los Angeles Angels moved on to the American League Championship Series against the Yankees after a stunning 7-6 comeback win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. There'll be no more "Dirty Water," no more "Shipping Up to Boston," no more "Sweet Caroline."

Boston's baseball summer ended in abrupt, throwup/throwback fashion when star closer Jonathan Papelbon failed to hold a two-run lead in the top of the ninth with two outs, nobody on base, and an 0 and 2 count on the No. 9 batter.  Papelbon had been so close to ending the afternoon, extending this American League Division Series. And yet he hadn't, his fastball-fastball-fastball repertoire not fooling the Angels, leaving himself and his team open for an improbable comeback. Papelbon had been one strike away three times with two outs in the ninth inning. Erick Aybar singled, then Chone Figgins walked, then Bobby Abreu doubled. On each batter, Papelbon had gotten to two strikes. He couldn't get any of them.

And so, on an afternoon that looked ripe for an extension of the ALDS, the Sox watched as their All-Star closer, the one who started the day having never allowed an earned run in his 26-inning postseason career, gave up two inherited runs in the eighth, and three of his own in the ninth. He blew the save, and as he walked off the mound after he was pulled by manager Terry Francona, some of the 38,704 booed.

So that was it for the Sox, their 2009 season coming to a close in most crushing fashion. For a team that had been 9-2 in elimination games in the Francona era, the Sox blew a chance to add a tally in the winning column, coming as close as they could to earning a Game 4. It was demoralizing, mostly because the offense was supposed to be the issue. Instead, as the Sox finally got a few hits against the Angels, their lights-out bullpen left the lights on.

At the end, it was a two-run, ninth-inning lead for their closer, and it dissolved, all with two outs. It was about as bad as it gets. It was an ignominious end for a team with World Series aspirations at the beginning of the year. It was beaten, and beaten solidly.

After a solid start from Buchholz and an impressive escape by Daniel Bard in the sixth, Billy Wagner had taken the ball in the eighth with a 5-2 lead. But Wagner gave up a leadoff double to Abreu and, one out later, a walk to Vladimir Guerrero. After Kendry Morales grounded out, it took just one pitch for the runs to come in on the first pitch thrown by Papelbon, a fastball that Juan Rivera sent to right-center for a single. Boston's lead was cut to 5-4, although Papelbon still had a 0.00 ERA in the postseason.

Papelbon allowed a single by Aybar, a walk to Figgins, a double by Abreu, an intentional walk to Torii Hunter, and a decisive two-run single by Guerrero to finish him and his team.

The Sox barely hit at all. Their offense awoke in Game 3 and they scored three runs in the third on a two-run double by Dustin Pedroia and a Victor Martinez RBI single. After Morales's homer in the fourth cut the margin to 3-1, the home team added two more on J.D. Drew's homer to center. But even with the hits, a very good performance from Buchholz and a lead for the bullpen, they simply weren't good enough to force a fourth game. They weren't good enough to win the series.

The oft-maligned Angels, who had lost nine of 10 playoff games against Boston in this century before the series began, danced on the Fenway grass. Your 2009 Red Sox are history, gone in the crisp October afternoon before the Patriots kicked off their fifth game of the season.