CLEVELAND — There were times early in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, whether because of hard-hit balls that fell just foul, home runs that weren’t or poorly played baseball, that it seemed that anything that could go wrong for the Boston Red Sox indeed went awry.
But Josh Beckett cures a lot of ills.
Striking out 11 while scattering five hits over eight innings, Beckett staved off the Cleveland Indians, deferred the dreams of countless fans at Jacobs Field and throughout the area and forced the Rockies to wait at least two more days to determine their World Series opponent.
“We’re excited to fly back to Boston – it definitely will be a better flight than if we had lost,” Beckett said after a 7-1 Red Sox win Thursday night. “We’re still not where we want to be, but we’re in a better place; right now our motto in the clubhouse is ‘Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.”‘
While still trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2, the Red Sox have a chance to knot things up and force a Game 7 with a victory Saturday night at Fenway Park. Which means that the farmer’s best friend, the Manny Ramirez Almanac, was once again proved right – the sun will indeed come up today, especially in Massachusetts.
Had the Red Sox lost, the grief- stricken Commonwealth would have been forced to seek solace in Tom Brady and the undefeated Patriots or get to know the new-look Celtics a little sooner than it might have hoped.
Now, with Boston actually getting the first run of the game for the first time in the series, anything seems possible.
“Getting ahead was huge,” said Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who opened the scoring with a first-inning home run. “With Josh Beckett on the mound, one run may be all you need. … It’s a little more relaxing with him out on the field, definitely more fun to go out there and play behind a guy that can dominate a game.”
And what seemed to be a sleepy little series has also suddenly grown more contentious, the edge a little sharper. In the fifth inning, Beckett and Cleveland left fielder Kenny Lofton exchanged words after the latter was retired. As he jawed at the pitcher, Lofton began moving toward the mound, leading coaches and teammates to intervene, with numerous players coming off the teams’ benches.
That was about the only play that Ramirez wasn’t involved in. Boston could have scored at least one more run in the first, but Ramirez was tagged out at the plate after deciding not to slide under a high throw.
But the inscrutable outfielder also tied a major-league record by safely hitting in his 15th straight ALCS game, one of his two knocks on the night a single high off the left-center field wall that likely should have been called a home run.
Ramirez is now hitting .471 for the series, but it could be argued that his biggest contribution Thursday actually came Wednesday afternoon, when he nonchalantly said Game 5 was no big deal, certainly not the end of the world.
Indeed, the Red Sox played loosely, with heretofore pressure-laden underachievers like Dustin Pedroia (2-for-4) coming through for a team that had been outscored 18-5 since the 11th inning of Game 2.
Of course, Ramirez’s words wouldn’t have mattered as much if Beckett didn’t have his back.
In the days before the game, there was talk that Beckett was suffering from a mysterious injury. In the first inning, the veteran gave up three hits, but escaped with allowing one run, thanks to a double play. Ramirez hit his homer that wasn’t in the third, driving in the only run Beckett needed.
“We should have done more in that first inning,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. “We really let him off the hook.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
