Two down, one to go

Boston Globe photo by Jim Davis

Wow! What an incredible game last night - and here are the three heroes! The Sox blasted out to an early lead (thanks to Jason Bay's three-run homer in the 1st inning, pictured above). Then, the Angels slowly whittled away at that lead, scoring single runs in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th. Suddenly it was 5-5 ( A side note: I must admit, I fell asleep for the 5-8th innings - awoke in time to see Paps record the 3rd out of the 8th. Hey, it was a late start!) Things looked grim. But - these Sox never give up. Papi lead off the 9th with a double; Crisp replaced him on the basepaths; and then JD Drew (on the left, above) connected for a two run homer to center. WOOT! It's now 7-5. Papelbon finished them off in the bottom of the 9th - which included a spectacular catch by Youkilis (in center).

And suddenly, we're up 2-0 in the Division Series. So, too, are the Rays - we can only hope that the White Sox can rally and at least make the Rays work for another victory.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is game 3 for us - and we're back home in Fenway Park. I'm afraid to jinx anything, but I find it hard to believe we can win at least one of the next two. Of course (gamedropping), the only three games I saw at Fenway this year were three losses to - ahem - the LA Angels. Still....here's hoping.

An interesting twist. The Sox have beaten the Angels in three straight post-season series. In1986, the Sox defeated the California Angels. In 2003, we beat the Anaheim Angels. In 2007, we beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Maybe they need to take a page from the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays' playbook and rename themselves yet again?!