"Hopefully we can bounce back like we did then," losing pitcher Jarrod Washburn said.
Just like the 2002 postseason, most of the fans at Angel Stadium wore red and made it noisy by banging ThunderStix. The volume level decreased significantly after the Red Sox took their big lead, and not even stuffed Rally Monkeys could spur the home team.
Curt Schilling pitches 6 2-3 effective innings as Boston's offense blasts the Angels for a 9-3 victory.
(Mark J. Terrill - AP)
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The seven runs were the most ever scored by the Red Sox in an inning in the postseason and the most ever allowed by the Angels. Five of the runs were unearned because of a throwing error by third baseman Chone Figgins.
Schilling was relieved by Alan Embree with a runner at second, two outs in the seventh and the Red Sox leading 8-3. Embree retired pinch hitter Adam Riggs on foul pop-up to end the inning.
Boston went ahead for good off Washburn in the first on a two-out double by Ramirez and a broken-bat single by David Ortiz.
Ortiz walked to begin the fourth and Millar hit an 0-1 off-speed pitch into the left field bullpen, making it 3-0. The Red Sox then loaded the bases with one out, and two runs scored when Figgins fielded Johnny Damon's grounder but was far off target with his throw home as he went for the force.
"In a game like this, it's certainly more irritating than a regular season game. There's a lot more riding on it," Figgins said. "I played aggressively. That's the way I play. If it happens tomorrow, I'm going to do the same thing. I'm not beating myself up."
Scot Shields relieved and struck out Mark Bellhorn, but Ramirez capped the inning with a three-run homer over the left-center field fence.
Troy Glaus, MVP of the 2002 World Series, hit Schilling's second pitch in the bottom half of the inning for a long home run.
Darin Erstad added a solo homer in the seventh, and the Angels got another run on Schilling's throwing error and an RBI double by Glaus. Doug Mientkiewicz's two-out bunt single off Anaheim's Ramon Ortiz in the eighth completed the scoring.
