When does the ALCS vs. the Yankees start?

As I texted to three of my friends, who were all (seperately) at the game last night, "the Red Sox own the Angels."

Sure that looked stupid when Anaheim (86-59) took a 7-5 lead in the seventh or an 8-7 lead in the top of the ninth.

At Fenway Park and against the Angels, the Sox (86-58) are world-beaters and they proved that once again with a thrilling 9-8 walk-off win courtesy of Alex Gonzalez. It was their seventh straight win overall and tenth in a row at home.

With Paul Byrd on the mound, the Angels built a 3-0 lead on a Erick Aybar (4 hits) infield single in the third, a Bobby Abreu (3 hits, 2 RBIs) RBI double in the fifth and solo bomb by Torii Hunter in the sixth.

Boston finally got to Angels starter Joe Saunders in the sixth, with a big assist from the usually reliable Angels defense.

Jason Bay (2 hits, steal) cut it to 3-2 with a two-run single and Rocco Baldelli tied it with an RBI single of his own.

Foreshadowing his walk-off bloop to win it, Gonzalez gave Boston a 5-3 lead with a flare to shallow right field which scored two.

Anaheim kept battling and scored three times in the seventh: Howie Kendrick RBI single, two-run double by Juan Rivera (3 hits) and an RBI double by Mike Napoli.

Both bullpens had their major troubles on the night as Boston scored twice more in the eighth. A run came in on Casey Kotchman's groundout and Jacoby Ellsbury's RBI single tied it at 7.

Abreu's RBI single in the ninth off Daniel Bard (2-1) (Papelbon and Wagner weren't available) looked like the game-winner with the bottom of the lineup due up in the home half of the inning.

In one of the most improbable comebacks you'll ever see, Nick Green walked with the bases loaded (after taking a pitch for ball four that was clearly a strike) and then Gonzalez hit a broken bat single to left off Brian Fuentes (1-5), who threw 27 pitches.

Josh Beckett faces Ervin Santana tonight in the series finale and I think after the craziness of the first two games, you can expect a perfect game or at the very least a no-hitter from Beckett, who has not been himself for over a month.

Texas lost again last night so they're 6.5 games back in the wild card. Good night Rangers and thanks for playing.

Birdman daddy, I fly in any weather

Can I say it? I really like this team.
The 2009 Boston Red Sox are not going to win the AL East, we can agree on that, right? But they have a very good chance to win the wild card and once you get this team in the playoffs, I like their chances.

Yesterday's strange season took another unexpected pit stop as the two newest Red Sox (Paul Byrd and Billy Wagner) helped to shut out Toronto, 7-0 at Fenway as Boston swept the three-game series.

The Byrd Man was back with his old-timey delivery and right-handed Jamie Moyer-esque stuff. The Blue Jays (58-70) have clearly checked out and are dreaming of a miserable winter in Toronto mixed in with plenty of losses by the Leafs and Raptors. Just kidding, no players live there in the off-season.

Byrd pitched six scoreless innings, as he gave up three hits, walked three and struck out one. For one afternoon at least, he provided some stability to the back end of a rotation that has seen more action than Paris Hilton's bed. WOW!

He had been out of baseball and pitching to his 13-year-old son's team (really) when the Red Sox brought him back.

Acquired from the Mets last week, Wagner was impressive in his Red Sox debut as he struck out the side in the eighth.

Ignoring what chief moron Jonathan Papelbon had to say, Wagner is a welcome addition to a bullpen that was understandably getting tired and needed another left-hander. The fact that Papelbon has been shaky as well, makes this a no-brainer pick up.

The Sox (76-54) moved to 3.5 games up in the wild card on the Rangers and 5.5 on the Rays.

They also beat Roy Halladay for the second straight time. Think he wishes he got traded in July? Youk (2 hits, 3 RBIs) gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI double which scored Victor Martinez.

Rocco Baldelli made it 2-0 in the second with a solo homer before Youkilis had a sacrifice fly in the third, putting Boston up 3-0.

Alex Gonzalez (2 hits), who's swinging a hot bat, extended the lead to 4-0 in the fourth with an RBI single. Finally, the Sox scored three in the seventh on an error and another RBI single by Youk.

After the off-day today, the Sox have three games at the Trop starting tomorrow. If they can win at least two, they'll bury Tampa Bay for all intents and purposes. However if Tampa Bay continues to own Boston (especially at home), they will get right back in the wild card race.

Jars of Clay

Looks like Clay Buchholz might be a decent big league pitcher after all. It's still ludicrous that the Sox wouldn't trade him and other prospects to get Roy Halladay but last night Buchholz outpitched Halladay as the Red Sox won 6-1 in Toronto.

Buchholz improved to 2-3 as he went six strong innings, allowing only one run on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Halladay (13-6) like Josh Beckett the night before, was not on his game for whatever reason. He went just five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.

Boston (68-51) took a one game lead in the wild card thanks to its win and the Twins comeback victory over the Rangers.
David Ortiz (2 hits) continued to swing a hot bat as he hit a solo shot in the second inning. New shortstop Alex Gonzalez (2 hits) singled home Casey Kotchman later in the inning to make it 2-0 good guys.

In the fourth, Jacoby Ellsbury tripled home Gonzalez for a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays (55-63) scored their only run of the game when Vernon Wells drove in Aaron Hill with a single.

Boston tacked on two in the fifth on Jason Bay's two-run bomb and one in the ninth on Victor Martinez (2 hits) solo homer.

Jon Lester takes the mound tonight as the Red Sox try to sweep the Blue Jays before coming home to face the Yankees.