Red Sox Clinch Division and Home Field
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by Smmonroe2
The Boston Red Sox clinched the AL East title on Friday and then followed it up on Saturday by clinching home field throughout the playoffs, and since the AL won the All-Star game if the Sox play in the World Series they will have home field there as well. On Friday night Dice-K Matsuzaka pitched eight strong innings to pick up his 15 win of his rookie season. While striking out 8 and giving up 6 hits and 2 runs. Jonathan Papelbon then closed out the game for his 37 save of the season. David Ortiz had the big bat in the 5-2 win, as he knocked his 35 homer and doubled. Mike Lowell had 2 RBI’s and J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis had the others. Minnesota pitcher Slowey gave up 4 runs on seven hits. The Baltimore Orioles then had a dramatic 9th inning comeback against the Yankees in which they scored 4 runs on Mariano Rivera and helped the Red Sox clinch the division. On Saturday the Sox had to take care of one more piece of business. A win gave them hold field advantage throughout the playoffs. So they rode Tim Wakefield to his 17th win as they capped off a comeback with a 6-4 win. JD Drew hit a 3-run homerun in the 7th to put his team on top. Mike Lowell also had a homerun, his coming in the 6th with nobody on base, giving him 120 RBI’s for the season. Hideki Okajima picked up the save and the Red Sox celebrated home field advantage. So what does all this mean? Well, it means that the Sox will play the LA Angels in the ALDS and host the first two games. If they get past the Angels they will host the first two games of the ALCS. The Sox wrap the season up Sunday night against the Twins and then will start the playoffs on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. from http://www.sportsbysam.blogspot.com
