The Angels' season came to an end last night, thanks to a bottom of the ninth single by Boston's Jed Lowrie which drove home the winning run to clinch the series for the Red Sox. Mike Scioscia's club fell behind early, and were unable to score until the eighth inning, when Torii Hunter came through with a two out, RBI-single that tied the game at 2-2. Scioscia's questionable call for a squeeze play in the ninth however, may have cost his team a chance to win.
After Kendry Morales led off the ninth with a pinch-hit double, Reggie Willits (running for Morales) was small-balled over to third with a sacrifice bunt from Howie Kendrick. The Angels appeared to be in great position: one out, man on third, and Erick Aybar -- he of Sunday's game-winning RBI -- at the plate. Scioscia likes that small ball though, so he called for a squeeze play instead of letting Aybar swing away. Aybar couldn't make contact, and Willits was tagged out running back to third. Scioscia argued the tag play, because the ball actually came out of catcher Jason Varitek's glove. But the umpire ruled that the ball came out after the tag was successfully made, and the play killed any momentum that the team had going in the inning.
Many players in the locker room felt like the better team didn't win the series, including last night's starting pitcher, John Lackey.
"It's totally different [than the 2007 sweep by the Red Sox]," Lackey said. "They were better than us last year. They're not better than us this year."
That may be the case from the Angels' perspective, and the team definitely fought hard this series, really having opportunities to win all but Game 1. But the bottom line is that they didn't execute when it mattered most, and that's why the Red Sox are moving on, and the Angels are going home.
