Classic Teams 1.0 - ALDS Game 2

 

Carlton Fisk eerily repeated his heroics from the 1975 World Series by nailing the left-field foul pole for a decisive strike to give the 1983 Chicago White Sox a 3-2 win and a stranglehold on their ALDS series with the 2007 Boston Red Sox. The series now shifts to Fenway Park with absolutely no room for error for Boston down 2-0 in games.

Despite the fact that they had runners in scoring position in two of the first 4 innings, Boston couldn't get the big hit off White Sox starter Floyd Bannister. In the face of adversity,  Bannister limited the damage to singles and he struck out 6 batters in those first 4 frames. Jason Varitek's baserunning blunder in the third ended up being critical in the outcome. He had led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Jacoby Ellsbury base hit. After Manny Ramirez roped a single to left, Varitek took too wide a berth around third base. Chicago shortstop Scott Fletcher cut off Ron Kittle's throw and pegged Varitek attempting to scamper back to end the inning.

The Chicago offense backed Daisuke Matsuzaka into a corner in the fourth in a 29-pitch fourth inning that was highlighted by a two-run bomb by Greg Luzinski. It seemed that this wore on Matsuzaka as he only last another 1.2 innings of work before being lifted in favor of Eric Gagne.

Boston counterpunched in the seventh with a two-run blast of their own authored by Jason Varitek which spelled the end of the day for Bannister, but the reprieve was brief. Gagne looked to be cruising through the home half of the inning retiring the first 2 Chicago batters when Carlton Fisk went deja vu with his bell ringer tolling the demise of the Red Sox. The White Sox bullpen only permitted one hit in three innings of work after Varitek's home run to secure the victory. Steve Mura earned the win and Juan Agosto picked up his second save of the playoffs.