Classic Baseball - The Sequel: Rivera Unable to Close Deal

This series has turned into a classic, old school battle with pitching taking center stage. In almost identical fashion as Game 2 , this one would be settled by the same score, go into in extra innings and the home team would also be victorious.

Similar to Game 2, Boston would take a 1-0 lead, but this time they would strike in the opening stanza. Dustin Pedroia worked Yankees' starter David Wells for a walk, and after a Kevin Youkilis single, he ended up standing on third base with no one out. David Ortiz lofted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Pedey for the early lead.

This slight advantage looked as if it might be enough as playoff ace Curt Schilling kept the New York bats at bay spinning 7 shutout innings. With Manny Delcarmen warm in the pen, Francona opted to stay with his veteran, but it turned out to be a costly mistake. Yankee third sacker Scott Brosius, 1998 World Series MVP, cranked a solo jack off Schilling to begin the eighth. Schilling did manage to register an out by getting Chuck Knoblauch to ground out, but after a Derek Jeter triple to right center, he was lifted in favor of Hideki Okajima. Paul O'Neill would be the first batter Okajima would face. Boston got a ground ball off O'Neill's bat with the infield drawn in, but it was hit too firmly to Pedroia's right and he had no play other than the force at first. New York took a 2-1 lead to the ninth.

The much maligned JD Drew would come up in the ninth to face Mariano Rivera. Chastized for much of his career in Boston for being soft, he did play a huge role in Boston's title run in 2007 as he hit a blistering .360 in the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians which included this memorable homer.

That first inning grand slam became the rallying cry with Boston on the brink of elimination, down 3-2 in games. 

Now, facing the greatest closer of all-time, Drew spun on a Rivera offering and deposited it in the right field bleachers to tie the game at 2. This would be the second time Rivera blew a save opportunity in as many games. Kevin Youkilis was the author of his first failure in Game 2, and now JD Drew provided the sequel.

Boston's bullpen was nails in this one with Oki, Delcarmen, and Lopez combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up only 2 hits while striking out 3. 

In the bottom of the eleventh, David Ortiz started things off with a single. Working in his second inning in relief, Darren Holmes got Manny Ramirez looking at strike three, but a Mike Lowell single pushed Ortiz to second. Sawx manager Terry Francona hoped to redeem his earlier mistake with Schilling by pinch running for Ortiz with Coco Crisp. This proved to be a game winning move. JD Drew topped an innocent chopper back to Holmes. Caught somewhat off balance after fieldling the ball, Holmes' offering to first would be wide to the right of Tino Martinez, and Crisp would easily scamper home to extend the series.

Once again, Drew was in the middle of things, putting the ball in play for the game winning run. Will history repeat itself with Drew being the touchstone for yet another Red Sox comeback? Boston will bring Josh Beckett back on short rest to battle Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez in Game 4. Linescore and highlights below.