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Painstaking Climb For Red Sox

BOSTON - — The seeds of a grueling Red Sox season were sown on a sunny spring Saturday in Fort Myers, Fla.

Before ever making a pitch in a mid-March exhibition game against the Marlins at City of Palms Park, Josh Beckett tweaked his back, an injury that eventually landed him on the disabled list.

From that moment right through Monday’s Game 4 of the Division Series at Fenway Park, the Red Sox were in scramble mode, trying to plug holes all over a roster decimated by injuries.

Beckett’s bad back in Florida was followed by J.D. Drew’s in Japan. Then Mike Lowell hurt a thumb just after the April home opener. Daisuke Matsuzaka went down in May with a bad shoulder and David Ortiz injured a wrist. In July, Julio Lugo (quadriceps) was lost for the season, while August saw return DL engagements for Beckett, Drew and Lowell.

In only 21 of 162 games would the anticipated starting lineup back in spring training ever take the field together, all before May 25.

“Let me tell you. As long as I’ve been here, if we win the World Series, this has to be the most unbelievable year of them all,” Ortiz said. “It’s because we’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries, a lot of guys in and out. We just lost Mikey Lowell. I missed two months myself. A lot of guys have been out. Beckett is not feeling really good. We’re dealing We are a world class wow gold online store. We supply cheap wow gold, the cheapest wow gold to our loyal and reliable customers. You may buy cheap wow gold here http://www.wowgold1000.com . There are wow power leveling and wow gold of sale; you can buy wow gold here. with all that, and we’re still winning. If we win the World Series, it will be unbelievable.”

The Red Sox took a step closer to that improbable goal with Monday’s 3-2 walk-off victory over the Angels to take the Division Series, 3-1. And it was two products from a season of resourcefulness that delivered the series-clinching run.

Rookie Jed Lowrie, who was called up to replace both Lowell and Lugo at different times this season, got the game-winning single. Jason Bay, acquired to replace a toxic Manny Ramirez in left field, scored the winning run.

“All year long, we had great contributions from our young guys and guys we picked up along the way,” general manager Theo Epstein said. “It was a true team victory, as always. That’s one of the things the Red Sox stand for. It doesn’t matter what we do. Everything is done as a team.”

Lowrie, part of the mother lode 2005 amateur draft, gave the Red Sox a major boost in July and August after Lugo went down, driving in 28 runs. The rookie slumped in September, hitting .213, but he came through with a two-hit game Monday, including the game-winner to right off Scot Shields.

“[Sunday] night, Scot Shields struck me out on three straight curveballs,” Lowrie said. “So in the back of my mind I was thinking curveball. And you know, he left one up in the zone enough for me to find a hole.

“I never really lost my confidence. That’s kind of the game of baseball. It’s never easy. I felt like I was grinding out at-bats in September. Not a lot to show for it. I came into the playoffs with my confidence still high, but it’s a funny game. You can hit the ball hard and get out, and you can bloop one in and get a hit. So it’s just a matter of maintaining a steady approach.”