Angels went down as bunt didn't
Down, two games to one, in the best-of-five American League Division Series, the Angels were playing for the moment. Inning by inning. Pitch by pitch. Heartbeat by heartbeat.
When it came down to a moment to go for broke - with one out in the ninth, speedy Reggie Willits at third, Erick Aybar at the plate with a 2-and-0 count - the Halos came up broke when they botched their best chance to manufacture the go-ahead run.
It unraveled when Aybar whiffed on a squeeze bunt on Manny Delcarmen's pitch, leaving Willits, who had come steaming toward home, caught in no-man's land when the ball wound up in Jason Varitek's mitt.
"Erick's a terrific bunter," said manager Mike Scioscia. "He feels obviously badly he didn't get it down. It was a great count for it. Delcarmen throws hard, which is a challenge, but I think it was a, you know, it was a buntable ball. Erick just didn't get it done, and that happens."
After the Sox had won the game, 3-2, and the series, Aybar declined to comment on his failed squeeze bunt.
"We got to a count where I thought it was going to be a pitch that Erick could handle, and it didn't work out," Scioscia said. "But, you know, I'm sure that they were aware there was a possibility of it, sure."
"I'm very confident when we're up there, whether we're swinging the bat, or whether we're looking at a squeeze," Willits said. "Erick's a great player and he's unbelievable at the plate. So I had all the confidence in the world in him."
As Willits scrambled back to the bag, Varitek lunged to apply the tag.
"We were kind of preparing for it, what would happen if that happened," said Dustin Pedroia. "Youk [Kevin Youkilis] said he was going to run and try to flip the ball to home. We were just fortunate enough that he missed the bunt. It was kind of a good pitch to squeeze on.
"Everything played out but him getting the bunt down. It was huge for Tek to chase down the fastest - other than Jacoby [Ellsbury] - the fastest guy on the field."
When Varitek landed with his arm outstretched, the ball popped out of his glove.
"In that situation, you really don't have time to think," Willits said. "I'm just doing anything I can do to perform a miracle to get out of it. I saw the ball roll out there and I have no idea what happened on that play. I just stayed on base because I saw the ball come out and I thought I was safe."
But umpire Tim Welke ruled Willits out.
Who knew the ground couldn't cause a fumble in baseball?
"I feel he had to have control of the ball," said Scioscia, who vehemently argued Welke's call. "You know, Tim Welke felt that the tag was made and the out was recorded before he lost the ball.
"But it's like, you know, a guy slides into the bag, you put a tag on him, and if the infielder drops the ball, there is a gray area there of interpretation of what happened."
Willits, as a result, was erased. It was but one of many blunders the Angels committed in a flawed postseason. Willits was subject to one final indignation when Jason Bay hit a blooper down the right-field line that bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double in the ninth. Jed Lowrie then drove Bay home with a walk-off single to right.
"I wasn't playing him extremely deep, but I wasn't playing him shallow, because he's got some sock," Willits said. "When he ducked one out there, it had topspin and it was biting pretty hard and it was going straight down. I thought I had an outside chance and I just gave it everything I got."
While they saved some face by preventing another Sox sweep, the Angels could not be consoled for winning the AL West with a franchise-record 100 wins.
"I think they're a great ball club and I think we're a great ball club," Willits said. "I think we could've just as easily won that series as they did. A few breaks go your way, but that's part of it in the playoffs.
"When you get in the playoffs, it doesn't matter what your record is in the regular season, it doesn't matter for anything. It just matters if you're hot at the time and if you're playing well and if you get a few breaks to go along with it.
"Things went their way, but it just as easily could've gone our way. I mean, you're talking about a matter of inches on a lot of different plays throughout the whole series that could've changed the whole series dramatically, so you've got to tip your hat to them.
"They're a great club. They've come up big in the past and they came up big in this series, too."
Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com 