About last night

So what’s it going to be tonight? Four hours? Five hours? Dare we say six?

On the odd chance you believe the Red Sox play the longest games every postseason, you’re wrong. They only play some of the longest. But given last night’s epic 5-4 loss in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, we thought we’d take a quick look back at three of those most memorable endless nights.

October, 18 2004 – Game 5, American League Championship Series (Red Sox, 5, Yankees 4)

Time of game: 5 hours, 49 minutes.

Summary: One night after defeating the Yankees in a 5-hour, 2-minute affair to avoid a sweep, the Sox send the series back to New York on an RBI single by David Ortiz in the bottom of the 14th inning. Ortiz’ single caps a 10-pitch at-bat against Esteban Loaiza after the Sox rally for a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase a 4-2 deficit and force extra innings. Terry Francona uses seven pitchers with Tim Wakefield getting the win in relief.

Compared with this affair, last night’s game seems as if it were shortened by rain.

October 5, 2008 – Game 3, American League Division Series (Angels 5, Red Sox 4)

Time of game: 5 hours, 19 minutes.

Summary: Do we really need to tell you? After all, it happened last night. The effects of this game remain to be seen, but both the Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels emptied out their bullpens. Still, Angels manager Mike Scioscia and Sox manager Terry Francona both said they expect to have a full complement of relievers for this game. And in case you’re wondering, Mike Lowell is absent from the starting lineup and could be done for the series, if not longer.

How many of you were in a fog at work today?

October 17, 2004 – Game 4, American League Championship Series (Red Sox 6, Yankees 4)

Time of game: 5 hours, 2 minutes.

In recent Red Sox history, this qualifies as a relative quickie. (For virtually any other team, it would be No. 1 on the list.) Of course, this was the night of The Steal, which extended the Red Sox’ 2004 campaign – at least for another day. David Ortiz ended it with a two-run home run against Paul Quantrill in the bottom of the 12th inning, and events only grew in magnitude when the Sox won Games 5, 6 and 7 over the next three nights.

This game was the springboard for the 2004 title.

Might the Angels someday be saying the same thing about last night?

Or will the Red Sox bounce back and deem the game irrelevant?

Discuss.