Angels Punch First Ticket to ALCS

Partially because they played first today, and mostly because they took care of business in the late innings, the Los Angeles Angels advanced to the ALCS for the first time since 2005. That season, the Chicago White Sox ousted them in five games, en route to winning their first world championship in ages.

Trailing 5-1 at one point, the Angels rallied to cut the deficit one, before Jacoby Ellsbury scored an insurance run for the Red Sox in the 8th.

Jonathon Papelbon came in with 2 outs in the top of the eighth, poised to get the Red Sox into a game 4 at Fenway. Instead, Papelbon blew his first career save as he gave up 3 earned runs in the 9th inning, capped by a Vlad Guerrero two-run single up the middle with the bases loaded to make the score 7-6, in favor of the Halos.

The Angels finally broke through against a Red Sox team that had beaten them senseless in the past two post-seasons. The Red Sox were 9-1 in their last 10 post-season games against the Angels, and had beaten them in all four of their post-season meetings, dating back to the 1986 ALCS.