Sox Are Down But Not Out

History shows that pushing the Red Sox onto the elimination cliff isn't so difficult.

Sending them over the edge is another matter.

The Rays will try to do that tonight in Game 5 of the ALCS, and they'll face a team that doesn't go quietly.

Three times the Red Sox have trailed 3-1 in a best-of-seven series and have come back to win the series. Two of those occasions have come in recent American League Championship Series: the epic comeback against the Yankees in 2004 and last year's surprising recovery against Cleveland.

The first time was just as dramatic: In Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS against the Angels, Boston was down to its last strike before rallying for four runs in the ninth inning and then winning in the 11th.

Under Manager Terry Francona, the Red Sox are 7-1 in elimination games, with the lone loss coming in the 2005 Division Series, which Chicago swept.

"I hope it's relevant," Boston Francona said. "I mean, I think every year is different."

Different, yes, but a Red Sox team that owns the greatest comeback in postseason baseball history shouldn't be counted out.

They not only trailed the Yankees 3-0 in 2004 after losing the third game 19-8, but they also trailed the fourth game 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning. But then Dave Roberts stole second off closer Mariano Rivera, and Bill Mueller drove him in to tie the game, and David Ortiz won it with a home run in the 12th.

Boston won a 14-innning, 5-hour, 49-minute Game 5 at Fenway to send the series back to New York. There, Curt Schilling, with his bloody sock assuring his place in baseball lore, pitched a masterpiece in Game 6, and Johnny Damon hit a grand slam in Game 7 to spark a 10-3 rout.

The Red Sox went on to win the World Series, their first in 86 years, and they followed in 2007 with another title after falling behind 3-1 to Cleveland in the ALCS.

Against the Indians, Josh Beckett pitched eight dominant innings in Game 5 to send the series back to Boston. The Red Sox then outscored the Indians 23-4 in Games 6 and 7 to win the series.

That's something to draw on, second baseman Dustin Pedroia said.

"We've been here before," he said Tuesday after the Rays took a 3-1 series lead with a 13-4 rout following a 9-1 win the previous night. "It's definitely not easy to come back with the way the last two games went. But I think you really find out what your team is made of when your back is to the wall."

Daisuke Matsuzaka, who blanked the Rays through six innings in Game 1, goes tonight. Beckett, one of the greatest pitchers in postseason history before last Saturday night's Game 2 shellacking, would pitch Game 6 in St. Petersburg. Jon Lester, 3-0 with an 0.90 ERA against Tampa Bay during the regular season, would pitch a seventh game.

Ortiz spoke Wednesday about not assuming the series is over.

"We've been there twice already down 3-1," he said. "And now I have two rings hanging in my house."