Tom Brady and the New England Patriots never apologized for capitalizing on Walt Coleman's "Tuck Rule" determination back in the "Snow Bowl during that magical 2001 Super Bowl run.
Sunday night, the Red Sox correctly followed suit.
Even with the energy circulating throughout Fenway Park thanks to Christian Vazquez's 13th-inning, two-run, walk-off homer, the buzz was still about a controversial umpire ruling.
The Rays weren't allowed to score because Hunter Renfroe inadvertently kicked Kevin Kiermaier's blast off the right-field wall into the Red Sox' bullpen. It seemed odd, but ultimately it was the correct call. (For an explanation, click here.)
It's why this question was asked of Kiké Hernandez and Vazquez after the Red Sox' 6-4, Game 3 win ...
Question: "The question is for both of you ... Do you consider yourselves lucky today to get this win?"
Hernandez: "No."
Question: "Why not?"
Hernandez: "Because we played a good game. I mean, play a good game and play the elements, we took care of home-field advantage, came our way. We did what we had to do to win the game. Got big hits, got big homers."
Vazquez: "I'm the same. No, we're not lucky. I think we did everything. We pitch, we bunt. Everybody put something on the table to win this game, and we won. So, yeah."
Their assessment was correct. As much as Game 1 was a blueprint of how the Rays won Game 1, this one spoke to the Red Sox' formula.
It was 5-hours, 14-minutes of resiliency. Not perfection, but flat-out, hang-in-there-just-long-enough resiliency.
"The whole season's been a grind, to be honest with you," Hernandez admitted. "We've dealt with a lot, and it seems like every time people are -- it just surprises people. We're going to grind it out. We're going to be relentless. We're going to do whatever it takes to win a ballgame. We've been able to do that, and we're sitting here in a really good spot to win a series against one of the best teams in the American League, if not the best team the last two years.
"That was a heck of a ballgame tonight. I don't want that play to take away from what this game was on both sides. Both teams played a helluva game. This is what October is all about. These are the games you expect to play and to win when you think about October. Luckily, we were able to take care of business tonight, and we're looking forward to tomorrow."
Marathon Monday is looking a whole lot rosier because of the business that was taken care of - both before after the play that forced umpiring crew chief Sam Holbrook to participate in a postgame press conference.
Starter Nathan Eovaldi was nails once again, retiring 13 of the 15 batters he faced after surrendering a first-inning homer to Austin Meadows.
Relievers Josh Taylor, Ryan Brasier, Austin Davis, Garrett Whitlock and Nick Pivetta didn't allow a run over their collective 7 1/3 innings. (Hansel Robles was the outlier, ultimately leaving his rocky eight-inning outing - in which he allowed the Rays to tie things up at 4-4 - while suffering some sort of sickness, according to manager Alex Cora.)
Kyle Schwarber continued to be the straw that stirs this postseason drink, answering the Rays' first-inning scores with a leadoff homer of his own in the first.
Hernandez continued to be absolute fire, following up his four-hit effort in Game 2 with three hits this time around, including a home run. For the series, the centerfielder is now 8-for-16, having tied the Red Sox record for most extra-base hits (5) in a single postseason series.
Christian Arroyo not only contributed with three hits, but managed to sneak in an inning-ending tag of Manuel Margot after the Rays outfielder ever-so-slightly over-slid second base on a steal attempt in the 10th inning.
And then there was Vazquez.
The 2021 season hasn't gone exactly how Vazquez planned, no doubt. His production was down, and so was his playing time as September rolled around. But in the last couple of weeks, nobody has come up with more key hits.
This time, Vazquez - one of the team's best fastball hitters - waited on the pitch he was banking on coming from Tampa Bay's Luis Patino - a first-pitch fastball - and sent it flying 394 feet over the left-field wall.
"I saw the first two at-bats of J.D. (Martinez) and (Hunter) Renfroe, and he was starting with fastball," Vazquez explained. "It was 97, 98 (mph). I was looking to hit that velo in front and get a good swing."
"He's been working hard on his swing lately," Alex Cora said of Vazquez. "He's been doing a lot of the things that he did in 2019. He's been hitting the ball hard."
There is no getting around that Renfroe's leg might have helped save the Red Sox' season. But there are a lot of reasons it ever got to that point, and those were put on display for 13 innings Sunday night.
"The biggest thing is that we didn't quit," Schwarber said. "We knew that the last six whatever games we played, going down to the wire, the hardest thing was getting in. We all knew what was at stake. We just had to get in. After that, all it was was just going out there and executing and take the result.
"We've done a fantastic job offensively, defensively, pitching, executing, things like that. We're picking each other up. That's the biggest thing. For the game like that to unravel how it was, obviously, one, it's not ideal. But two, you see what Nicky does. You see what C does there at the end. It was big. It puts us in a really good situation, and we just have to be able to go out there tomorrow. It's not over. Yeah, great win. It's not over. We need to go out there tomorrow and take care of business."
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