Mussina, pitching on seven days' rest since losing the first-round opener against Minnesota, wasn't sharp at all, allowing three homers in a game for only the second time this year -- and for the first time in 13 postseason starts. He dropped to 4-4 in postseason play.
While Mussina didn't allow any runs in the second inning, he labored, going to 2-0 counts on four batters, including 3-0 on three.
Boston finally broke through in the fourth. Ramirez reached on a one-hopper to the right side that Mussina just managed to deflect .
Ortiz, who had been 0-for-20 against Mussina, fell behind 0-2, worked the count full and then homered into the front of the right-field upper deck.
Walker made it 3-0 when he led off the fifth with a drive high off the foul pole in right field. While right-field umpire Angel Hernandez signaled it was foul, he was immediately overruled by plate umpire Tim McClelland -- also behind the plate 20 years ago when he took a home run away from George Brett, a call later reversed by AL president Lee MacPhail.
Josh, an 18-year-old from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, who refused to give his last name, said the ball hit his right palm, which was red, and dropped straight down and didn't hit the pole.
"It was a foul ball by at least six inches," he said.
Two batters later, Ramirez homered on a drive that just cleared the right-field wall and a leaping Juan Rivera. Kevin Millar added an RBI single off reliever Jeff Nelson in the seventh for a 5-0 lead.
Wakefield, who improved to 3-0 in LCS play, took a two-hit shutout into the seventh but walked his first two batters and was replaced by Alan Embree. Jorge Posada hit an RBI double and Hideki Matsui followed with a sacrifice fly, but Aaron Boone and Nick Johnson flied out.
Mike Timlin pitched the eighth, and Scott Williamson closed out the ninth for the save.
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