McAdam: Fittingly, Mookie Betts leads the way in clincher

NEW YORK -- After falling short in their first two tries, the Red Sox were not about to get picky. They needed one more win to wrap up the American League East title, and frankly, they didn't care how they did it, or who the hero was going to be.

It could have been any one of the September call-ups, coming off the bench for some late-inning pinch-hit magic.

But it wasn't. It was Mookie Betts, and that is more than a little fitting.

Betts has been the Red Sox bellwether all season. It's appropriate that he's the team's leadoff hitter because he helps get the offense started. And on a night when the Sox had stumbled awkwardly in their first two attempts to cement the division title, they needed someone to lead the way.

That someone was Betts, who led off the game with the first hit and scored the first run. Then he knocked in two more. Later, he doubled again and scored another. And finally, to push the game so far out of reach that not even the Red Sox bullpen could put in jeopardy, he clubbed a three-run homer in the eighth.

In big games, teams need their best players to produce. Betts seemed to demonstrate that point emphatically Thursday night in Yankee Stadium.

When they needed a hit to get them going, he provided. When they needed someone to come up with a big hit with runners in scoring position -- something they failed to do repeatedly in the first two games of the series -- he did that, too. After they had fallen behind, he helped begin the comeback. And when they needed some security in the late innings, he did that, too.

"He showed up when we needed him,'' said teammate Andrew Benintendi, "and he's been there all year. Mookie sets the table and he definitely did that tonight.''

Notoriously modest, Betts allowed himself some satisfaction for a job well done, but predictably, cloaked it under the guise of a collective achievement.

"I've had some good games,'' he cautiously allowed. "I just do what I can to help the team win. But there was joy in the moment.''

Was there ever. Especially in the eighth inning.

Given how the series had gone, a two-run lead was hardly comforting to the Red Sox. They had six outs still to record, and that hardly seemed like a sure thing at the time. But when Betts hammered a long fly ball into the seats in left, the Red Sox dugout celebrated madly, jumping up on down and pounding the protective railing.

The rest was a mere formality.

Betts had hardly come into Thursday on a roll. To the contrary, he came out of Sunday's game with some soreness in his side and was kept out of the lineup due to Tuesday's wet conditions. On Wednesday, he appeared tentative in an 0-for-4 performance.

But the outfielder met with manager Alex Cora after Wednesday's loss. Cora sensed Betts may have been pressing of late as he closed in on his 30th homer. He hadn't hit one this month. So Cora reminded Betts to be his aggressive self, but to do so only within the strike zone.

It was the same sort of message that Cora first delivered last winter, when he presented Betts with what sounded like a contradictory message: be my leadoff hitter and be more aggressive.

At first, Betts didn't understand the dichotomy. After all, weren't leadoff hitters supposed to be patient, work the count and walk a lot?

Not in the modern game, they're not, Cora explained. He wanted Betts to swing at good pitches -- even if they were early in the count -- and do damage. Betts took the suggestion to heart and enjoyed his best season.

And now, one win shy of clinching, Cora delivered the same message as a refresher course.

"He repeatedly tells me there's no doubt in his mind that I'm the best player in the league,'' said Betts in the champagne-soaked visitor's clubhouse. "Obviously, that's a confidence-booster. Getting that from the top guy in the clubhouse is definitely good.''

And, that confidence helped Betts become the top guy in the lineup and the top guy on the field.

Then, on a night when they needed him to demonstrate that one more time, he did.