Relive Game 5 of the ’04 ALCS on MLB Network

BOSTON -- You can call Game 5 of the 2004 American League Championship Series the somewhat forgotten classic.

Perhaps lost in the shadow of Game 4 (Dave Roberts' steal, David Ortiz's walk-off homer), Game 6 (Curt Schilling’s bloody sock) and Game 7 (Johnny Damon’s two-homer, six-RBI barrage), Game 5 isn’t mentioned as much as it should be.

But make no mistake about it -- Game 5 was the most heart-pounding, nail-biting and drama-filled of the four games the Red Sox won in succession to stun the Yankees in historic fashion.

And viewers will have a chance to re-live the epic 14-inning thriller -- a 5-4 win by Boston -- on Monday at 1 p.m. ET on MLB Network.

You probably remember that Ortiz took his legend to another level by producing his second walk-off in as many days -- a 10-pitch at-bat with six foul balls that the big slugger culminated with a flare of an RBI single into center with two strikes and two outs in the 13th.

“Damon running to the plate!” Joe Buck told viewers on FOX. “And he can keep on running to New York. Game 6, tomorrow night!”

But here are elements you might have forgotten.

• Pedro Martínez dusting Hideki Matsui with a high and tight pitch in the fifth that sent a message to the Yankees to stop being so comfortable at the plate. To that point, Matsui had been 12-for-21 in the series. “We had to do it,” Martínez would say years later. “He was feeling too comfortable. He needed to go back. And I made a statement.”

• Trot Nixon making two sliding catches in right, the second one with the bases loaded and two outs against Matsui in the sixth. If the liner by Matsui fell, the Yankees would have extended their 4-2 lead to at least 6-2.

• Papi -- who else? -- leading the charge back with a towering shot off a sign behind the Monster Seats against Tom Gordon in the eighth.

• This fortuitous bounce for the Red Sox on a Tony Clark double into the corner in right in the ninth against Boston closer Keith Foulke. You see, the ball made an ever-so-gentle bounce in the stands, making it a ground-rule double. Rubén Sierra, who easily would have scored, was sent back to third. If the ball had bounced the other way, the game might have never made it into extra innings.

• Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield’s signature pitch being so unpredictable on this day that catcher Jason Varitek had three passed balls in the top of the 13th. But with the game hanging in the balance, Varitek squeezed extra tight on the strikeout pitch to Sierra.

In addition to the Game 5 re-watch, MLB Network will showcase Game 4 from that ‘04 ALCS as part of the "MLB’s 20 Greatest Games" series at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET on Monday.

During that show, Bob Costas is in studio with Tom Verducci and Kevin Millar analyzing several key moments from that game, which ranked at No. 17 on MLB’s Top 20 list.