BOSTON -- "We're not getting eliminated tonight.''

That had been Angels manager Mike Scioscia's promise before Sunday night's game.

He had said before the game that this series could turn on a dime, that being down 0-2 was not the end of the season, never mind the end of the world. He had said how he simply wanted to get back to playing the kind of baseball that had enabled the Angels to finish with 100 wins, the kind of baseball that a week ago had them considered the favorite to beat the Red Sox and move on in these playoffs.

The kind of baseball people seemed to forget they were capable of playing after they came out in the first two games and immediately jumped into a hole they couldn't climb out of, looing like a facsimile of the team that had played so well in the regular season.

"We want to bring the team we saw this summer,'' Scioscia said.

He had talked about how the Angels had been hurt in the first two games by the inability of the bottom third of the order to be productive, how all season long the Angels had a deep lineup and how that was essential against the excellent pitching of the Red Sox. He said how important it was to get runners on base before there were two outs, the kinds of situations that puts pressure on opposing pitchers.

And he had been emphatic going into Sunday night's game.

"We're not getting eliminated tonight,'' he vowed.

And then, just in case, everyone didn't get the message, he said it again, with even more emphasis.

"We're not getting eliminated.''

So Sunday night was the pride game for the Angels, the one that avoids the ignominy of being swept, regardless of how it all eventually plays out.

But Scioscia also knew that winning this series was going to be an uphill climb, that starting off 0-2 against the Red Sox was not exactly a desirable formula. Especially when they had to face Josh Beckett, the same Josh Beckett who has all but owned the playoffs he's been in.

That was what faced the Angels Sunday night.

But it was apparent from the beginning that this was not going to be the Beckett of legend in the playoffs. By the time the first half of the first inning was over he'd already had thrown 30 pitches, the game 22 minutes old, and the Sox were down 1-0. If it had been theater they would have called it foreshadowing,

It was apparent that Beckett wasn't sharp, out of rhythm. He was taking a long time between pitches, Jason Varitek was forever going out to the mound, pitching coach John Farrell came out to pay a visit, and you didn't have to have a degree in Pitching 101 to realize that this was not his night.

The oblique problem that forced Beckett out of opening up this series in Anaheim?

Rust?

Or just one of those days when nothing is rhymin'?

Take your pick.

He was out after five innings, down 4-3, having given up two home runs to that contemporary Babe Ruth known as Mike Napoli, in the worst start of his postseason career.

But this game still had a lot of game left,

So here we were in the eighth inning, the game tied at 4-4 and turning into a chess match, complete with relievers coming out of the bullpen as if it were rush hour. Manny Delcarmen. Hideki Okajima. Justin Masterson. By this time it had become one of those grind games, the Sox hoping to close it out, the Angels hoping to live for another night.

A game that had become the essence of playoff baseball, the tension ratcheting up.

By the top of the 10th the game was over four hours long, and had become like a heavyweight fight with both fighters tired and hanging onto each other, had become as much a matter of will as anything else. And the Red Sox only had five hits, with three of their runs coming on Jacoby Ellsbury's second-inning popup that somehow fell into center field.

This was a game they were going to win?

This was a game they were fortunate to be in.

No matter.

By the 12th inning both Jonathan Papelbon and K-Rod had come and gone, and still the game went on. By this time it was five hours long and counting, and when the Angels finally went ahead in the top of the 12th they had lived for another day.

Scioscia had been right after all.

The Angels were not going to be eliminated.

Not Sunday night anyway.