But the Red Sox also have the lumber, and they proved it again in this series. Unlike the Angels, who have to rely on generating runs in small increments through elbow grease, hustle, good fortune and prayer, Boston can light it up and bust open a game with sudden ferocity. For Angels fans, it was probably the ideal message to their club’s brass, a PowerPoint presentation to the corporate heads about what is possible if one only uses some imagination and parts with a little extra cash.

“Those guys are very special,” Lowell said of Big Papi and Manny. “When you’re in big games and you need your big bats, they have come through time and time again.

We’ll have to keep leaning on them if we want to go all the way.”

Just about every baseball club these days pops champagne after every significant postseason development — gaining the playoffs, winning the division series, winning the championship series, winning the World Series. Investing in champagne stock at this time of year is probably the wisest move on Wall Street.

So it was no surprise to see the Red Sox erupt late Sunday in a bacchanal of bubbly. There was first baseman Kevin Youkilis madly shaking a bottle and spraying it in a 360-degree guyser. There was prankster Manny, filling a tub with ice water, then sneaking up on several unsuspecting teammates. When the champagne ran out, they used cans of beer.

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It may seem typical, but it isn’t. This was a team that had arrived at a crescendo of camaraderie, after a year of uncertainty and injuries. Manny wasn’t right much of the year. The Red Sox had to justify the price tag for Daisuke Matsuzaka. They had to justify the price tag for J.D. Drew, which may have been an even tougher task.

But on Sunday, they let loose. And after a few days of rest and contemplation before the championship series starts, they hope the good times continue to roll.

“”We’re playing good defense, we’re pitching good,” shortstop Julio Lugo said. “We’re hitting the ball when it counts.”

Red Sox Nation may turn out to be the greatest country in the world, at least as far as this 2007 baseball season is concern.