David Ortiz homered in the 10th inning to send the Boston Red Sox into their second consecutive AL Championship Series, completing a three-game sweep of the Anaheim Angels with an 8-6 victory Friday.

Ortiz also had a pair of doubles as Boston rode starter Bronson Arroyo to a five-run lead after six innings. But Vladimir Guerrero hit a grand slam to tie it 6-all in the seventh and send the game to extra innings.

Derek Lowe, bounced from the rotation after a horrible stretch run, got out of a first-and-third jam in the top of the 10th and earned the win. Losing pitcher Francisco Rodriguez gave up a leadoff single to Johnny Damon in the bottom half; two outs later, Angels manager Mike Scioscia brought in Game 1 starter Jarrod Washburn for the lefty-lefty matchup against Ortiz.

Ortiz hit the first pitch over the Green Monster to send the Fenway Park crowd into pandemonium.

"I just (didn't) feel like going back to California," he said.

With the sweep, the Red Sox have four days to rest for the ALCS that starts Tuesday. Their opponent will be either the archrival New York Yankees or the Minnesota Twins; they were tied one game apiece as the series moved to Minneapolis for Game 3 Friday night.

"We want to get to the World Series, whichever way we have to," Arroyo said.

Last year's Red Sox used the theme "Cowboy Up" in the regular season, before they went belly up in the playoffs against the Yankees. Center fielder Johnny Damon declared this week that they were down on "Cowboy Up" and instead were just "idiots" with bad hair and dirty uniforms who were out for fun on the field.

Manny Ramirez and first baseman Kevin Millar took a victory lap in the outfield after the game, spraying champagne on fans and hugging in the outfield.

"It's like a big frat house," Damon said during the postgame celebration. "We have a lot of fun. We enjoy each other."

Ortiz, Boston's happy-go-lucky MVP candidate, could be chapter chairman. He doubled and scored when Boston took a 2-0 lead in the third, then doubled in a run in the fourth when Boston made it 5-1.

It was 6-1 in the seventh before Mike Timlin walked Darin Erstad with the bases loaded. Guerrero, also a leading MVP candidate after propelling Anaheim to the AL West title, tied the game with a dramatic shot to right-center.

Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings and struck out Ramirez for the second out in the 10th, but Scioscia went with Washburn, who allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings to take the loss in the series opener.

He was making his first relief appearance since 1999.

"Frankie was at a high pitch count. I think he was getting tired," Scioscia said. "With a young arm like Frankie's, I think you want to err on the side of caution."

Anaheim, which has lost seven consecutive games to Boston, failed to make a serious run at repeating its World Series title of 2002 despite a free agent spending spree that brought Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar and Jose Guillen.

The Angels will get no sympathy from Boston, which has been hoping to repeat its magical year of 1918 since Babe Ruth was shipped to the Yankees.

Should the Yankees advance, it would give the Red Sox a chance for revenge against the team that has won 26 World Series since Boston last won it all. The Yankees knocked the Red Sox out of the ALCS last year when Pedro Martinez couldn't hold a three-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 and Aaron Boone homered in the 11th to send New York to the World Series.

Either the Yankees or Twins will have to face co-aces Curt Schilling and Martinez in Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS. But maybe they should worry about Arroyo. The 27-year-old Pittsburgh castoff pitched six innings of three-hit ball and was given a thunderous ovation from the sold-out crowd at Fenway Park when he left after walking the leadoff batter with a 6-1 lead in the seventh.

The Angels hadn't been swept in a playoff series before, but it was the third time they lost three straight. Milwaukee won three in a row after falling behind 2-0 in the 1982 ALCS, and the Red Sox won three straight after falling behind 3-1 in the '86 ALCS.

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