Johnny Damon's struggles in the ALCS has done little to slow the Red Sox's march toward postseason history. AP

BOSTON -- By all rights, the Red Sox should have died their typical, agonizing Red Sox postseason death days ago. Or, if not then, sometime around the top of the 177th inning on Monday night.

But there's nothing right about this American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and Yankees, and there's nothing typical about this Boston team. No other Red Sox team has battled like this one has in the past two looooong nights at Fenway Park, staving off all-but-certain postseason elimination in two painfully satisfying games.

"I think most teams would have succumbed to the pressures and folded," agreed Boston speedster Dave Roberts, whose only ascertainable role in this series, so far, is designated speedster. "We have a bunch of guys who are fighters."

The Red Sox have pulled out of an 0-3 disaster in this best-of-seven ALCS to force a Game 6 in New York on Tuesday night, and they have done it in historic form. First it was the 12-inning marathon in Game 4, won in the wee hours of Monday morning with a David Ortiz walkoff home run.

And then, Monday night in Game 5, the Sox outdid themselves in a 14-inning job, lasting a record five hours and 49 minutes, finished finally when Ortiz dropped a bloop single into center field for a 5-4 win.

The Red Sox are fighters, certainly -- is there another explanation? -- but they're fighting themselves plenty, too. They frittered away a 2-0 lead in Game 5 before finally tying the score at 4-4 in the eighth inning. And then they blew chance after chance after chance for no other reason, it seemed, than for the sake of drama.

In the ninth, Johnny Damon's leadoff single went to waste when he was caught stealing. In the 10th, the Sox couldn't capitalize on a one-out double. In the 11th, they got back-to-back singles to open the inning, but Damon couldn't get down a bunt and Orlando Cabrera hit into an inning-ending double play.

In the 12th, against the absolute last man in the Yankees' bullpen, Esteban Loaiza, Ortiz worked a one-out walk and then was thrown out trying to steal second. (Never mind that he may have been safe. Trying to steal second then, especially from a guy who has attempted only six steals in his eight-year career, was folly.)

In the 13th inning, the Sox went quietly, though they had to stave off a Yankees rally that put men on second and third with two outs in the top of that inning to get to that point.

Then, finally, in the 14th inning, Ortiz delivered the Sox and their fans from the longest game in postseason history (this, after a 5:02 session in Game 4) with a two-out bloop single that drove in Damon from second base. Ortiz fouled off eight two-strike pitches before dropping the game-winner into centerfield for his second winning hit in as many nights.

"Is there a hitter in baseball you'd rather have up in that situation?" asked Theo Epstein, the young general manager of the Sox. "To me, that's one of the greatest games ever played."

The last two nights have been incredible -- not to mention incredibly draining. In these two nights, in the most hyped rivalry in American sports, the Yankees and Red Sox have combined for almost 11 hours of tense postseason baseball that has included 26 innings, 45 hits and 25 different appearances from 17 different pitchers who threw 883 pitches.

And the Red Sox, perhaps most incredibly, have won both games.

"This team has done something the past two days that should go down in history as an incredible accomplishment," Boston's Gabe Kapler said. "And what David Ortiz has done is miraculous. He's carried us on his shoulders."

If it weren't for Ortiz, in fact, the Sox may have died that Red Sox death days ago. The Red Sox have had two starts from Pedro Martinez in this series and he has yet to figure in a decision (he started Monday's game). They have another start, in Game 1, from Curt Schilling, and he lost.

Their leadoff hitter, Damon, is having what he describes as the worst series of his life (he's hitting just .083). Second baseman Mark Bellhorn is hitting just .150, with 10 strikeouts in 20 at-bats. The team's No. 5 hitter, Kevin Millar, is hitting just .176. No. 3 hitter Manny Ramirez is has yet to drive in a run. Their pitching staff has a 7.06 ERA (thanks, largely, to a 19-8 loss in Game 3).

Yet the Sox have the Yankees reeling as the two teams head back to New York, and Boston has its ace, Schilling, starting Game 6. Schilling lasted only three innings in Game 1 because of a bad ankle, but he's says he's healthy and ready to go.

"This is like Round 13 of a 15-round prize fight right now, two heavyweights," Schilling said. "It was unbelievable.

"It's something special. I just want to be a part of it ..."

No team in baseball history has ever so much as forced a Game 7 after trailing 0-3 in a best-of-seven series. But now the Sox -- as unlikely and atypical a team as ever would have a chance at it -- are a night, and a win, away.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.