Gagne is in right place at right time

Statistically this might not have been Eric Gagne’s best season, what with the two losses, three blown saves and 6.75 earned-run average in less than 19 innings with the Red Sox. But all that was forgotten when Gagne’s teammates mobbed him on the mound after he retired pinch-hitter Robb Quinlan to close out Boston’s division series sweep of the Angels on Sunday.

“I’ve had the best year of my life so far,” said Gagne, who converted a record 84 consecutive save chances with the Dodgers but never pitched in a postseason win before Sunday. “I’ve never made it that far in the playoffs. That’s all I care about. You can have the best year and not make it in the playoffs.

“Just to be here . . . enjoying it right now is pretty unbelievable.”

Gagne gave up the Angels’ only run in the ninth inning of Boston’s 9-1 victory but said his biggest challenge might have been trying to avoid the celebration on the mound after the final out.

“I tried to stay out of the pile because I didn’t want to get hurt,” he said with a laugh. “I’m just honored to be here. It’s unbelievable. It’s fun.

“That’s the only reason why I wanted to be here. I wanted to be on a great team, a winning team and a world championship team. And now we’re a step closer to what we really want to do, win a World Series.”

Speedy outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury spent most of the season toiling anonymously in the minor leagues, but Sunday he found himself standing in the middle of the Red Sox clubhouse celebration, his hair matted by champagne and his T-shirt dripping with beer.

“Ah, this is awesome. It just keeps on getting better,” said Ellsbury, who entered Sunday’s game as a pinch-runner and scored in the eighth.

“This is a great experience. I’m just learning, taking it in.”

Except for the obvious exception of Ellsbury, most of the Red Sox have been through a champagne celebration before, so Sunday’s was relatively tame.

“We’ve got to pace ourselves,” General Manager Theo Epstein said. “We’ve got hopefully a couple more of these.”

The Red Sox had their moments, though. Manny Ramirez hid up a hallway with a plastic bucket of ice water, jumping out and soaking unsuspecting passers-by. And when closer Jonathan Papelbon ran out of champagne, he began pouring beer on anyone he could find, including a couple of journalists.

“This stuff really stings your eyes,” Mike Lowell said after being driven to the corner of the clubhouse by a spray of champagne to the face.

By making short work of the Angels, the Red Sox will have played only three games in 11 days when they open the American League Championship Series at Fenway Park on Friday. But Epstein doesn’t think that will be an issue.

“I think we play well with rest. I think we demonstrated that this round,” he said. “We know we’ll be rested, we’ll be healthy. We’ll be able to stay sharp. We have the ability to throw a [simulated] game here and there.

“With this team I think being rested is probably more important than the fear of being a little bit rusty. I think we’ll be able to shake off that rust with the adrenaline that we have going.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com