Sox Win!!!

Expansion dream - Boston Sports Blog

Unreal. Another World Series championship.

As Eric Wilbur writes, it is not the same as 2004 and nothing ever will be. But this is sweet!

Pulling for Lester and the Red Sox...

Boston Red Sox - Extra Bases - Red Sox blog - Boston.com

Not wanting to jinx anything, I won't count my chickens before they hatch. But it is incredible that the Sox are on the verge of their second World Series victory in three years! My father waited his whole life for one and never saw it. My grandfather was at Fenway for the 1918 series and never saw them win again. I waited decades...

But here they are, up 3-0 in the series and with a made-for-tv-movie story in the making tonight. Cancer survivor Jon Lester takes the mound and could potentially be the winning pitcher in the clinching game. Unreal.

So far the Series has been a bit anticlimactic. Other than the 2-1 victory in game 2, the games have been dominated by the Sox. And there's an air of destiny about this team, like the 2004 version. they are happy, goofy even, and relaxed. Just taking it one game at a time. Francona has been brilliant at times in his game management and seems to do an even better job in the clubhouse. He's by far the best manager of the Sox in my lifetime.

The young guys - Pedroia and Ellsbury - have been spectacular. It will be good to be Jacoby this offseason - young, good looking, charming, and the hero of the World Series. Boston will be his city!

It is definitely not as nerve wracking as '04. That championship took care of so much baggage and anxiety. Now it's just a hunger for another. I almost feel like Goerge Steinbrenner - anything less than a WS victory is unacceptable with this team and ownership.

I also have to give credit, again, to the ownership and Theo Epstein the GM. Incredible to be back in the Series so quickly - and pretty much on the timetable Theo foresaw. Even more so to be on the verge of another WS sweep. And they did it with a dramatically different team, built around a core from '04 but with lots of new talent from the farm system, trades, and free agency. Theo has made his mistakes, but overall he's been amazing.

So here's hoping for a victory tonight for Jon Lester! I actually could end up going to game 6 or 7 if it goes that far, but I'd rather have the Sox close the deal ASAP in Colorado. Let's just win...

Believe!

Who would have thought that JD Drew of all people would hit the grand slam tonight? Unreal. He's actually having a great ALCS. And Schilling came through in yet another big game in the playoffs.

Dice-K better come up big, as must the bats again. I know that Beckett is going to be available in the 'pen, if necessary, but I hope he's a last resort. Assuming we make the WS - which we will! - we want him rested for game 1. Dice-K needs to be aggressive and challenge hitters. I listened to part of game 3 on a Cleveland radio station and the announcers were wondering why a guy who throws great stuff in the mid-90s doesn't challenge batters more often. As Buster Olney noted on SportsCenter tonight, he seems afraid of contact and nibbles around the edges of the plate. That's what killed Carmona tonight and in game 2. Dice-K has to challenge hitters with his fastball and then use his off-speed stuff to keep them honest and guessing.

As if I'm some kind of expert on pitching, right?

Go Sox!

Ugh... The wheels come off in the 11th...

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox - Boston.com

The Sox had every opportunity to win the 2nd game of the ALCS tonight - but didn't. Cleveland hung in there and in a battle of bullpens came away 13-7 victors. Eric Gagne started the implosion for the Sox, but he had plenty of company after he was yanked; Lopez and Lester were no better. What a shame, since the 'pen had been mostly solid to that point. Manny Delcarmen was not on his game, but Okajima, Timlin, and Papelbon more than made up for it.

When the core of the Sox lineup - Papi, Manny, and Mike Lowell - went down in order in the bottom of the 10th against Mastny, with barely a wimper, things didn't look good for the home team. And the Sox left plenty of men on base tonight.

Even though the Sox couldn't score after the 5th, you'd like to think 6 runs should win a game. We need our starters to do better than Schill did tonight, allowing 5 runs in less than 5 innings. Hopefully Dice-K can give us at least 6 solid innings Monday.

Hopefully the Sox will shake it off on the way to Cleveland and Dice-K will find his early season stuff.

Boston Red Sox - Sox put a chill on Indians in opener - The Boston Globe

Boston Red Sox - Sox put a chill on Indians in opener - The Boston Globe

As Shaugnessy writes, this Sox team is feeling like a team of destiny. Last night's win, against a Cleveland team that handled the tough Yankees with relative ease in 4 games, was awesome! Manny and Papi are dialed in - they are in the zone with no signs of leaving before a parade in downtown Boston later this fall. Beckett, always a tough, hard-throwing force from the mound, is now a smart, patient, tough, hard-throwing force from the mound. He doesn't overthrow like he used to - as recently as last year on a regular basis. He isn't trying to make the perfect pitch all the time, and as a result seems to have amazing control these days. He uses his off-speed pitches with great effectiveness, buckling the knees of otherwise impressive hitters. The bullpen isn't perfect - Gagne continues to remind us of that - but it is avoiding the big mistakes and disastrous innings. They may bend - like Lopez giving up a run or Gagne two hits and a walk - but they don't break.

Of course, it's early - the Sox were down 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS, I know - but there's a feel to this team that is just incredible. It's the feel of destiny...

Manny being Manny...

So we're in the second inning of the ALCS. Manny Ramirez - who drives me nuts - is having a grat game so far. RBI single in the first, great catch to end the top of the 2nd.

They showed his stats with Cleveland and with the Sox - almost the same # of games (a few less with Boston) and the stats are almost identical!!! Is he the most consistent hitter ever?

I really don't get Tito Francona starting Kielty for Drew. I'm no JD Drew fan - I'm not sure after this season one can be a Sox fan AND a Drew fan! - but Kielty's success against Sabathia is old news and Drew has been hot since early September, batting .367 with an OBP of .467 and SLG of .673 over the last 30 days according to the Sox web site.

Tito stuck with Drew all year and benches him now? Of course, it's easy for me to write now - I started this post when Kielty was on deck and then he struck out...

The Yankees lose! Theeee Yankees LOSE!

Game 4 Final: Indians 6, Yankees 3 - Bats - Baseball - New York Times Blog

A Yankees loss is almost as good as a Red Sox win - so I'm pretty darn happy tonight! The Sox move on to the ALCS and the Yankees do not! Now don't get me wrong - I'm not looking forward to Cleveland's pitching in the next round, but I couldn't be happier to see the Yanks go home early. Sweet justice...

I have had enormous respect for Joe Torre's incredible record of success in the 90s - and he seems like a classy guy - but he's been given so many chances with enormous payrolls and All-Star lineups with no WS victory that no one can fault George for finding a new manager.

Red Sox win ALDS!

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox - Boston.com

It's starting to feel like another special year for the Sox... They swept the Angels today and now await the winner of the Yankees-Indians series. Granted, the Angels were pretty beat up, but the Red Sox look like a well-oiled machine, pitching and hitting extremely well. They look confident, relaxed, and determined - much like 2004.

Unlike 2004, I'm not itching for a Red Sox-Yankees ALCS. The need to defeat the Yankees in the playoffs was satisfied in '04 when the Sox humiliated the Yankees by making history and coming back from an 0-3 deficit. Instead, I'm hoping for a Cleveland sweep tonight - it would be so sweet. Already, it's a great night - seeing Roger Clemens leave in the 3rd was nice. And a Yankees defeat would be the perfect way to end a day in which the Pats and Sox won big.

I'll admit that when it comes to the Yankees my usually good nature and kind heart turn cold. Too many memories from '78 and '03, too many Yankee fans and their arrogance pre-2004. Too many chants of "1918" before that incredible World Series victory.

Of course, this could all come back to bite me on the butt. The Yankees could still win tonight and win the ALDS. Or Cleveland could continue its dominant pitching in the ALCS. But for now, I'll enjoy the Sox sweep and hope the Indians brought their brooms to NYC, too...

Sox clinch home field!

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox - Boston.com

Well, it al came together this weekend - finally! After some serious anxiety the past month as th Sox allowed their lead over the Yankees to dwindle, the Sox secured the division and then home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Phew! Now it's on to the dance...

Dice-K appears to have been demoted to the #3 slot in the rotation, with Schilling moving up to #2. In a short series, that's a great 3-man rotation, especially if Dice-K and chill pitch like they did their last outings. And the Angels have been hurting lately - lots of players banged up or coming off injuries. And even JD Drew is on fire! Now that's a good omen! :-)

October baseball in Boston... it has meant so much to me. I went to my first Sox game the last game of the '67 Impossible Dream year - and my dad and grampy went to the home games of the Series - have two of the tickets hanging in my house! The end of the '75 series was the first time I saw my father cry. I was at the Bucky Dent playoff game in '78 - and had been at every game of the horrific September Massacre that led up to that nightmare. The Buckner '86 Series I was living in Mexico, so it was a bit surreal and cloudy for me - thankfully.

The 1999 playoffs were incredibly exciting - rejuvenating my love of the game. 2003 was the worst experience since '78. I was in a bar in NYC with a Yankee fan friend watching game 7 of the ALCS. Screamed when Grady Little left Pedro in the game - I still can't beliee it. And felt my heart being crushed in a staggering case of deja vu, with Aaron Boone playing the role of Bucky Dent.

But then came 2004. Redemption. Rebirth. that season felt special from early on. Things had changed in the fall of '03. Fans no longer fell silent when the chips were down - they got on their feet! '04 began to take on a feeling of a new destiny. The old Shakepearean tragedy or late season collapses was no longer to be. When then Sox swept the ALDS, I WANTED the Yankees in the ALCS! I wanted revenge. I wanted to beat the best. I wanted all the questions answered, all the doubts erased.

Falling 0-3 to the Yankees in the ALCS tested all of our faith, but it seemed like every at bat from game 4 on was like new blood coursing through the collective veins of Red Sox Nation. Looking back, this was the way it as meant to play out - the way it had to play out. To show the Sox fans and the world that the Sox no longer were destined to fall short, ripping out the hearts of their faithful. A new era had been born. The Yankees were the ones to choke, to fall jut short of nirvana. The Sox would prevail.

After that ALCS, the momentum was palpable. A sweep almost inevitable. My friend Martin, who was living in China at the time, called me after the ALCS and asked where I was watching game 1 of the WS. When I told him I'd be right there in my living room, he said it wasn't true: I'd be at Fenway! He had secured tickets to every game and was flying back to Boston. And I was the lucky person who would accompany him to see history being made - game 1 of the first WS the Sox would win in 86 years!

Yawkey Way was incredible! I got there very early to soak it all in. I collected every free thing - signs, magazines, newspapers - people were giving away to commemorate this historic occasion. Martin still gives me crap about all the crap I had in my arms that night. There was so much electricity. If ever I had doubted that the universe is really just made up of eneergy and that we humans can control our own energy, that night should have put it to rest. It felt like Red Sox Nation could power an entire country that night.

We moved inside the Park and found our seats. So there I sat - next to WEEI's Glenn Ordway and his family, right behind the Sox dugout!!! It was a cold, but that didn't matter. I was sitting in the same Park where my grandfather had sat when he watched the Sox win in 1918. I felt like some kind of cosmic family circle was now being completed. My father had lived his whole life and never seen his team win it all. But I would - right here, right now.

Game 1 was by far the most exciting - and high scoring, high energy game. From the introductions on, it felt like a unique moment in time and space. And it was.

The rest, as they say, is history. I passed on going to game 4 in St. Louis (money was tight) and watched at home as the Sox finished the sweep. I couldn't believe it. I cried, I screamed. My cousin Carolyn - who is my Red Sox soulmate - and I spoke on the phone. I was euphporic and a bit sad - my father had never known this joy and relief.

Carolyn and her daughter Tricia and I went to the parade together - extending the joyous celebration.

So here we are - sorry for the long trip down memory lane! But it's amazing what gets triggered when the Sox return to October baseball. Full of hope and possibility. Play ball!

Boston Sports Blog - Boston.com

Boston Sports Blog - Boston.com

Eric Wilbur has a great blog entry about the Sox not wanting the division badly enough - I think he's dead on (see my post below). I've been one of those people talking about how the Cards and Tigers folded last season only to rise again in the playoffs. Hope the Sox can find some of that magic this year!

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox - Boston.com

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox - Boston.com

It's amazing how the Red Sox can bring either euphoria or that feeling of impending vomit. A 14 game lead down to 1 1/2. No sense of urgency or energy behind winning the division and/or securing home field advantage. It's not a winning mentality. If it were quiet confidence I would get it. But it's more like indifference or arrogance at best. And then there's Gagne, who perhaps cares too much and has forgotten how to pitch like a closer. He's just trying to throw heat - and throwing too hard while forgetting about his change-up. He' a mess. And his ineptitude sems to be contagious - Papelbon has caught it!

I am the eternal otpimist, however, and believe that as long as the Sox can get hot in the playoffs all will be well. But that means the bullpen finding it's earler dominance and at least some bats getting hot again.

Soon - please, soon!