wildyams

I haven't blogged much lately, but really other than going up to Oregon last weekend for my cousin Matt's wedding (which I should probably blog about at some point), there hasn't been a whole lot going on other than me just watching a lot of baseball. Last weekend the Red Sox opened the playoffs against the Angels and swept them in three games and as such have been off all week waiting for the next round to start, which it will today at 4 pm against the Cleveland Indians. Games 1 and 3 of the first round were pretty resounding Red Sox wins with Josh Beckett being absolutely unhittable in Game 1 while pitching a Game 1 shutout and with the Red Sox trouncing the Angels 9-1 in Game 3 to close them out behind 7 shutout innings from Curt Shilling.

Game 2, on the other hand, was very dramatic, and unfortunately I had to miss most of it because I was having a pre-wedding dinner with all my cousin's family and friends (which was great, btw). However, my Dad and I kept sneaking off here and there during the dinner to go check out the TV in the bar which had the game on, and luckily we were there in time to watch the whole bottom of the 9th inning, which was really the best part to see. The game was tied 3-3 and the Red Sox had already used closer Jonathan Papelbon for the last two innings, so they would probably have had to go to someone else if the game had continued into extra innings. The Angels didn't start the 9th inning with their closer in, but after Julio Lugo got a lead-off hit and was then moved to second on a sacrifice by Dustin Pedroia and a strikeout by Kevin Youkilis, the Angels brought their closer in to face David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. The Angels ended up intentionally walking David Ortiz, which you can't really argue with because he's arguably the best clutch hitter in baseball in the last decade or two, but this gave them the unfortunate alternative of facing future Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez instead. They could have walked Manny to load the bases if they'd wanted, although that would have brought up Mike Lowell who led the Sox in RBIs this year, and with Lugo on 3rd it would have meant a wild pitch would have lost the game for the Angels, so they decided to take their chances with Manny.

Manny hit the second pitch of the at bat 447 feet over the Green Monster in left field for the walk-off game-winning 3-run home run. A couple interesting things about this: This was the first home run for Manny since he came back from being injured for about a month near the end of the year (he hit another one in Game 3 showing his power is definitely back). This was the first walk-off home run of Manny's career with the Red Sox (during which he's hit over 200 home runs). This was the third longest home run hit in Fenway Park this year by anyone. Here's a short video of the home run as seen by the fans in Fenway:

In other baseball news the hated Yankees lost in 4 games to the Cleveland Indians, despite the supreme confidence of all Yankee fans that they'd win that series and the fact that the Yankees spent three times as much on payroll as the Indians did this year. The Yankees once again had a phenomenal offense this year, but their pitching was awful all year and it really killed them against Cleveland, who sports two 19 game winners in CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. The Indians are going to be a very difficult opponent for the Red Sox because their pitching and relief pitching is so good (their closer is suspect though), and because they have a balanced offensive attack. The Red Sox have home field advantage and should be slightly favored though, so I'm hopeful that they'll be able to pull it out. They certainly seem to be peaking at the right time, although so do the Indians. Both of the National League teams shouldn't be nearly as good as the Red Sox or the Indians are, so whomever wins the ALCS should probably win it all.

Last night the Red Sox completed another big comeback in the American League Championship Series by defeating the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 after falling behind in the series three games to one last week. While I was nervous after the Red Sox lost Games 2, 3 and 4, I did still have a fair amount of confidence that they had at least a decent shot of pulling it off for a few reasons. Josh Beckett pitched in Game 5 and it's getting to the point that whenever he pitches for the Red Sox it's almost a guaranteed win as none of the games he's pitched have really even been close and he is so consistently dominant that any mistake at all is really a surprise. So if the Sox could pull off another win behind Beckett in Game 5 then they would have recaptured Home Field Advantage with Curt Shilling pitching in Game 6. Shilling has the best winning percentage of any pitcher in MLB history in the postseason and is undefeated in elimination games so I liked the Red Sox's chances there, especially back in Fenway Park. If those two were both Red Sox wins then it would come down to a Game 7 in which the Red Sox could throw every pitcher out there if need be (Beckett included). So even down 3-1 I still had a lot of hope. Well it turns out I was right to have that hope and confidence because the Red Sox did in fact win the final three games by a combined margin of 30-5, sending the Indians off into the summer, and that's what I'd like to talk about.

See, back in 2004 when the Red Sox defeated the Yankees to advance to the World Series, it was doubly sweet not just for finally beating the MFYs but for doing it in such a historic fashion that forever will have them labeled as the biggest chokers in the history of sports. The Yankees were up three games to none after having just beaten the Red Sox 18-9 in Game 3 in Fenway and were poised to add yet another notch in their belt, so to speak, with an assumed sweep of the Red Sox, the team they always beat. But the Red Sox became the first team to come back from 0-3 in a series and even force a 7th game, and then in that Game 7, in Yankee Stadium no less, they blew out the Yankees and celebrated on their field. It was, bar none, the sweetest thing that Red Sox fans could have asked for because finally the Yankees and all their arrogant fans got to be on the other end of a humiliating loss that feels like a punch in the stomach.

But this time the victory is very much bittersweet because the Indians are most assuredly not the Yankees. In fact, the Indians are in many ways the antithesis of the Yankees. The Indians are really very much like what the Red Sox were back in 2003: a team that hasn't won anything in a long, long time. Now watching this series I certainly hated the Indians and didn't like hearing their first baseman, Ryan Garko, say that champagne would taste just as good in Boston as it would have in Cleveland (after the Red Sox won Game 5), and I don't have any sympathy for the Indian players who got to wake up today multi-millionaires and who probably only have any allegiance to the Indians as long as they're getting paid; but that's not really what this is about. Today, as good as I feel about the Red Sox making it back to the World Series for the second time in 4 years, I feel really horrible for Cleveland fans.

See, Cleveland sports fans arguably have had more heartache in the last 50 years than sports fans in any other city, and while Bostonians may have been long-suffering Red Sox fans for decade after decade at the very least they had the Celtics (16 World Championships) to root for for many years, and more recently had the New England Patriots dynasty to help them with their problems. Cleveland, on the other hand, hasn't had a championship of any kind since 1964 and has had its most famous sports moments come to be known for their infamy. Things like The Drive (in which the Broncos mounted a last minute comeback to defeat the Browns) or The Shot (in which Michael Jordan nailed a season-ending jumper over the Cavaliers) are what have defined Cleveland sports for the last few decades; and now after blowing a 3-1 series lead this week reporters have decided to add The Collapse to that list.

While I would never have considered myself a "long-suffering Red Sox fan", my Dad and my Grandfather most certainly were, and as someone who has seen that kind of heartbreak over and over and felt for those who had to endure it, I know how miserable that can be. So my heart really goes out to Indian fans. The only consolation I can give them is that Red Sox fans everywhere felt probably even more dejected following Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, but look at how quickly fortunes can change.

Thankfully the Rockies haven't even been a franchise long enough for anyone to feel sorry for their fans if they lose in the World Series to the Red Sox :)

After going 86 years without a championship the Red Sox now have won two in the last 4 years (this time breaking the dreaded Curse Of Relief Pitcher Curtis Leskanic). I went over to my Dad's place last night to watch Game 4 as the Red Sox completed the sweep over the Colorado Rockies. I don't have a whole lot to say other than it was great to be there with him this time when the Sox won it all (last time we talked on the phone immediately after it was over). The Red Sox are really threatening to become a dynasty having won 2 of the last 4 and with a ton of great, young talent. The other big news in baseball was that Alex Rodriguez decided to opt out of his contract with the MFYs which led to Yankee ownership basically telling him to get lost. As a Red Sox fan it's great to not only see another Sox Championship, but to also see the "Evil Empire" appear to be crumbling before our very eyes. Good times. Anyway, here's a funny picture of Jonathan Papelbon leaping in the air after recording the last strike of the year for baseball in 2007: