“Red Sox, not State”; Or, “No, the W on the Red Cap does NOT stand for Shrub, it stands for the Nationals.”

Amazing.

Ooh, a good point found on SOSH:

2007 ALCS MVP - Josh Beckett

2007 WS MVP - Mike Lowell

Yes, that was a good trade right there.

Game 4, up 3-0, one run lead….

Still nervous. Paps paps paps paps paps….

The Rockies make me nervous. They’ve got that team-of-destiny scent to them that I think we had 3 years ago and the White Sox had 2 years ago. Of course, the Tigers had that scent last year, and that didn’t work out too well for them. They are going to be tough though, for non-metaphorical reasons. They have a strong, strong offense, and good defense. Possibly the best defense in the game.

I have no desire to play the 2004 Cardinals with the Rockies as the 2004 Red Sox. I wish I liked the Rockies better. I want to like them, but I have a very hard time rooting for an evangelical fundamentalist team. (Check here for more.) The Brewers I could cheer for whole-heartedly. I can spare a smile for the Mets, or the Mariners, or the Blue Jays. But the Rockies are making it harder with this stuff.

(By the way, I’m well aware that several guys on the Red Sox including Tek our Captain, and including Wake my favorite, are evangelical Christians. The difference is that 1) they’re not in charge, and 2) both Tek and Wake went on the Red Sox Queer Eye Special. They didn’t have to do so [Timlin notably refused to do so, muttering some crap about values.] The fact that they did, shows to my mind at least some more open-mindedness, or at least somewhat less of the homophobia that I find so appalling in most of these particular evangelical sects.)

Wake out again because of the shoulder.

^#%(*. Damn it.

I’m still pleased and excited about the series, but a big chunk of enjoyment just went out of it for me.

Not so jittery anymore!

2007 AL Champions! We win the pennant!

Fox pointed out something I hadn’t remembered - Tito’s taking us to our 2nd WS in 4 years. I am *firmly* convinced that if we’d had Tito in 2002 or 2003…well now’s not the time.

When I think back on how I felt on Tuesday….never would have guessed. But I’m not surprised. Elimination games for us? That’s JUST where we want em baby!

I’m wicked jittery right now.

Wow. Paps got us out of that. Dice-K through 5, Okajima in the 6th & 7th, and Papelbon…

No elimination today!

Yep. Oh, and you’re worthless, Manny Delcarmen.

Also, Wake DID NOT pitch badly. I don’t care what the stats say. The bad-Manny gave up 2 of those runs, and in a sense ALL of them should be unearned because the ball bouncing off of Wake’s glove could have been called an error. In a regular season game, Tito lets Wake pitch out of the inning. It’s the post-season, so he pulled Wake. I’m fine with the decision. I don’t ever want to see MDC again. Irrational? I don’t care, and I’m REALLY NOT IN THE MOOD TO ARGUE.

(Nope. Obscenities back in.)

Well, I was going to make a preview post breaking down the matchups and noticing that Lackey did not have good numbers in Fenway, and that Beckett would likely take this game.

Aaaaaayyyyyuuuuuupppppp.

Beckett didn’t just take this game, he took it, slapped it around a bit, dressed it in a rookie hazing outfit, and sent the pictures to the Time: Man of the Year committee. There was never a time that he was not in control. Around the 4th or 5th inning, I began cursing that leadoff single because it was having the look of another “special” night. The other 3 hits were almost a relief. They were also totally irrelevant. Hard to play the running game when you can’t get on base, isn’t it.

If we’d somehow gotten Troy Glaus on the team, we’d have the 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 MVPS on the team.* Not that we need him - Mr. 2003 was right in view last night.

In other Red Sox news, Ortiz tied Varitek’s record for most post-season HRs. Tek I hate to break it to you, but the record’s about to be broken. Possibly as soon as Friday (Friday I meant Friday…nobody saw that, right?) night. (Tek won’t care, but I’m being polite.)

Youks’ first post-season hit is a HR.

Friday’s game is the game that most Red Sox mavens will allow that we might lose. Escobar (well in the Cy race) vs Matsuzaka (quite inconsistent towards the end). I think we’ll win, actually. I can’t find the stats, but I think Fenway bothers Escobar almost as much as it bothers Lackey. Free swingers like the Angels should help, not hinder, Daisuke, and he doesn’t have any particular trouble with steals that I recall. On the plus side for the Angels, they only used one bullpen man, and Ervin Santana looked surprisingly good. Possibly he’s finally coming back online, he’s been SO inconsistent this year. (Of course OUR bullpen is, oh yes, COMPLETELY rested…)

It’s also that this Angels team reminds me (and others, this isn’t original to me) of the 2005 Red Sox. Good enough to get there, injured down the stretch, enough bad luck and wariness to be beaten before they really started. And, I hope, running into a pitching juggernaut.

*(Er…..I’d have preferred the 2005, Jermaine Dye. Also there’s something deeply karmically unfair about David Eckstein having a WS MVP. And I’m not touching anything relating to Troy Glaus. Unless we go tangentially related and say that I liked Frank Thomas on tv last night, and he should go into commentating after his career finishes.)