And Now...The Post-Season--Peter

Well, as Jenn described it, the Sox had an interesting, if very wet, weekend to close out the season at Fenway. As one who's ridden out both a Category 4 hurricane as well as a 7.1 earthquake, I can tell you I'd rather do the hurricane any day--you at least get a warning before it arrives.

As for this one, it was a marginal Category 1, winds at least 74 mph, and hanging just off the New England coast as it moved north. Of course, due to the overall size of such a storm, even hanging a couple of hundred miles off the coast means that any land close to the coast is going to get rain--a lot of rain--as the storm moves on by. Such was the case as it headed for an actual landfall in eastern Maine near the Canadian border. That's what we New Englanders refer to as 'Down East' country--even though it's up north. You just have to look at a map and then factor in a bit of understanding of how things are in that part of the world.

Anyway, since Jenn already discussed the games for all of you out there, I'll just pontificate a little on the coming playoffs.

The first series has the Fenmen facing the Halos, a team that they have faced a number of times previously in the last few years in the post-season. We almost always seem to have minimal trouble with them, sweeping in most cases. In fact, that's what happened in 2004, when our relative positions were the same--the Angels had just won their division and the Sox were the wild card.

This year, there is a bit more ominoousity (don't know if that's really a word, but it must be--I just used it!) for the Hose. In nine games this year, the Angels swamped the Sox, eight games to one. Additionally, the Halos had the best regular eason record in baseball, winning an even hundred games. Our heroes' 95 wins wasn't bad, but there's the Angels' century to consider. The one good thing in that regard--it's a fresh season, in effect.

Serious worries: Lowell is questionable with his injured hip. He tried to play over the weekend, but lasted one at bat and limped to the pine. Possibly even more serious is the fact that Beckett strained his oblique during a bullpen session over the weekend, and has been scratched from the Game One start, moving instead to Game 3. Lester has been inserted as the Game 1 starter. Come tomorrow, we'll know how things work out.