It's Finally Midnight!--Peter

Well, I was going to post last night after the Sox tragically failed to extend their streak of elimination game wins, but I just couldn't bring myself to sit down in front of the computer at that moment. There we were--all the way back from the near elimination in Game 5 through a truly gutsy performance by JB in Game 6 to a perfect first three innings by Lester, supported by Dusty's no-doubt blast in the 1st inning--and somehow, the Rays came back to take a lead and then expand it to 3-2 getting into the late innings. Just as in Game 2, all we needed was just one well timed single and the outcome would have been totally different. Unfortunately, the Rays' pen was equal to the task and it was not to be.

I've occasionally mentioned on this site that I like to add the LOB's of each team to the actual score and see who would have won had all the LOB's managed to score. In this case, the Sox would be going to the Fens to host the start of festivities against the most futile team in MLB (more on that later), the Phillies, on Wednesday. Had all LOB's for each team made it home, the score would have ended up Sox 9, Rays 6. Just needed one or two more hits. But, as my wife says about many things we confront in life, "it is what it is."

Let's face it--the Rays earned the pennant. This was not a cheap shot. They likely will represent the A.L. well. I'll be rooting for them, partly because there are two players on the team from the geographic region surrounding Boston. Baldelli is from Rhode Island, about an hour's drive from Fenway and their best hitter, Carlos Pena, is, as I have noted many times now, from Haverhill, Mass., a shoe manufacturing city about 45 minutes northwest from the Fens. How do I know this, you ask? Simple! After being born in Boston, the family moved to Haverhill when I was four and I grew up there and attended high school in the city.

I referred above to the Phillies historical team futility. In addition to having only won a single Series (1980), they are the only team in MLB to have lost more than 10,000 games overall since they were founded. Pretty sad.

Next year, the Sox will be back at it, and, hopefully, go to the Series. After all, after the '04 title, the Sox faced the Chisox on the latter's run to the World Championship and were swept; in '06 they missed the post-season due to a series of key injuries; and we all know what happened in '07--World Champs again!

As Jenn mentioned in her comments today, we'll sort of shut down for the off-season, but will be on if anything super important occurs.

First super important item: Mike Lowell had hip surgery today, and all, according to radio reports, went well. He's expected to be totally ready for start of Spring Training. Have a happy off-season; keep your eyes tuned here; and see you in the spring--it's only roughly 118 days away--REALLY!!