WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It comes down to Game 7, the biggest bats are somewhat quiet (well Papi at least), so leave it in the hands of the rookies. Dice K goes 5 innings, gives up 2. Not too bad. Oki goes 2 innings, gives up 1. Not too bad. But Jacoby, the CF of the future for this team, huge game, especially getting on in front of DP and his 2 run shot. Four huge contributions from Four big time rookies. And of course, Pap, not a rookie, but still pretty young, doing what he does. Not much in the K department but effective none the less.

So the Tribe, first gets screwed on the call of Manny throwin out Lofton at 2nd. Then the 3rd base coach holding up Lofton when he coulda been the tieing run. Then all the errors in shallow left. Seems like a little inexperience.

So this year its' all about the youth. And we party tonight, cause come Wed it's back to work.

Beckett Wed, Schilling Thurs, Dice Saturday, Wake Sunday....wind it up cause there's one more series to go....THE series. The World Series.

GO SOX!!!

Yeah, that's what Josh Beckett needed, to get MORE fired up for last night's game.

About the only thing the Tribe coulda done is drop their bat when they think it's ball 4.

Seriously though, for those that didn't hear, Cleveland had their National Anthem singer cancel, and replaced her with an Ex-girlfriend of Boston's starting pitcher. And then mid-game Beckett & Lofton had a bench clearing arguement. But what I care about, is that the Sox are still alive. The bats heated up last night. The pitchers are fired up. And this is an exciting series as it heads back to Fenway.

Go Sox!

What a little pressure from the boss will do

Here's a little update to the post that I made only a matter of hours ago, now Torre's pulling up his Ace on short rest for game 4 tonight.

With all the media saying, "Steinbrenner should keep his mouth shut" "Do you really think they played harder cause Torre's jobs on the line".....here's the bottom line. The Yankees are scared. This amazing comeback of a season was based on them putting up monster scores, and their pitching stepping up from horrible to above average. Now it's October, and for at least a third consecutive year their hitting has fallen off big time. So the normally arogant Yankees are grasping at straws and switching to a 3 man rotation on short rest. Sounds like a desperate team to me. On the other side of the field, you got the Indians saying, "we're not desperate, we've got some good depth on the mound, so you're gonna see our #4 tonight".

This will make tonights game even more interesting. As Wang got racked in game 1, can the Tribe do it again, this time in NY? How will Wang throw on short rest? How quick will Torre be with the hook, if the game turns ugly?

Then let's look ahead, if the Wang idea works, you got Pettite/CC for the deciding Wed night match. THAT will be exciting! And as the Sox have already clinched, we're allowed to look farther and say, that if the Yanks pull it out with Wang & Pettite gone, that sets them up for Clemens (or Hughes) game 1 on Friday, Wang on 4 days rest Saturday, Pettite on 4 days Monday, and Mussina (who hasn't ptiched in a month) on Tuesday?

On the Tribe side, if they pull it off tonight with Byrd, then CC & Fausto will walk into Fenway this weekend. Not something I'd wanna look forward to. So as a true Sox fan, can you possibly root for NY tonight? I don't think I can do that.

3 Down 7 To Go

We all know the mission: Division Champs (check), Win the ALDS (check), Win the ALCS, and then the World Series. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Sox are rollin. The pitching's been solid. Not perfect, but pretty darn solid. Even Gagme only let up one run in the last win.

But it's the post-season, and it's all about the pitching. So now they've got 5 days off, so how's the rotation gonna look? Beckett Friday (duh). Then do you keep it Dice then Schill? Will Wake be ready to be #4, or is it Lester's turn to shine?

Most interestingly, who will be coming to Fenway on Friday? And who will be on the mound? It all depends on tomorrow night's game. Mussina vs Byrd. If the Tribe closes it tomorrow, CC will be leading it off Friday. If they go to game 5, the Sox'll get either Fausto or Pettite. Either way, Friday will be a great game. Hopefully Beckett will be firing on all cylinders once again, and the bullpen will be ready to back him up. With a 7 game series, I don't think we'll be seeing any more complete games.

Go Sox! (and between now and Friday, go tribe, take down the spankees)

IT'S ON!!!

October rolls in, the Pats are rollin, and the Sox are entering the playoffs hoping to do the same.

Apparently Tito didn't share my opinion of which ALDS scheduling option to choose, and has announced that he's going Beckett Wednesday, Dice Friday, and Schill Sunday. I obviously don't have a place to argue with only manager to ever take the Sox into 3 postseasons, so let's just get pumped, get behind the team, and hope to see some great games.

Tito did announce that this will move Wake into the pen, but they haven't officially released the rest of the line-ups to see what other pitchers will be there. Most intriguing will be Clay & Lester. The numbers being tossed around are 10 or 11 pitchers, so my guess would be: Beckett, Dice, Schill, Pap, Oki, Gagne, Timlin, Javy, MannyD, and Wake for sure. Then you gotta pick between 1-2 out of Corey, Snyder, Tavarez, Lester, or Clay. Tough choice, and I'm still probably forgetting someone. But I guess it's good to just be in the situation that you're deep enough to have a tough call to make.

Woo Hoo! I can feel it in the air. Time to live at the bar on week nights. And hopefully watch the guys play all month long.

Go Sox!