Red Sox: A Little Worried

Don’t give up ‘cos you have friends.  Don’t give up, you’re not beaten yet.  Don’t give up, I know you can make it good.  -Peter Gabriel

Public Service Announcement:  Ok, here we go!  That one hurt.  That one was an attention grabber.  That one was a statement maker.  Back to back bombs in the first inning will do that to you. 

Not just any back to back bombs, but Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria now join Hall of Famers Tony Perez and Johnny Bench as the only players to hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning of a League Championship Series.  Yowza!  That’s saying something.  That’s saying a lot. 

These young Rays have had a lot to say this series.  Nine days after his 23rd birthday, Evan Longoria became the youngest player in major-league history to hit five career home runs in the postseason.  Teammate BJ Upton became the 4th youngest to do the same thing.  With three bombs in Game two, four in Game four and another three last night, the Rays became the first team ever to hit at least three bombs in each of three consecutive postseason games.  Ever.  Holy Cow! 

So as much yipping and yapping I’ve been doing; saying history favors the Sox, these Rays have been making history of their own.  Like the second-longest errorless streak for any team during one postseason.  Just three games shy of the record set by the Cardinals in 2004.  That’s how you win championships.  I’m not going all Roberto Duran yet, but the Sox have their work cut out for them.

Just so you know, in major-league history, there have been sixty-six previous instances of teams taking a three-games-to-one lead in a postseason series.  Eleven of those teams came back to win the series.  Last year it was the beloved Dustin Pedroia who brought the adoring Fenway Faithful to its feet in Game Seven with a seventh-inning two-run jack off Cleveland Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt, who had been magnificent in the regular season and absolutely invincible in the playoffs. 

During the 2004 ALCS, Bob Ryan wrote, “They are down, 3-0, after last night’s 19-8 rout, and, in this sport, that is an official death sentence.  Soon it will be over, and we will spend another dreary winter lamenting this and lamenting that.”  That was before Joe Buck said; “Damon hits it in the air to right field.  Sheffield back, in the corner, AT THE WALL, A GRAND SLAM!  Johnny Damon and the Red Sox have blown it open early!”

I know things look grim Sox Fans, but if anybody can overcome, all the way to a World Series championship, it’s these Boston Red Sox.   It all starts with Daisuke Matsuzaka Thursday.   He’s delightful, he’s delicious, he’s delectable, he’s delirious, he’s de limit, he’s deluxe, he’s de-lovely, he’s D-Nice although he hates to admit it, he’s taking out you suckers and you don’t know how he did it.  Roll Sox, roll!

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

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