YFSF

A Good Ride

In the end, the better team won.

It's hard to be mad when that happens. The Red Sox fought back, made a series of it, and proved they would not go meekly into winter. What more can you ask for? All night, it felt like the Sox were robbing a better team if they managed to pull out another win. I would have taken it, but it makes the loss much easier to accept.

The Sox gave us a terrific ride. It started with the seemingly near-certainty of a trade for Johan Santana, and once the season began, it included a trip to Japan, Jon Lester's no-hitter, J.D. Drew's amazing June, the surreal and turbulent July 31 trade deadline, the 19-17 affair at Fenway and the emergence of Dustin Pedroia as a legitimate offensive force. Of course, it ended well, with the greatest single-game postseason comeback ever (one fewer run than 1929, sure, but come on, that was the Cubs, and it wasn't an elimination game).

In the end, they didn't have enough. In a season that comes down to two runs in a final seventh game, it's hard not to look at what might have been if Curt Schilling's shoulder had held together just one more year, if Mike Lowell hadn't gone down, if David Ortiz could have overcome the physical -- and possibly mental -- hurdles placed in his path. None of those things happened, and the Sox will be heading home after their first ALCS elimination loss since 2003 -- after nine straight win-or-go-home victories in the league championship series.

The focus necessarily turns forward. The Red Sox have some clear issues that need to be resolved. First and foremost is that of catcher. Jason Varitek likely has some value as a part-time player/coach, but he cannot be a starter any longer. Whether that would force him to seek more money or a better job elsewhere is up to Varitek and agent Scott Boras. Their second issue would be a fifth starter. The Lester-Beckett-Matsuzaka-Wakefield four seem set. The question is whether the Sox will seek answers from within (Michael Bowden) or free agency (Sabathia? Burnett? Sheets?). These are questions we have several months to discuss. It's the beauty of YFSF; for us, the season is never over.

For now, the moment belongs to the Rays. Congrats to them. And go Phillies!

Blue Monday

Congrats to the AL champion Rays. Well deserved.

House Money II: Sox-Rays Gamer VII

We'll get this one started a little early. The Sox have taken an ALCS to another improbable seventh game for the third time in five years. And, despite the unprecedented accomplishment of 2004 (coming back from down 3-0) and despite last year's comeback against a pitching-rich Cleveland squad, this year, if a comeback is successful, might qualify as the most shocking, if only because of the moment at which the comeback began, with a somber-looking team down 7-0 and a mere nine seven outs in the season remaining.

It's another clean slate, though, and we have no clue how tonight will turn out. We're still in a bit of shock that it even has a chance to turn out at all. Use this as your Sunday baseball thread and gamer for tonight's action.

House Money: Sox-Rays Gamer VI

This game, beyond unexpected, is gravy. The Sox' season should be over. And it might well be at the end of this evening. No matter: the Sox are alive, and if Josh Beckett can revert to postseason form, we may be seeing a second gravy game tomorrow night. Use this as your thread for tonight's action.

Unbelievable!

I was waiting on a dinner partner last night, taking the few moments alone to think about the Red Sox and their probable Thursday night demise.

The season was all but over, and I was making my peace with that. It's the same thought process I went through last year when the Sox went down, three games to one. You have to do that -- put things in perspective, remember that reaching baseball's equivalent of the Final Four is nothing if not a successful end to the year.

They'd had a great season, and even though the Sox fell behind early, I pledged that if it was to be the last game of 2008 for the Red Sox, I would watch every pitch. I owed them that much.

Turns out they weren't quite done.

The team that had looked too old, too injured and too shaky in three straight games (plus six and one-half innings) against the young upstarts of Tampa suddenly sparked to life. We know the rest.

I don't know if this builds momentum, if the Rays will collapse like a Jenga tower while the Red Sox romp their way to the World Series, a la 2004 and 2007. I certainly hope so, but I don't really care either. Because what had been most frustrating about the series was how a team that had looked so poised, so confident as they raced toward the postseason during the final two months could look so feeble just two weeks later.

At least the Sox showed us something. They pushed the series back to Tampa, and they gave us perhaps the most thrilling nine-inning playoff game Fenway Park has ever seen -- certainly the most amazing game I've ever witnessed. Anything more than that now is gravy.

Through the first six innings, I was composing this post in my head: A thank you to a team that gave us another thrilling ride and successful season. That was a bit premature, and yet it wasn't.

Thank you, Boston Red Sox, for another great ride -- and, no matter what happens next, another fantastic season.

Confessions of a Tired Pragmatist

I didn't see it. I didn't see the comeback. I was asleep. I nodded off after a two run something or other off Jonathan Papelbon with no outs, the Rays still batting, and only nine outs to go and a seven run deficit. I didn't see it. I was, for a lack of a better story, tired.

Awoken by a ping on my cell phone and a message on the screen from a former employee who I knew was at the game, I instantly knew. The message said, simply, "oh my".

Oh my. Oh my indeed.

'Just Win, Baby!' Rays-Sox Gamer V

It's another night where the less being said, the better. So, while not altogether eager to tie our beloved BoSox to Al Davis, the quote seems appropriate.

Just win.

No other choice.

Let's go.

Shaken, But Good

Tim Wakefield got torched early, and the beat down continued on and on last night at Fenway, as the insurgent Rays bullied their way to a 3-1 series lead with a 13-4 win. The Yankees, meanwhile, cleaned house. Bobby Meacham, uninspired as a third base coach just as he was as a shortstop, was canned, along with Rich Monteleone. They were "Girardi Guys," so this should come as a signal of Cashman's power and encourage the thought that the re-upped GM has his eye on the ball.

Shaking Things Up: Rays-Sox ALCS Gamer IV

It needed to happen, and lest we forget that Terry Francona manages his club differently in the postseason, it's happening tonight: the lineup has been shaken. J.D. Drew is leading off, Coco Crisp is batting seventh, Jed Lowrie is batting ninth. This essentially plugs two holes from yesterday, when Dustin Pedroia had zero offensive threats hitting in front of him. For that matter, one could argue replacing Varitek with Kevin Cash might actually be an offensive upgrade at this point, as well.

This is great news, in that Francona isn't sitting on his hands while the Sox continue to waste Pedroia's continued hot streak. What it doesn't do, however, is fix who's starting -- Tim Wakefield, he of the 6.36 postseason ERA, he of the 9.00 postseason ERA since 2003.

Hey, anything can happen. And Wake does have four dominant postseason starts under his belt. I'd just be breathing better if any of them had come since Mark Bellhorn was the team's starting second baseman.

Comment away!

All or Nothing (or Something In-Between)

All:

• Youk: 6-14
• Bay: 5-11, 3BB
• Pedroia: 6-11, 3BB
• Coco: 3-6

Nothing:

• Jacoby: 0-14
• Tek: 0-10, 2BB
• Lowrie: 0-6, 3BB
• Ortiz: 0-10, 4BB

Something in-between:

• Kotsay: 3-14
• Drew: 2-8, 1BB
• Cora: 1-4