10-3 Again

The ALCS opened last night with the Sox winning 10-3; their second consecutive ALCS victory by that exact score. Right now, they’ve got the recipe down. Beckett has been dominant in his two post-season appearances; and the duo of Papi and Manny has been unstoppable so far. The Boston papers are full of amazing stats, but here are just a couple: in this year’s post-season to date, the cumulative on-base average for Papi and Manny is .806. Through four games Papi is batting 778; Manny’s only hitting .500 but has driven in seven runs. It’s unlikely this pace can continue, especially as all the teams still playing have great pitching staffs. And it’s hard to imagine Carmona not being able to retire either of these guys, who reached base in all ten of last night’s plate appearance. Gagne meanwhile had a nerve-wracking appearance in the ninth. Two hits and a walk, but three strikeouts and no runs. Game ended with the bases loaded, and no harm done, but I'm not sure he's ready to be thrown into a tied-up extra-inning game.

Meanwhile, another weird association between the Sox and a Mass. politician has come to my attention. This isn’t news to anyone in Boston, but I have been reading how Mitt Romney invested in the Yes Empire, owner of the detested Yankees. It brings to mind John Kerry’s infamous claim that his favorite RedSox player was Manny Ortez. I had wanted to spearhead the “Free Manny Ortez” movement, reasoning as follows. Kerry lived on Beacon Street, only a short stroll from Fenway, so I figured he must know something we didn’t know. And since the elusive Manny Ortez was nowhere to be found on the active roster, he must have been languishing in some Latin American prison. Perhaps Hugo Chavez had him locked up; refusing his entry into the U.S. Maybe he was a Cuban dissident. Whatever the case, I think ‘Free Manny Ortez’ t-shirts would have been big sellers in Kenmore. And why isn’t there a huge grass-roots movement, demanding that Romney, and all Mass. politicians for that matter, divest themselves of investments in the Evil Empire?

I just heard the news that Danny made it to Keen’s last night, so all my readers will want to know which of the 270 malts he sampled. By the way, did they have the game on in the bar?