Looking Back on the Post-Season

Looking back on the post-season, the one indelible image is Beckett dominating the opposition. From the opening game against the Angels, through Game One of the Series, Beckett gave no ground to anyone. The post-season began with a shutout that never felt close, once the Sox had scored early. A couple of his games were close for a while, before the bats came alive. Game Five of the ALCS comes to mind, with the score 2-1 through six, and the Indians needing only a single victory to advance. But as soon as the Sox added a couple runs in the seventh, game over. Probably one reason the Rockies' rally in Game Four felt short was the knowledge that they'd only have to face Beckett the following night, an exercise in futility.

Other than Beckett, the post-season was a montage of highlights for pretty much everyone else on the roster. Because I have hardly slept for three weeks, it’s a bit of a blur, but still, here’s what sticks out for me:

● Manny’s walk-off in the wee hours against the Angels, the ball launched over the monster, over Lansdowne Street, over Kenmore, over the river, into New Hampshire;

●Papi and Manny being unstoppable early in the post-season, carrying the Sox until the other bats came alive.

●The luck changing in Game 5 of the ALCS - Youk’s double tailing away from Sizemore; and the Sox adding three more in the eighth when the Indians blew an easy double play;

●J.D. Drew’s slam in the bottom of the first inning, Game Six of the ALCS. I had just walked in the house, coming home from the Cuse’s big victory over Buffalo; Mike calling to say the bases were loaded in the first, and telling me to turn on the TV. When the Sox had two quick outs, I wondered, was another opportunity to be wasted? And then Drew hammered the ball into centerfield. The first of three consecutive routs was on.

●Schilling, forty years old, no longer dominant, but still getting the job done in Game Six of the ALCS, and Game Two of the Series. Why does that sound familiar?

●Pedroia’s five RBIs in Game Seven; which then ended with Youk hitting the Coke bottle, always a good omen.

●Pedroia and Ellsbury going seven for ten in Game Three of the Series; especially big in the eighth inning, after the Rockies had cut the lead to a single run, the two rookies knocked in three, and that game was suddenly over.

●Okajima’s amazing performance in Game Two, when he retired seven straight batters, four on strikeouts, and allowed the Sox to win despite having scored only two runs. I was happy to see, once the Series ended, and all the pundits weighed in, that everyone remembered this first appearance, and wrote off the two home-runs in the later games as mere hiccups.

●Dice-K pitching almost perfectly for five innings in Game Three of the Series. John wondered if Tito hadn’t pulled Dice too quickly, and it certainly looked that way an inning later, when the bullpen had faltered, and the Rockies had scored five. But the late rally allowed everyone to go back, and appreciate the great job Dice-K had done for those first five innings.

●Bobby Kielty, the ultimate journeyman, hitting the game winner in the final game, in his only post-season appearance. He’s almost the Dave Roberts of 2007.

●Jon Lester. Just seeing Lester on the mound in the Series, only a year after being diagnosed with lymphoma, was moving enough. But to see him go five shutout innings; how great was that?

●And the final image of 2007 is the image we saw at the end of all the close games, including the final game of the year – Papelbon on the mound, retiring the last batter. I haven’t checked the cumulative box, but I don’t think Pap allowed an earned run in the entire post-season.

So that frames the picture – Beckett starting things off, or more accurately, denying anyone the chance to start things off; and then Papelbon finishing things off. Both of them are only in their twenties; and how long has it been since the Sox had the game’s best pitchers? What was the name of that guy who got sold in 1918?