No Sleep in October

It's October, and while the haters may be rested, there's not much sleep for the Nation. It didn't start out that way last night, as the Sox themselves seemed to be sleeping through the first six innings, and managed only two hits off Kazmir. But what looked like an early night, and a chance to catch up on lost sleep changed in the bottom of the seventh. Fans will recall that last year's ALCS also changed in the seventh inning of Game Five, when the luck changed - when all the breaks that had gone Cleveland's way for the previous three games began to go Boston's way. And last night, from the bottom of the seventh on, everything seemed to go our way. Hits, errors, Masterson's double-play ball; it seemed like it was all Boston from seven on.

This morning, the big story is that the Sox comeback was the biggest post-season rally of the last eighty years. Seven runs down. But I think an equally big story was that they won their first one-run game against the Rays all year long. During the regular season, although the Rays had the better record head-to head, six of their wins were by a single run. And of course, they took Game Two by a single run. So even though they've been hot at home all year, and even though the Trop has been trouble for the Sox, more than half of Tampa's victories have come by the slimmest possible margin. Assuming that the pitchers can keep the Rays from scoring thirteen runs; if it stays close, if Boston's in the game in the late innings, anything could happen.

It mostly depends on the pitching. After Dice-K had that great outing in Game One, our starters have spotted the Rays too many runs in each of the last four games. Beckett and Lester need to revert to their prior post-season dominance for us to have any chance in these two remaining games. Remember that in 2004, when the Sox returned to Yankee stadium for Games Six and Seven, Schilling and Lowe both shut down the Yankee bats, each allowing a single run. Without that kind of pitching, and considering the consistent performance of Tampa's starters, the RedSox won't have much of a chance.

Still, it's amazing that they're even playing Game Six. It's also amazing that under Tito, the Sox are now 8-1 in elimination games. Also how about the fact that they've won five post-season walk-off games since Tito arrived? This team has really given Fenway's faithful some great finishes. Let's hope they have a chance to see a couple more games before the season comes to a close.