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Over at Aces Full of Links, James had a little discussion going about the Red Sox loss in Game seven last Thursday. On a side note, he also has a new layout going on. Take a look.

James has said many of the things I was feeling. For more Red Sox nation feelings, you can see Ed Cossett's piece, The Boston Dirt Dogs, Cry for Help, motor skills, or Sox Nation. They all have interesting things to say.

With only a few days gone by, I still find it hard to talk about. Although we had a good season, sorry, excellent season, it still feels like a letdown. I think the biggest reason is because we were right there. We almost had it. The team was good enough, the guys wanted it, and one poor decision seems to have thrown it away. Man does it hurt.

I want to rationalize, to say the core group of guys will be back next year with improvements, that this was the first step on the road to Theo's dynasty, to say that one poor decision doesn't wipe away a season full of accomplishments, but it still feels like an amazing loss.

I'm looking forward to next season. As a fan of the way the Red Sox play the game, and not really the game itself, I can't bring myself to watch the World Series. That leaves me with football to occupy my time now.

I'd be glad to talk about the season, highs and lows with people. Maybe if we talk through it, it won't hurt so bad...

I'm glad other people are getting into it, but I don't know how much more I can take.

I'm ready. I'm not ready. I want to watch, but through the slites in my fingers as they cover my eyes. It all comes down to this, Game Seven, win or go home. After an entire season of watching the Sox, the first complete season of baseball I've followed, I can't image more baseball being played without them being on the field. They have to win, they just have to.

The Yankees are 5-6 in Game Sevens.
According to the second Back to the Future movie, the Sox will win the World Series this year.
The Red Sox are 3-0 against Clemens this year in New York.

The Yankees haven't won anything this century.

Let's go Sox!

The Red Sox playoff ride has been a wild one, taking me on a rollercoaster with late night 12th inning losses, Game five amazing strikeouts, and fourth inning beatings of 72 year old men. I got to attend the game last Saturday where the Sox series with the A's turned around on a Trot Nixon two run homer to win it in the eleventh. Such an amazing game, and an amazing night filled with high-fiving strangers, discussing the nuances of base running with other fans, and watching great baseball with my family. Ah, October memories.

This weekend was a little traumatic, with the antics on Saturday putting a damper on the Red Sox achievments to this point. With the Hudson drama during the last series, and the Zim drama this time round, you'd think baseball was trying to be more like hockey. Sheesh.

I hope the Sox calm down and get back to the business of playing ball. It's bad enough to lose a series, but even worse when in doing it you makeyourselves look like a bunch of spoiled brats looking for a fight. A few classy and skillful wins may go part way towards repairing the teams image as well as helping to get the fans back into it. Go Sox.

It's hard to keep the defeatist in me from waving the white flag. If there was a worse way to lose a tied game in the twelfth besides a bunt by a slow catcher (besides losing said game in the 17th or 18th the same way) I'd like to see it. Maybe it would make me feel a little bit better.

The flip side? If you think there's a team in the playoffs that has a better chance to come back from such a discouraging loss, I'd say you're full of it.

Early this morning, we lost one behind our champ. Yesterday on WEEI, someone said that losing Game 1 would be a huge blow to the team, effectively saying "Even your number one starter, your team champion can't get it done. Bring on Wakefield, Lowe, and Burkett."

I can't contest that losing a Petey started game hurts, that it's practically unimaginable to a dyed and true member of the Nation, but over the last few years we've learned something about him: he may be great, but he's not invincible. Secondly, this team has proven all year long that it's not one guy who wins or loses games, and it's not one guy who plays each one alone. Last night's loss was due to many things, but it was a team effort. And with a team effort tonight, the results may (and I think will) be different. It could very well be that Pedro's sacrifice last night, putting all he had on the line and then losing, could be the spark these guys need to destroy Oakland in the next three straight.

I'm sure there are some fans who threw in the towel last night. "That's enough for me," they said, "Damn curse is going to get us. The guys just don't have the stamina for the stretch run." It's ok. I'll keep a seat saved for them on the bandwagon. For now though, Ed has the right idea: glad to get this one out of the way. Now on to game two.

Bill Simmons :: A Black Sunday for Boston sports"My Dad calls for the final word: 'Can I just say how much I was totally looking forward to today's games? I got up early, read all the papers ... now I feel like I want to hang myself. Just another day in the life of a Boston sports fan.'" Simmons was excellent during the Patriots' SuperBowl run, hopefully we'll get to see his stuff during some post season Red Sox action.

Over at Baseball Musings David Pinto has a post about the DH. It's interesting, but he hits on a point I don't understand.

Now before I ask my question, please note: I'm a baseball fan, I did my time in little league, and I follow the Red Sox pretty closely. However, I'm not a fanatic. I don't memorize stats and my knowledge of players is limited to my team and a few of their closest competitors. Please don't hurt me.

My question: David says "Notice that the DH for the years in question is less offensively valued than the first baseman, the rightfielder and the leftfielder. DHs should be doing at least as well as the first basemen." What determines how well a first baseman should be doing offensively? If a manager can arrange the batting order however he likes, then shouldn't it be more like "Notice that the DH for the years in question is less offensively valued than the third batter, the fourth batter and the eight batter."?

The only thing I can come up with is that because the first baseman doesn't do much throwing (whereas an outfielder might be expected to be able to reach the plate for a tag out at home) their size and physique is a little different. Can someone explain this to me?

So Wednesday night a friend from work invited me to attend a Red Sox game with her. She had received tickets and the person who she had been expecting to go with her had to cancel.

Now this wasn't just any baseball game. First off, this was interleague play against the Cardinals. The last time the Sox had played a series against them was the 1967 World Series. Great rivalry between these teams, but not to many chances to explore it. Secondly, this game saw the return of Pedro Martinez from the disabled list where he'd been for a month. Thirdly, while the majority of the weather during the last month in New England has been rainy and cool, Wednesday night cleared up and remained warm. All in all it was a perfect night for baseball especially in Fenway.

Fenway is an amazing park, and I hadn't been there for a while. Going reminded me of being a kid and seeing Clemens on the mound, summer days, and hotdogs.

The game was amazing. Pedro had a spectacular return, the Sox went up by seven in the second inning, and won by thirteen with a homerun by Nixon and Ramierez. I had a blast. I even got to harass some Cardinal/Rams fans.

This game has revitalized my interest in baseball, a process which had begun with working in Boston as well as the changes on the team (Theo Epstein, Grady Little, this is the year!). I'm actively following games, of which two in the last four days have gone over thirteen innings. Good times!

Man. It's almost starting to feel like summer...

We need a team that can beat LA, not women and the justice system!"

via :: ESPN, quoting a sign in Portland, Oregon regarding the Portland Trailblazers

ESPN.com: NFL - Power Rankings week 15

Teams on their way to the Super Bowl don't lose to teams that have 47 yards in total offense.

Where's that stupid "Steeler's going to the Super Bowl" song now?

Specialist probes pond for Ruth piano
The curse breaker? I sure hope so.

Packers shrug off talk of clinching
Maybe they should just take Sunday off, eh?

Patriots lose. : (
Bills win. : )
World Series game 7, the only game out of the seven million in the season that matters.

ESPN.com: NFL - Power Rankings week 8
When the Patriots first traded Bledsoe to the Bills, people said "Damn they're assholes." Why? Because you only trade a quarterback to a team in your own division when you think he'll never be able to hurt you from there. You're basically saying "We know you're good, but you're not that good, and neither are they, so have fun, we'll take your cap money, have a nice life." I said from the beginning Drew got screwed, that he was still a great QB, and that he just didn't fit here anymore, but that didn't mean he was a has-been.

The quote from the Power Rankings for this week near the Bills: "We're not saying the Patriots shouldn't have traded Drew Bledsoe, but they might be questioning where they traded him."

My words exactly.

Ah, the Patriots. I haven't posted about them in a while because there hasn't been much to post about, besides them losing. They started out strong, or so we thought: they destroyed the Steelers, the Jets, and then scraped by against the Chiefs. The problem? The Steelers, Jets, and Chiefs have losing records. We thought we were proving ourselves and it turned out we the teams everyone thought would rule the NFL this season are in the basement with the Lions. All we proved was that we were mediocre and not terrible.

The Patriots kept most of the players who were hear last year. We're basically the same team. The question is: was last year luck? Or are we just not playing up to our potential? I think its the latter, but that doesn't make it any better. Just look at the Rams.

The season is far from over and there are a lot of games left, however we need to turn it around now. The bye week this year came at a good spot, at the corssroads, giving us the opportunity to make or break our season. I'm looking forward to next week to find out.

In other news, there's the Bills. I've watched almost every Bills game so far, feeling that we didn't do right by Bledsoe by tossing him out like we did. He's the only player I've ever followed when they left Boston, and he's proven that it's worth my time to keep my eye on him. The Bills games have proven to be exciting and fast paced, and they've been winning. It's good to see Bledsoe back in the game, doing his thing, and looking like a champ. He didn't get too much of that here in New England.

In any case, here's to football and to the rest of the season. I hope it gets a little better.

I got to see a little World Series baseball tonight, specifically the top of the 4th inning. Washburn, pitching for the Angels, walked two after allowing a hit, loading the bases. The second walk was quite a struggle, with Washburn having thrown maybe 15 pitches (that's what it seemed like, although I could be wrong; I didn't keep count). Finally, he forced the next batter to pop-up to end the inning.

The last couple of time I've tried to watch baseball, I've noticed that the game has seemed slow and a little un-interesting. Doesn't even matter who's playing, I just can't get into it. This was different. Washburn's pitching was great fun to watch. It made me wish I was back at school drinking some beer and watching the game with my friends. Let's hope this season ends with some exciting World Series baseball.

The Patriots lost today. The Bills won. Detroit won. The Rams lost. The world is a pretty messed up kind of place, aint it?

Another addition to the old WTF file: The Juniata Eagles football team of my college alma mater is currently undefeated. I think the world really may be coming to the end. On the flip side, it's amazing to me how many students who should have graduated are still there and are still playing football. Meatheads.

"And God spake forth: 'You will meet the end when the one known as Troutman particpates in combat in a citrus bowl'". Or something.

Well, I promised Patriots pictures and have yet to deliver, however, they are in the works. They're just not here yet. I'm working on it. Meanwhile, the Patriots scraped out a victory against Kansas. I think they gave their opponents the lead early in order to make things more challenging. They were sick of destroying people and having fans cheer for Madden instead of them cause they were bored. Going down early lets you know who your real believers are while at the same time making things more sporting, kind of like letting deer wear bullet proof vests or something.

In any case, they won. Next week San Diego. Go Pats!

Sports Center highlight, Texas Rangers vs Seattle Mariners. Someone on the Mariners hits ball into deep left field. Man scores, tie game. Meanwhile, the left fielder raises his hands in the air like he's about to catch the ball, batter slows up at second, ball falls over left fielders head and he deftly turns to field it off the wall. He completely faked the guy out. That stupid batter should have had a triple. Just goes to show that even in a game like baseball, there's still some tricks up a few sleeves.

This week we ate the Steelers. Next week we play the Jets. You know a team is getting blown out when the fans start cheering for the announcers. In this case, the Steelers were wishing Kordell's neck growth would take over, wondering if perhaps it might give them a chance to score. Someone should have thrown their helmet. I think that was the only penalty the Steeler's didn't get. Dave said they even opened Heinz stadium for people to go and watch. I bet it was empty by the end of the first half. Stupid Steeler fans.

In other news, Madden needs to lay off the yellow pen. One more X and I was going to get in my car and head to Foxboro to break it over his big fat head.

So we played at least one game like we really are the defending champions. The question is will we continue to play like this next week, and the week after that? I think we will. This was a great way to start the season, another way to prove to people that we deserved the rings and that we're not going away. Maybe next week ESPN will actually pick us to win. Bastards.

In other news, how 'bout those Red Sox? Damn, boys. They crushed the Devil Rays 22 to 4 today, Nomar's birthday. To celebrate, He got up to bat twice in one inning, both times hitting homers. The Yankees, on the other hand, lost today with Posada taking a bat to the head. Because the Sox had a double header today, and they're currently winning the second game, they have a chance to cut the Yanks lead and possibly take the AL East in the coming week. Go BoSox!