Red Sox win staves off Armageddon

What do you do on a Monday night when the world seems to be crumbling around you and financial markets have yet to find a bottom? Do you spend your evening in the land of tinfoil hats and reports of Armageddon? Hell No! You tune in to watch the good guys, the Boston Red Sox.

[Jed Lowrie rounds first after game-winning hit (Boston Globe/Jim Davis photo)]

This year's team, for some, was destined to be a disappointment. No more Manny being Manny, man, or Schilling and his bloody sock. Big Papi is in uniform, but hasn't been much of a factor. Lowell's gone, and Beckett's obviously not himself.

Who do you turn to in troubled times? Jon Lester, a cancer survivor and the de facto ace of the Sox staff, that's who. And how about Mr. Canadian, Jason Bay, who every night brings his lunch pail to the park and plays every game like it's do or die. Like a Brian Daubach, sans the hole in his bat, Bay's won over Boston's fans in a brief period of time and made Manny's departure a minor issue (except for people like Bill Simmons).

The Dow may fall further, and who knows if we'll have a banking system come Friday night when the Sox head south to meet up with the Satan-less Rays. I'm going to savor these games because when all hell is breaking loose around you, there's something comforting about the methodical pace of playoff baseball.

This is not an Angels-bashing blog

Francisco Rodriguez is one of major league baseball's top closers. Halo fans would argue he is baseball's best, at least when it comes to the regular season. But fans of teams that have tasted postseason success know that October ain't July or August. K-Rod found that out last year in game two, when old friend Manny Ramirez touched him for a game-ending blast.

That was last year, right? Rodriguez registered a ML record 62 saves in 69 chances (his fourth consecutive season of 40+ saves) in 2008 and was one of the reasons why many baseball prognosticators (including some of the Boston beat community, like Bob Ryan) had already knighted the Angels ALDS champs and were talking about a World Series spot. Of course, playing the actual games can often confound the tripe coming from punditry.

With the Red Sox jumping out early (courtesy of Mr. Bay's second home run in as many games), the good guys were up 5-2 after four when the Angels began clawing their way back. Texiera's sac fly tying it in the 8th had me considering the possibilities of going back to Boston potentially all even. Then came Drew's heroics in the 9th.

Maligned of late for not answering the call, a charge that's haunted Drew (who earlier doubled and also made a stellar catch up against the wall) his entire MLB career, he turned around a K-Rod fastball, crushing it to dead center. There was little doubt when he hit it that it was out. Sox up 7-5 and the monkey had climbed squarely back in place for the Angels, a team with little to show (0 for 11) for their postseason efforts against the Sox.

With Beckett back in Boston, ready for game three, the bandwagon seems to be full, with a few standing room spots still available. Hey Mr. Plaschke, you might want to rethink your wet dream of a column predicting an all SoCal World Series.

Red Sox trivia: Jason Bay's homer in the first makes him the first Boston player to ever homer in his first two postseason games.

Nation of idiots

If you read my title and thought, "good lord, give politics a rest, man!" you're in luck. The nation I'm referring to isn't the political nation, divided by partisan loyalties to the candidate of their choice, but the nation of fans that make up "Red Sox Nation."

I know, I've tended to look down my nose recently at the professional variety in my limited posts on sports.

Today, in an attempt at recapturing some sense of sanity, while at the point of media saturation about all things political, I tuned out political talk, and ventured over to WEEI, now available in Maine via the spot on the FM dial, 95.5, where the Big Jab once resided.

I caught bits of Dennis & Callahan this morning, on my drive to Pittsfield, through the torrents of rain, and then, Dale Arnold and Michael Holley this afternoon.

In much the same way that politics causes many (myself included) to take leave of their senses, and often, miss the better part of valor, so sports makes us all dullards at times.

Red Sox fandom, now able to bask in World Series glory twice in the past four years, after a drought of nearly 90 years, has developed an entitlement mentality. How else can one explain callers absolutely giddiness this morning after Lester's seven innings of stellar pitching, and a longball from Jason Bay that put to rest any concerns about his ability to perform in the postseason? This, after many of these same fans and announcers voicing their belief that the Angels might sweep the Sox in three games! Granted, the talented Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim might win the next three and send Boston home for the winter, but if anyone would rather hedge their investment portfolio's gadawful performance with something less volatile, putting money on Boston's postseason track record against California seems like a fairly safe bet.

I like the chances of the Sox, knowing that Matsuzaka has been lights out on the road, and Josh Beckett seems to be ready to go in game three. Lester, Bay, Ellsbury and the supporting cast guaranteed a road split after Wednesday night's win, so Boston is playing with the house's money on Friday, set to return home no worse than 1-1 on the west coast.

The bandwagon still has room, in fact there are a few front row spots still available given some of the defections. Don't delay climbing back aboard, however, because in another week, you might end up being wait listed.

And speaking of idiocy. Has anyone read Bill Simmons's 11 page article on Manny? I'm on record as being a fan of Simmons's writing, but come on Bill, you're a great writer--couldn't you have coalesced the Manny piece to four, or five pages?

My prediction: Sox in five.