Well, every bit of last night’s Red Sox – Yankees game seven could have been predicted. The Red Sox get to Roger Clemens early while Pedro Martinez is just good enough to avoid jams. The Sox give themselves an insurance run late. Then, as soon as the “X outs to the World Series” threshold hits, things fall apart. Just like the Cubs Tuesday, the Sox were up three runs with five defensive outs standing between them and the World Series. However, in this case, it was extremely curious managerial decisions that let the Yankees back in rather than an expertly placed foul ball. Let’s not kid ourselves, though, no matter what Grady Little did, the Yankees were coming back. And Aaron Boone fit the profile perfectly for ending the game in the bottom of the 11th inning. Another long, cold winter for Sox fans. More banners for Yankee Stadium.

Instead of rubbing the head of Babe Ruth’s monument before every start, why doesn’t Roger Clemens just wear a jersey that says “DICK” across the front? It will prove the same point and save him a lot of walking.

It was nice of Fox to stick with the game in the middle of the first until Pedro made his entrance. Of course, that meant we missed three first pitches in other innings here in Indy while the local affiliate was busy getting their promos in.

Speaking of the local Fox station, they’re pretty much like every other Fox station in the country: more fluff than substance. A little too tabloid, a little too much caffeine. Unfortunately, though, they’re not loaded up with eye candy. What’s the point of having a Fox station if it’s not staffed with former models attempting to break into the TV awards presentation field?

As enthralling as the game was, I was disappointed there was no World Poker Tour action on ESPN to watch during commercials.

There are expectant mothers throughout New England that are secretly glad Boston lost. They were not looking forward to the name Trot hastily being added to the list of possibilities by their husbands.

Joe Torre moves his slumping slugger to the seven hole. Grady Little keeps his pitcher, who’s clearly been struggling recently and despite his performance starting to lose his best stuff that night, in the game when he’s got a left-hander ready in the bullpen to face the three straight left handed Yankees about to come to the plate. Jason Giambi hits two home runs. Pedro Martinez lets the Yankees back in the game. Maybe it’s not just George Steinbrenner’s money that makes the Yanks good.

Mike Mussina did a nice job in his three innings. I loved his quote, though, from earlier in the series, “All I can control is sixty feet, six inches.” Very Elvis Grbac. Fortunately for him, the Yankees are far too professional to worry about that.

Doesn’t Kevin Millar look like he should have played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the mid-70s? He makes Dennis Leonard look cleanly shaved.

Think people’s haaaaaaahts were beating haaaaahder in Boston after David Ortiz’s home run? “Six outs away! We’re wicked close! How about them aaaaaaapples?!?!”

Best sign at Yankees Stadium, “Mystique Don’t Fail Me Now”. Perfect timing.
Derek Jeter, 0-2, double. Bernie Williams, single. Hideki Matsui, 0-2, double. Jorge Posada, double. And like that Boston’s suicide hotlines light up.

Boston goes to extra innings in New York in a game they can clinch. Haven’t we done this before?

We all know what happened. You may ask, “How can you like the Red Sox and not like the cute little Cubbies?” Let me count the ways:
1 – The Red Sox, like every other team in the AL East, are not the Yankees. If you grew up in Kansas City in the late 70s, early 80s, at some point you’ve been a fan of every team other than the Yankees in the East because you hate the Yankees so much.
2 – Jim Rice. He was part of my holy trinity of baseball players growing up (George Brett and Eddie Murray being the other two). I would practice dropping the bat like Rice after I hit the ball. Plus, he wore my favorite number, 14.
3 – The Red Sox lose one heart-wrenching game every decade that keeps them cursed. Outside those games, they’re actually pretty good most of the time. The Cubbies are loveable losers. Their entire organization is built around the celebration of losing. The Red Sox actually want to win. There’s just this cottage industry of people outside the organization who have made money off of perpetuating the idea of a curse.
4 – I may not be a Cardinals fan, but I know enough to have had the hatred of the Cubs rub off on me over the years.
5 – Finally, some of my best baseball memories revolve around the Red Sox. The great teams of the late 70s through mid 80s that were loaded with talent, but always had some huge flaw (generally just having to play in the same division as the Yankees). Fenway’s distorted genius trumps the softball qualities of Wrigley any day. The Cubs were the horrible team that provided the only baseball I could watch when I was a kid in southeast Missouri. Piss off a kid, you never really get a chance to change it.

I want the Marlins to win, but why would I ever pick against the Yankees? They’ve got the money, the mystique, and the media. Yankees in five.