The Witch is Dead

October 16th, 2003 - Red Sox eliminated from the ALCS by a solo shot from Aaron Boone off Tim Wakefield, capping a furious late-inning rally by the New York Yankees.

October 2004 - Red Sox take ALCS after being down 3-0; go on to win World Series.

October 2007 - Red Sox take ALCS after being down 3-1; go on to in World Series.

October 16th, 2008 - With seven outs left before elimination, the Red Sox dig out of a 7-run hole and win 8-7 to force Game 6.

October 18th, 2008 - The Red Sox, behind an injured Josh Beckett, silence the Rays at the Trop to force Game 7. They had now won 9 straght ALCS elimination games. Would this unnatural streak continue?

October 19th, 2008 - Matt Garza throws 7 innings, giving up only 1 run. The Rays offense had touched Jon Lester for 2. Alex Cora reached on error to open the inning, and a slew of Rays pitchers both loaded the bases...and then got out of it. David Price rung up J.D. Drew and then returned for the 9th to close it up and give the Rays their first American League Championship title. But more importantly for me, Boston was going home from the ALCS with nothing to show but a Wild Card "title" for the first time since Aaron Boone let us go to sleep...

I am ecstatic for this for three reasons. 1) Of course, my (second) most hated team has finally been vanquished. This means 2) I don't have to endure talk of a "dynasty" (Please! A dynasty is winning 26 with multiple muli-repeats!) and an ever obnoxious RSN train with countless mindless bandwagons in tow. And finally, 3) I can watch October baseball without giving a damn about the outcome. Hey, if I can't have the Yankees, this is the best case scenario.

I really did count the Rays out. After the Game 5 debacle in which their bullpen blew such a lead, I had good reason to lose all faith. After all, isn't this the pattern we've seen in all of Boston's playoff comebacks? Also, note how I said the Rays bullpen lost it, as opposed to the Red Sox winning it. This is a necessary distinction to make and it something that RSN will deny. But let's be objective here--Balfour was throwing fastballs and only fastballs; major league hitters can't be fooled forever by those. Then Maddon opted to let him pitch to Ortiz instead of bringing in the lefty Howell. And in the 8th, when Wheeler clearly was spooked out of his mind and had NOTHING, Maddon decided to force him to finish the inning as he watched from the dugout. Way to pitch, and way to manage.

Also, I have consistently said that the Red Sox didn't deserve to make the playoffs this year with their shoddy bullpen, and the stats support me. The 2008 Red Sox had a 4.00 bullpen ERA (T-7th AL and T-last AL playoff teams) and a 1.35 WHIP (T-7th AL and T-last AL playoff teams). Contrast this to the 2007 team, which led the league in both areas. However they made it as far as they did is beyond me, but at least the Rays took care of business :).