Tonight's The Night

I wonder if Neil Young is a baseball fan? If he is, I'm sure he's looking forward to tonight's World Series Game 1 at Fenway. The Boston Red Sox square off against the Colorado Rockies for the right to be called World Champions. New England is electric right now. As I noted on Monday, Red Sox Nation is a different place after 2004, and that spells trouble for the Rockies. As Bill Simmons points out, moments like Lofton's double in Game 7 used to deflate the Fenway Faithful. Today, they ignite us. I'm not saying that these games don't leave me on the edge of my seat (and not only because it helps me stay awake), but the feeling of dread has gone away. I don't expect a collapse the way I used to.

I'm calling this one Sox in 5. Between Josh Beckett and Fenway Park, Games 1 and 2 go decidedly to the Sox. Beckett has shown himself to be one of the most dominant play-off pitchers of this generation, if not all-time. Add to that quirky Fenway and a "this could be my last game in Fenway as a Red Sox player" Curt Schilling, and it is hard to make a solid argument against the Sox taking a quick 2-0 lead in the Series. This kills the Rockies for Game 3. The Rocks were the hottest team in baseball over the last 3 weeks of the regular season and that carried over into the NL playoffs. But these guys just sat for 8 days. The last time they had this much time off was last February. The flight from Boston to Denver will be the longest of these players lives, they will start to believe that the lay-off sapped their momentum. This sets up a Daisuke-Okie-Papelbon Game 3 W in Coors Field. The Rockies have enough talent that they won't get swept though, especially with a projected Game 4 start for Jon Lester. Lester is going to be a good pitcher, but he's almost a place holder in this game. Which brings us to Game 5, and back to Josh Beckett. I don't think I need to expand upon this. So when you are celebrating another Red Sox World Championship on Monday night (or more likely for those of us on the East Coast, early Tuesday morning), take a moment to reflect upon the fact that I told you so.

Speaking of taking moments, I'd like to take a moment here to thank Tim Wakefield. The longest tenured Red Sox player, Wake took one for the team and announced yesterday that he will not be on the World Series roster. This has to be a tough pill to swallow for the knuckle-baller, watching from the sidelines, unable to contribute. Wake once again shows us what a class act and consumate professional he is, feeling that his taking up a roster spot is "unfair to the 24 guys" on the card. Who knows what will come of Wakefield, the team option for next year is there, but will he choose to shut it down or not? Only time will tell, but no matter what happens, thanks Wake, for everything.

Now, with Tim not on the roster, we'll see Kyle Snyder take up a spot in the bullpen. I wasn't surprised by this, but I was a bit surprised to see Eric Gagne on there. I don't know to many of the denizens of Red Sox Nation who wouldn't have preferred to see the smiling face of Julian Tavarez out there, for comedic effect if nothing else. Whatever, as long as we don't actually need him to pitch.

There you have it. Tonight's The Night. The Red Sox are about to win the World Series...for the second time in our lifetimes. Did you ever think you'd be able to say that?