Just a few headlines following the ALCS game 7 win. I can guarantee no other bloggers were reading the Shaghai Daily the day after!

The Boston Red Sox, 2007 American League Champions…man that sounds good. Who didn’t think that was possible 3 days ago? Who didn’t think it was possible when our leadoff hitter was batting a whopping .188 and we only had one pitcher make it through the 5th inning in a game? When we only had two, maybe three batters who could hit and every pitcher looked like the length of the season had finally gotten to them? I know that 3 days ago I was pissed and confused, but as Wally Shawn might say I certainly didn’t think it was “inconceivable!” And now that’s all a memory. For the second time in four years, the Sox came back from deficits of at least three games to one to win the AL pennant. Damn these guys are good.

Having Millar throw out the first pitch was freaking brilliant. He might have stolen some champagne on his way out, but what a smart way to remind Cleveland “we’ve been here before, and you haven’t.”

This has to be the most surreal big game I’ve ever followed. I say followed, because due to work I was dragged kicking and screaming away from my hotel TV. As a result the game kind of feels like a dream, I know they won, but without the intense living and dying on every pitch, it doesn’t feel quite real yet. Anyways, because of work I kind of broke the game down into three sections: watching the first two innings in the hotel, receiving text messages from Kim while I was stuck on the bus and getting calls from Kim while I was stuck on the factory line.

While the score may look similar to the game 7 the Sox played three years ago, it certainly didn’t feel that way. Pulling out to the early lead a big boost, but I’d be lying if I felt comfortable with a 3 run lead after leaving four runners on and hitting into three(!!) double plays in the first four innings. Of course I was vindicated by Dice-K giving up 2 runs in the fourth and fifth innings to cut the lead to 3-2.

Dice-K certainly was no Beckett, but considering his last few starts he “sacked up” big-time. He got off to a great start and basically breezed through the first three innings. Then he clearly hit a road-block in the fourth but managed to keep the lead going into the sixth, he may just have earned all $103M on his paycheck. (Alright, maybe we should hold a few bucks back until the World Series.)

Some games have a turning point when you go from feeling confused about the outcome to feeling confident. When I got the call from Kim explaining what happened in the 7th inning, I knew that was it. Down a run, with one out Kenny Lofton gets second base on a Lugo error. Then Gutierez singles to left and the ball bounces off the grandstand back into left field. For some inane reason the Indians 3rd base coach decides to hold Lofton, rather than letting him easily score the tying run. Instead, the Indians got fed a bit of their own medicine as Casey Blake hit into an inning-ending 5-4-3 DP. (Note that that’s not a 6-4-3 DP, because that would mean the Lugo had helped the team in some way.) And just after one DP hurt the Indians, so did another one, Dustin Pedroia. Three batters into the bottom 7th Dustin does his best big Papi impression hitting a 2-run dong into the monstah and flips the bat away as soon as he makes contact. Instead of 3-3, it’s now 5-2 Sox and suddenly the smile had been wiped off Chief Wahoo’s politically incorrect face.

I’m not going to say I was ordering my American League Champions hat after that sequence of events, but that was mostly due to the Vietnam-like flashbacks I was having to a certain game 7 in 2003 (and the fact that I still was away from a computer and instead calling Kim like a mad-man for updates). And Tito didn’t help that by leaving a clearly tired Oki in to give up 2 leadoff singles to start the 8th. But unlike his predecessor Tito took the ball from Oki and gave it to his best reliever who got out of it despite one very loud final out.

A couple more (say…SIX) insurance runs later and some loud outs by Paps and we were in-store for yet another drunken Papel-jigg on the field. Each one is sweeter than the last.

As we leave the ALCS and head to the World Series, here are a few parting thoughts:

• Holy shit, we came back from 3-1…again.
• I really hope people don’t call this an Indians collapse and instead recognize that it was just a fabulous job by the Sox to out-pitch, out-hit and out-field the Indians.
• Beckett can now add one more notch on his bedpo…errr, trophy to his trophy case with an ALCS MVP trophy.
• Fuck you very much Kenny Lofton. See you next year on your 45th teams in the past 10 years. Enjoy your offseason bitching to anyone who will listen.

And with that, I’m off to drink some sweet sweet Dirty Water, otherwise known as Chinese knock-off champagne, and enjoy my prop Cuban cigar.

For five games now the Red Sox offense had to rely almost exclusively on Big Papi and Manny. And for 170 games they had to live without a number 5 hitter, also known as Nancy Drew. Well, JD may have earned his first two names back with one swing. Bottom of the 1st, bases loaded, no outs and neither Manny nor Lowell can get a run home. Then on a 3-1 pitch Drew drives the ball deep to center and out for a grand slam home run. I didn’t know whether to exhale or cheer like a madman. I did both. The rest of the offense did their part, with Peroia and Youks starting to look like their old selves, and Jacoby Ellsbury actually getting some production out of the CF spot and by the end of the 3rd inning the Sox had 10 runs.

Schlling didn’t look fantastic, but unlike in game 2 he got the job done. Seven innings, 2 ER is more than admirable for a guy who clearly didn’t have his good stuff. He couldn’t paint the corners and he couldn’t overpower hitters. He pretty much had to throw a fastball on the first pitch for a strike in hopes of throwing splitters for the rest of the AB to get batters out. But seven innings also meant that only Lopez and (gasp) Gagne had to pitch, so we’ve got a fully rested pen for tomorrow.

I also can’t tell you what a treat it was to watch the international broadcast of the game. True, it’s no fun to have to get up at 8AM to watch the game from Shangahi, but instead of the ear drum splitting Tim McCarver I was treated to the Red Sox’s own Dave O’Brien and Rick Sutcliff. Sut is no TV color mastermind, but he’s no McCarver either. And as much as I like Joe Buck, I’d take “Obie” (as Sutcliff calls him) over Buck any day of the week.

Speaking of which, here’s the playoff beard Shanghai edition:

After being down 3-1, the Sox live to play game 7 tomorrow at Fenway. Feel free to use whatever cheesy cliché you want, but Dice-K needs to step up and so does the offense. Letting Westbrook pitch 7+ with 2 ER again means the Sox will be golfing on Wednesday, not playing in the World Series. I think it goes without saying, but we need all the mojo we can muster: go Sox!

Josh Beckett knows how to make a 14 hour flight a lot more bearable. From one man who has atrocious facial hair to another, it was quite entertaining to watch him mow down Indians hitters. The Sox needed somebody to step up big, and Beckett made it look like no big deal. Sure, it was a little nerve racking in the beginning, but Beckett settled down to take care of business. (The truth is, every pitch is nerve racking now. That’s what happens when you’re on the brink of elimination.)

Youks got things started like he did in Beckett’s first start with a solo shot to give the Sox the lead. Problem is, they couldn’t keep it for long. Beckett gave up one of those bloop doubles near the line in the Bermuda triangle between 3rd, short and left field. A single later and the Tribesmen (that’s Indians, not Jews) had 1st and 3rd with no outs and Hafner up. Beckett used a perfect 2-seam fastball to get Hafner out in front of the pitch and a nice 6-3 double play.

A couple innings later the Sox got the lead thanks to a 2 out walk by Papi followed by a long fly ball from Manny that hit off the top of the wall, scoring Papi from 1st. Somehow Manny only ended up at 1st base which lead to a two inning bitch-fest by McCarver about how Manny doesn’t hustle. Fox must have replayed that play 30 times in the game, and each time I reached a different conclusion. Yes, Manny didn’t bust out of the box. But when the ball bounced off the top of the wall, the Indian’s RF Guiterez bare-handed the ball on the fly and fired it into the infield. Gutierez had already thrown out Manny at the plate in the 1st inning with a perfect rocket. If Manny was running hard he might have made 2nd. But, more importantly, he very easily could have been thrown out there…before Papi crossed the plate. In other words, Manny probably saved us the run by staying at first.

Also, in response to Buck saying that Manny hit the longest single in baseball, he’s wrong. Remember Robin Ventura’s “grand slam single” in game five of the 1999 NLCS? Oh, sorry, that game wasn’t on Fox, so I guess it doesn’t count for Joe.

Beckett had one more test in the 5th when Casey Blake hit a 2 out single which was followed by a questionable “infield single” by Sizemore that sent Blake to 3rd. Now here’s where Beckett is different from Schilling: three pitches. That what it took to get out of the inning. Fastball in, curve ball in, fastball on the outside black, strike three.

Also, for those who have been watching the games with me know that I’ve been bitching about Kenny Lofton the entire series. Not so much for his on-field work, but for some of his “extra-curricular” activities. Well, they finally boiled over last night. It sounded like he and Beckett had a few words and then, after popping out, Lofton decided to charge the mound from first. People got in the way, and order was restored but I have to ask, why was Lofton not ejected? He obviously wanted to either (a) have a physical confrontation or (b) at least try to get in Beckett’s head when he was dealing. This should not be tolerated by MLB. I know it will be because Selig is a wimp, but we’re not playing hockey here (much to Keith Foulke’s dismay), this is baseball and baseball has rules about fighting. Charge the mound, get ejected. It’s that simple.

Now we head back to Boston, in the same situation we were in in 2003 and 2004. It’s not going to be easy facing Carmona, but the Sox have dug themselves into this hole, so they’ve got to get out of it the hard way. I’m hoping the playoff beard is still alive on the flight home.

The playoff beard from the Hong Kong airport:

Talk about inflation. Apparently $18M a year doesn’t even buy you five freaking innings in the playoffs. I can’t even imagine how Curt will use this to his advantage when negotiating a new contract.

Honestly, the Sox just looked like shit yesterday. Dice-K pitched decently (although giving up a home run to Kenny Lofton is completely unacceptable), and the bullpen picked him up just like in game 2 of the ALDS. Problem is the offense has become completely anemic and wouldn’t scare an 8th grade little league team right now. Jake Westbrook should never be allowed to go 7+ innings before giving up a run. Bases loaded with no outs? We’ll get nothing and like it. Tito needs to get this team back on track, and if he sticks with Wakefield for game 4, I’m afraid this series will be over really quickly.

Even though he didn’t pitch last night, I still need to go and join ALL of these facebook groups (courtesy of www.sportsblahg.com):

• Americans for Deporting Eric Gagne
• If Gagne blows another game i am going to flip
• Join if you think Eric Gagne SUCKS
• Eric Gagne is the Biggest Douchebag
• Eric Gagne is a Joke
• GAGNE SUCKS
• Eric Gagne is awful
• Newest Red Sox curse: Eric Gagne
• Eric Gagne Comes into the Game, Go to a Different Room
• Give Gagne Back
• Gagne Sucks..Bring Back Kason Gabbard
• Eric Gagne SUCKS
• Go Back to Texas Eric Gagne
• Eric Gagne is The Lost Hanson Brother!
• Fuck this, Gagne Blows
• SEND ERIC GAGNE BACK TO TEXAS
• I hate Eric Gagne
• Eric Gagne sucks
• Get Eric Gagne OUT of Boston
• I hate Eric Gagne
• Papelbon is the BEST closer and Gagne pretty much SUCKS
• Gagne Sucks
• Wtf Gagne?
• Eric Gagne Blows
• SCREW GAGNE GIVE ME DELCARMEN AND OKAJIMA!
• Eric Gagne sucks and should retire.
• eric gagne sucks asshole get him off our team
• Eric Gagne: Worst Reliever Ever
• Release Eric Gagne
• Eic gagne sucks (I’m pretty sure he meant “Eric.”)
• lynch Eric Gagne fan club
• All Eric Gagne does is blow saves
• Designate Gagne for Assignment
• Eric Gagne is the worst pitcher EVER!!!
• Eric Gagne fucking blows
• Eric Gagne Depreciation Group
• gagne and lugo suck ass
• Eric Gagne: Yankee Saboteur?
• GO AWAY GAGNE
• Hang Gagne (Description: If this group reaches 1,000,000 people the red sox have agreed to hang Eric Gagne. Also, if this group reaches 10, JD Drew will be shot.)
• Eric “Gag Me” Gagne is the Yankees MVP
• Eric Gagne doesn’t suck (Size: 2 Members; New: 1 Fewer Member)
• Eric Gagne Hurt My Feelings
• Eric Gagne for Prezident (Description: Chokes harder than Bush on a pretzel)
• Trading Kason Gabbard for Eric Gagne Was A terrible Trade for the Sox
• Fucken Gagne
• why do javier lopez and eric gagne have roster spots
• Gagne Should NEVER Touch A Baseball Ever Again!
• Fuck Eric Gagne!, Bring Back Gabbard!!!
• gagne is a bum
• Eric Gagne is the worst thing to happen to the Sox this year
• Eric Gagne sucks!!!
• ERIC GAGNE SUCKS THE RED SOX SHOULD FIRE THE BASTARD
• Fire Eric Gagne
• Killing Eric Gagne is justifiable homicide
• Eric Gagne sucks
• I think Gagne is secretly working for the yankees
• FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO DISLIKE ERIC GAGNE
• Eric Gagne Should Consider Suicide
• Who wants to kick the shit out of Eric Gagne?
• Worcester Colleges against Eric Gagne
• GAGNE SUCKS
• Eric Gagne Sucks
• eric gagne is completely horrible
• Eric Gagne sucks!!!!
• GET RID OF GAGNE
• Eric Gagne ruined my picturesque playoffs
• Isn’t it ironic that Eric Gagne’s last name means “to win” in French??
• Eric Gagne should be kicked in the balls by everyone in New England.

Also congratulations are in order to the Colorado Rockies, the first team to punch their ticket to the 2007 World Series. I’d also like to thank them for screwing over TBS by giving them only ONE game over the minimum to broadcast between all of the divisional series and the NLCS. Maybe they really were on a divine quest since they shut up the Frank TV ads to save us from having to watch them any more. I just hope the Sox get to see you in the WS.

Did anybody in Red Sox Nation think we had a chance once Tito brought in Gagne? Sure, it’s the 11th inning. Yes, we’ve already used Delcarmen, Okajima, Timlin and Paps going on 2 innings. But for Christ’s sakes, if this isn’t the time for a long reliever (Lester), when is? I know Lester didn’t fare too well either, but here’s a recap of Gagne’s playoff appearances:

• ALDS Game 3: Gange enters with a 9-0 lead and promptly gives up a run.

• ALCS Game 1: Gagne enters a 10-3 game, loads the bases, and goes 3-0 on Grady Sizemore before striking him out to end the game. No runs allowed, but not exactly a 1-2-3 inning either.
• ALCS Game 2: Tie game, top of the 11th. Gagne K’s the number 9 hitter and then gives up a single to Sizemore and a walk to Cabrera (I’m not even going to try to spell his first name). Needless to say, both runs end up scoring and then some.

If you want somebody who can pitch a few innings in a blowout, put Tavarez on the roster. Gagne is just fucking worthless.

Oh, and I’m also still pissed that Youks was about 5 feet from ending the game in the 9th. He KILLED that ball.

Hi Manny, it’s nice to see you too. Yes, you had a great game yesterday. Going 2-2 with two bases loaded walks and 3 RBIs is fantastic in a ALCS game. When your partner in crime also goes 2-2 with two walks, it makes Mr. Beckett’s life a whole lot easier. Speaking of Josh, what the hell was that? First, he didn’t pitch a complete game. Second, he gave up not one but TWO runs. Sure the 7 K’s were nice, but I’m not liking this trend of giving up runs in the playoffs. How about we stop that?

The first seven innings were just about perfect for Sox fans. The Sox were up 10-2, the pitching looked good, and the bats were just electric against C.C. “I should probably win the Cy Young” Sabathia. And then we got to the bullpen. Not the strong Paps-Oki-Delcarmen bullpen we like, no this was the Lopez-Gagne bullpen that doesn’t scare the Tufts baseball team. Lopez required two fantastic catches (One from Nancy, one from Manny. Yes, I said Manny.) to get out of the inning only giving up one run. Of course, this was followed by Gagne who despite the 3 K’s, has zero control and even less “stuff.” Of course, if Tito is only planning on using him in games we’re up 9-0 or 10-3 in the 9th, I want to see him three more times this series.

Here’s your DW trivia question for the day. What was the final score of the Sox last ALCS game? Yup, 10-3. Hopefully you remember that one.

Before the LCS begins, here are my preditcions:

• Rox over Snakes
• Tribe over Sox
• Stephen Drew’s BA over his sisters’ BA. Plus I’ll give .100

Please remember that I was one for seven picks last season and one for four in the Divisional Series predictions. Play ball!

In the immortal words of Bob Uecker in Major League “The Indians win it! The Indians win it! Oh my G-d, the Indians win it!” I think that pretty much sums up the MFY-Indians ALDS series. Eric Wedge and the Indians tried to screw it up, even giving up a home run to Ms. October, A-Rod. But they held on and will now be playing at Fenway on Friday. While I’m sure I’ll be focusing on the Indians in the upcoming week, the truth is this post is about the MFY, and their failure to get past the divisional series for the third straight year. $200M payroll = one playoff win.

For as happy as I am about the MFY getting to play golf this offseason, Suzyn Waldman was equally distressed. Listen to her post-game comments:

She is single-handedly ruining all women broadcasters chances of ever announcing for a major league club. Waldman often makes Erin Andrews look like a member of Mensa. Honestly, how do you cry on a broadcast? Even Geena Davis knows that “there’s no crying in baseball.”

I should also point out that Chip Carey is flat out unlistenable. Every single at bat towards the end of the game was “Could this be A-Rod/Posada/Abreu’s last at bat in a Yankee uniform?” When Torre went to the mound to bring in Rivera he went on and on about “This could be Torre’s last time to make a pitching change as a Yankee.” Jesus christ, just let them play the game. The world isn’t going to end with every at bat. If I have to listen to this asshat for the NLCS I might just mute the whole series. However, I think we’ve now found the hall of fame worst collection of playoff broadcasters. I mean, how could you beat Carey and McCarver in a 7 game series. Every baseball fan would look like a bobble head doll by the end.

So MFY fans, enjoy the rest of the playoffs. The rest of America can now.

Every playoff series always has a big hero. But in the 2007 Red Sox case, I’d say they had one for each game. For game one, it was Josh Beckett pitching a complete game shutout. For game two, Manny won the game on a three run, two out, walk off home run that was probably confused for a missile launch by the Russian radar systems. And today, the Sox got one more hero. This time it was from a pitcher with a storied career that clearly doesn’t have the same stuff that he did in 2004. I am of course talking about Eric Gagne, who has such a large heart that he felt the need to give the Angels a going away present by allowing them a single run.

In all seriousness, Schilling looked a bit shaky at the start, but settled down nicely to pitch a vintage Curt Schilling playoff game: 7 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk that was all-but-intentional, and most importantly, zero runs. He was fantastic when he got himself into a few sticky situations, and once he got a small lead he had no intention of giving it up. If this can keep up, we’ve got two legit aces on the staff.

The offense also decided to show up, even if they arrived a bit late. Papi and Manny “a bad man” Ramirez gave the Sox the lead in the forth with back-to-back jacks. Amazingly that was the first time all season the two had gone b2b. The score stayed 2-0 until the 8th when apparently the team became as sick of the fucking rally monkey as I am and wanted to keep it off the Jumbotron. So they scored seven runs. While I would have preferred the breathing room earlier so I didn’t have to dig my nails into my flesh when Curt had to work out of a leadoff double in the 7th, I’ll take the runs anytime I can get them.

It amazed me that for all the talk of Schilling’s previous playoff start — the “bloody sock” start — nobody on TBS bothered to mention that the reason for the heroics was a result of an injury Schilling sustained at Anaheim. But I guess that’s normal for TBS to miss obvious connections. I’m still not sure what would be worse, the announcing team of Ted Robinson, Steve Stone and Jose Mota or Frank Caliendo impersonating all of them.

Congrats to the Sox, they clearly outplayed a very injured Angel team in every facet of the game. I just hope Paps has enough time to recover from this celebration’s hangover by the time they play again on Friday.

And of course the playoff beard, while I kill the rally monkey once and for all: