First off, congratulations to the The Angels Angels of Anaheim. They were clearly the better team in this series. They pitched better, they hit better, they ran the bases better and their bullpen was better. You won’t hear anything like “We are way better than they are. We lost to a team not as good as us” here, for two reasons. One, I’m not a member of the Boston Red Sox starting 25. And two, because I have more class than John Lackey. Now I hope they go and beat the living shit out of the MFY.

Coming into the series I thought there would be three big questions: Josh Beckett’s dominance (fail), the Sox bats against good starting pitching (fail), and the umpiring crew putting everybody on an even playing field (do I really need to re-hash this?). And yet I didn’t worry at all about Paps. I mean, why would I? The guy had pitched 27 innings in the playoffs and allowed (carry the two) ZERO runs, as in none, nada, zip, zilch. He had been the one person the Sox could always count on in October.

But by the time Paps was intentionally walking Torii Hunter, this series was over. It’s not that Paps didn’t have the ability to get Vladdy out with a one run lead and the bases loaded, it’s that even if he did, this team looked so shaky I couldn’t imagine them winning another two straight, and then four of seven against the MFY. I screamed obscenities when Abreu got the double, I sat in silence when Vladdy got to the go-ahead single.

So another season has ended, but as bad as the Sox getting swept felt, it could have been worse. They did make the playoffs for the third straight season. And getting swept is still better then losing four straight to our arch rivals after having a 3-0 lead and the lead in the 9th innings.