Red Sox Win Their 1st AL East Crown Since 2007, 7th In Franchise History

Well that didn't take too long. Roughly 24 hours after they clinched a playoff spot, the Red Sox (94-61 overall, 52-27 home) wasted no time dispatching the hapless Blue Jays (70-83 overall, 32-43 away) 6-3 tonight at Fenway Park. Boston clinched its first AL East title in six seasons, the seventh in franchise history.

They remain 2.5 games up on Oakland for the best record in the AL so their hearty celebrations in the clubhouse and back on the field afterwards were well deserved especially after they didn't do anything following Thursday's victory over Baltimore.

There is plenty of work for the Red Sox to do in October in order to accomplish what is well within their grasp: an American League pennant and World Series title. Still, baseball is such an insane grind that it was nice to see them live in the moment for a second and enjoy their excellent regular season. As the last few seasons have shown, AL East (the best division in MLB) titles don't come around that often.

Jon Lester (15-8) set himself up to no question be the No. 1 starter when the playoffs roll around as he put together another stellar outing: seven innings, one earned run, five hits, eight strikeouts and two walks. Junichi Tazawa created a few scary moments when he gave up a two-run homer to Adam Lind in the eighth, cutting Boston's lead to 5-3. No worries, Koji Uehara would just be summoned for a five-out save.

Uehara allowed two hits (which is unheard of for him) and threw 26 pitches but he didn't allow a run and struck out two including Brett Lawrie to end it for his 20th save of the season. More than any other pitcher on the Red Sox, he earned the right to get the biggest out of the season (so far).

Boston's first two runs were gifts as Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, double) scored on a wild pitch in the first and Mike Carp (single) walked with the bases loaded in the second inning. Lawrie got the Jays on the board with an RBI single in the fifth but Boston added three in the seventh on David Ortiz's (run, two walks) RBI single and a two-run single by Carp. How good has Carp been?

With the big league hangovers that they're sure to all have this morning, it's best for the Red Sox that they don't have a game until tomorrow night (7:10, NESN). Clay Buchholz (11-0) faces Mark Buehrle (11-9), who Boston typically owns.

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Goodnight To The Worst Red Sox Team Of My Lifetime

Well the time that we've all been dreaming of since about mid-May is finally upon us: the 2012 Red Sox' tour of pain is over. We won't see them again until April in a meaningful game and not a moment too soon at that.

Fittingly, for Daisuke Matsuzaka's (1-7) last outing as a Red Sox (69-93, 35-46) and Bobby Valentine's final night as an MLB manager, both were thoroughly embarrassed as New York (95-67, 51-30 home) trampled Boston 14-2 at Yankee Stadium. It clinched the third AL East title in four years for the Yankees and 18th overall after the Rays beat the Orioles 4-1.

Now is when the real fun starts, we can only hope that the Red Sox owners and GM Ben Cherington come up with a better choice than Valentine. Then again, who could possibly be a worse pick? It is horrifying that last winter, after months of deliberation, that clown was their hire.

Dice-K didn't stick around long, he probably had a flight back to Japan to catch. In 2.1 innings, he allowed five earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts, a walk and two homers.

Hiroki Kuroda (16-11) went seven innings (2 earned runs, 7 hits, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks) for the Yankees, who will host the winner of Orioles-Rangers starting on Sunday in the ALDS.

It was a monster night for Robinson Cano (4 for 4, 3 runs, 6 RBIs, 2 homers) and Curtis Granderson (2 homers, 4 RBIs). Nick Swisher was 2 for 3 with a run, RBI and two walks while Alex Rodriguez (2 for 3, double, 2 runs, 2 walks) and Ichiro Suzuki (2-run double, 2 runs) contributed to the laugher for the Yanks.

Cody Ross was 2 for 3 with an RBI single, Pedro Ciriaco was 2 for 3 with a double and run while Dustin Pedroia had a double, walk and stolen base. In the near future (possibly tomorrow) after I have some time to breath and wash the stink away from this incomprehensibly bad season, I plan to write a post highlighting the few Red Sox that had good seasons (hint: those three play prominent roles). Jose Iglesias also had an RBI single, hopefully that gives him some confidence heading into the winter.

Until then, let's hope that a Men In Black type mind eraser device exists and that we can all use it to get rid of all our memories having to do with the 2012 Red Sox. They were truly the most hateable Boston sports team that I've ever seen and it would be tough to top them in that particular way.

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October Dreams

Well it took some unexpected help (thanks Orioles) and longer than expected but the Sox finally clinched the AL East (for the first time since 1995) on Friday night as they defeated the Twins while the Orioles made a comeback and then beat the Yankees in extra innings. The next night, Cleveland lost-insuring the Sox would have the best record in the AL and home-field throughout.

The Angels come to Fenway tomorrow to open up the five-game ALDS while the Yankees travel to Cleveland. On the NL side, the Phillies host the red-hot Rockies (absolutely sick game vs. the Padres) and the Cubs go to Arizona. I'm no fan of cliches but here's one anyway regarding postseason baseball: you can throw the regular season out the window. Sure all those games seemed important at the time but the end (getting to the playoffs) was for more important than the means. If you get to October these days, whether it be by Wild Card or winning a division, you're golden. Anything can happen. That being said, the Sox did themselves a big favor by getting home-field advantage. Fenway as anyone could tell you gives the Sox a huge edge in any series.

As the playoff picture started to come into focus late in the regular season, I was genuinely scared of the Angels. They hit, they run and they pitch. They don't score a ton of runs but they have two real good starting pitchers (Lackey and Escobar) and one of the best closers in the game (K-Rod). Not to mention the fact that Vlad Guerrero is one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Nonetheless, at this moment it looks like Boston is catching a break by playing the Angels in the first round and not the Indians. The Indians have been on a roll and the Angels limped into the playoffs. More importantly, a bunch of Angels are banged up: Vlad, Gary Matthews, Figgins and Escobar. Obviously, by October every baseball player is in rough shape since the season is such a grind but it seems like those guys just mentioned aren't anywhere near 100%.

Beckett gets the ball to face Lackey tomorrow, followed by Dice-K vs. Escobar on Friday and then Schilling vs. Weaver on Sunday in Anaheim. The Red Sox have owned Lackey this year and while putting Dice-K ahead of Schilling seems a little strange, you have to be confident that Curt can step up once again in the postseason.

After having a bunch of key contributors (Manny, Coco, Youkilis) out in September, Boston started to get everyone back in the last few games. And even more surprising, J.D. Drew finished off a torrid September. Meanwhile, Lowell is having a career year (he set the RBI record for Red Sox 3B) and Ortiz has been absolutely ripping the ball lately.

What does it all means? Who knows. The four teams in the AL particularly are so evenly matched. I have confidence the Sox will get by the Angels, I'm saying in 4. The playoffs are all about momentum and winning game one would be huge for the Sox. As for the other series: Yankees in 5, Cubs in 4, Rockies in 4.