Yeah, Hell Yeah

It might be a pain in the ass to buy tickets and get in and out of the city but on a sunny summer day, there's few places in the world I'd rather be than at Fenway Park.

I was reminded of this fact yesterday as my parents, buddy and myself took in the series finale of the Sox-Mariners series. It was my first Red Sox game in two years.

Boston (49-32) won 8-4 but what I'll remember most when I look back on yesterday is a specific moment that had nothing to do with the outcome of the game.

In the middle of the third inning, as the Mariners (42-39) took the field, the Red Sox PA announcer read off the six players that made the 2009 All-Star game. We had missed the announcement show since we were en route to Fenway at the time.

Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Papelbon and Kevin Youkilis were all expected to be All-Stars but they saved the most deserving choice for last: Tim Wakefield. In his 17th season in MLB, the knuckleballer made his first All-Star team. He got a standing ovation and on the jumbotron in center, they showed him in the dugout. It was a wonderful moment.

After losing the first two games of the series, Boston really needed yesterday's contest, especially considering that the Yankees were only a game behind.

A diverse offense and stellar relief gave the Sox a much-deserved win.

Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 runs) and David Ortiz (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) gave Boston an early 2-0 lead as they both hit solo homers in the first off Seattle starter Brandon Morrow.

The Mariners took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on Ronnie Cedeno's bases-clearing triple. Ryan Langerhans made it 4-2 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

Red Sox starter Jon Lester threw a season-high 122 pitches to get through 6.2 innings. He gave up four runs (one earned) on eight hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2 runs, 2 RBIs) cut the deficit to one (4-3 Seattle) as he smacked another solo homer in the sixth inning.

Boston finally delivered some hits with men on base in the seventh, to the tune of five runs.

On a 3-0 pitch, Ortiz tied it with an RBI single. Ellsbury walked with the bases loaded and then Mark Kotsay had a clutch, two-run single. Ellsbury scored the final run on a passed ball.

Justin Masterson (1.1 innings, 3 strikeouts) and Hideki Okajima (clean ninth inning) didn't allow any baserunners and also saved Papelbon from making an appearance.

The Oakland A's come to Boston for three games and then the Kansas City Royals wrap up the first half with a four-game set at Fenway. These are very winnable series for the Red Sox, they need to take advantage of this break in the schedule before the All-Star game.

Jed Lowrie carries the Red Sox to their fourth ALCS in the last six seasons

I alluded to it during the Celtics title run in the spring and summer but I can't emphasize the fact enough that I'll never take this for granted. Sure in the company of my fellow Massholes, I will talk a big game and boast that this success across New England pro sports will continue forever but I see the writing on the wall (especially with the Cubs collapse fresh in my mind). Despite how great they are at this moment, each local franchise will go through downtimes in the future (except for the Bruins who will always be mediocre). Hopefully, by that time I'll be married to Jessica Biel and will have no use for sports.

The Boston Red Sox won game 4 of the ALDS, 3-2 over the Angels as rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie came through with the key hit, a walk-off RBI single in the ninth off Angels reliever Scot Shields that scored Jason Bay.

On a related note, Julio Lugo was arrested for robbing a 7-11 in East Boston last night. Just kidding,a although I'll be the first one to help Lugo pack his bags and get the hell out of town. No use for that bum anymore.

Hate to be redundant but Jon Lester once again delivered in a huge game. The workhouse and second best lefty in MLB (behind Johan Santana) pitched seven scoreless innings on a cold night, which was just what the Sox needed since every bullpen arm had been used the last few games. Lester allowed four hits, walked two and struck out four. He left with a 2-0 and should have gotten the win if not for some shaky moments by Hideki Okajima and especially Justin Masterson.

Boston broke the scoreless tie with two runs in the fifth off Angels starter John Lackey. Jacoby Ellsbury's groundout drove in Mark Kotsay and Dustin Pedroia broke out of his series-long slump with an RBI double off the Monster which scored Jason Varitek.

After Mark Teixeira and Vlad Guerrero walked, Torii Hunter scored them both with a clutch RBI single off Masterson in the eighth. All the air went out of Fenway as fans realized how screwed the Sox would be if they had to fly back to Anaheim for a game five with Dice-K starting. Yuck.

The Angels series could be summed up by what happened in the ninth. Pinch hitter Kendry Morales led off the ninth with a double and yet he couldn't score. Howie Kendrick bunted him over but then Erick Aybar blew a squeeze play with one out. Aybar missed on a bunt attempt, Jason Varitek caught the ball and ran up the third baseline to tag pinch runner Reggie Willits who was too far off third (anticipating the bunt).

Kevin Youkilis and Kotsay both had superb defensive plays earlier in the game, another thing which separated these two teams in such a tight series.

From there, Jason Bay hit a bloop ground-rule double to right, Kotsay hit a rope that Teixeira (how good is he?) dove and caught before Lowrie stepped up.

The Red Sox will go to Tampa Bay on Friday for Game 1 of the ALCS. Facing off against a division foe, especially such a fresh-faced up and coming team means this best of seven series should be pretty exciting.

The only bad news coming out of Fenway last night was that Mike Lowell is out for the ALCS and probably the rest of the playoffs with the hip injury.

Shifting Expectations

With the expected news arriving yesterday that Tom Brady is out for the season with a torn ACL, the Red Sox and Patriots' expectations shifted. Suddenly, the Red Sox are looking like a good bet to make another deep playoff run while any rational Pats fan would be happy with a playoff appearance now that Matt Cassel is the starting quarterback.

Such are the times in the City of Champions. I understand that no other parts of the country will feel bad for the Patriots or their fans. We still have the Celtics (who just won an NBA Championship). And the Sox, who by the way are defending World Champions too. Tough life indeed. While it's stupid to simply stop watching the Pats since Brady is gone, it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds now.

The Tampa Bay Rays came to Fenway last night for an extremely important three-game set. Boston (85-58) won 3-0 behind yet another dominant performance by Jon Lester.

Losers of four straight and five of its last six, Tampa's (85-57) sorry offense could not do anything against Lester. He threw a Dice-K-esque 119 pitches in 7.2 innings, but the difference was that Lester (14-5) was firmly in control the whole time. The lefty struck out nine with three walks, while allowing six hits.

Boston scored all three of its runs in the first off Rays starter Edwin Jackson (11-10). David Ortiz doubled in substitute leadoff hitter Mark Kotsay (2 hits, run, walk). Youk singled in Ortiz and Jason Bay cranked a solo homer off the lights above the Monster.

Coco Crisp continued the best hitting streak of his Red Sox career, going 3 for 3 with a steal.

Jonathan Papelbon recorded four outs for his 36th save of the season. He came in the eighth and struck out Rocco Baldelli with runners on second and third.

Weather permitting, Scott Kazmir and Daisuke Matsuzaka go tonight in game two.

The Orioles will be soon starring in Will Ferrell's latest garbage comedy

Down 4-0 going into the seventh inning yesterday afternoon at Fenway, the Red Sox were not in good shape. No worries though since they were facing the Baltimore Orioles, a team notorious for giving away games (particularly the ones that really matter in August, September, etc).

The fact that the suddenly charmed Sox (82-57) pulled it out, 5-4, was not surprising. The player that jump started Boston was also utterly predictable if you've been paying attention: Dustin Pedroia.

Pedroia hit a solo homer into the Monster in the seventh-his 17th of the season. Later in the inning, Coco Crisp (2 hits, RBI walk), walked with the bases loaded to cut the Orioles lead in half.

Alex Cora (3 hits, 1 run) had an awesome defensive play in the eighth which saved a run as he gathered a groundball to short, turned and quickly fired to third where Jed Lowrie tagged out Aubrey Huff. It was a rough day for Huff (2 hits, run, steal) who earlier had a sure homer robbed by a leaping Jacoby Ellsbury in right field.

Mark Kotsay tied it up with a two-run triple to center in the eighth.

Dice-K had a rather pedestrian outing: four runs, four hits, three walks and seven strikeouts in six innings. Javier Lopez pitched a scoreless seventh and Justin Masterson (5-4) threw two clean innings with two strikeouts. It's easy to see that should the Sox make the playoffs (which is looking more likely by the day), Masterson will be a very valuable piece. A reliable reliever outside of Papelbon, what a concept.

Cora had a single to lead off the ninth. Coco tried to bunt him over but luck was on the Red Sox' side as the ball rolled fair after looking like it would go foul. Cora and Crisp were on first and second. Ellsbury also looked to sacrifice the runners over but Orioles rookie reliever Jim Miller tossed the ball well wide of third, into left field. Cora walked home with the winning run.

The Rays have lost two in a row and the Sox have won their last three games so Boston sliced Tampa's AL East lead to three games. Boston is in control of the Wild Card, five games ahead of Minnesota and seven in front of the Yankees.

Today is an offday then the Sox begin three games in Texas against the playing-for-pride Rangers. Their offense is deadly as usual so the Sox will need to get some pitching in Texas. Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett (who's supposed to start tomorrow), Sean Casey and Kevin Youkilis are all scheduled to be back for the series which is great news. Everything seems to be coming together at the perfect time for the Red Sox.

The Orioles are falling apart faster than John McCain and Sarah Palin's campaign

The spontaneous combustion of the Orioles' pitching staff (which you can pretty much set your watch to every season) has come at the perfect time for the Boston Red Sox.

After taking game one at Fenway, 7-4 on Labor Day, the Red Sox (81-57) came back last night to smoke the Orioles (63-75), 14-2.

As alluded to in the title, as the Orioles and the Republican Party's nominees fall apart, others are rapidly gaining strength-Obama and Dustin Pedroia for MVP (topical, no?).

Breaking the recent history of Rookie of the Years, who never really do anything after the first year, Pedroia is having a monster season. He leads the AL in batting average and runs. Hitting cleanup the past few games, Pedroia was 3 for 5 last night with five RBIs and a run. He provided the biggest hit of the game, a three-run bomb in the fourth inning.

The suddenly stacked Sox lineup banged out 20 hits and worked eight walks. David Ortiz was 3 for 3 with 4 RBIs, two runs and a walk. Coco Crisp had three hits, three runs and a steal. Jed Lowrie scored three runs, walked three times with a hit and two RBIs. Mark Kotsay (who has been great) added two hits and an RBI. Jeff Bailey notched a hit, two walks and two runs. Finally, Jacoby Ellsbury walked twice, scored twice, stole a base, had a hit and an RBI.

Jon Lester only needed to go five innings to improve his record to 13-5.

Dice-K looks for his 17th win this afternoon as the Red Sox look to sweep Baltimore.