Ah, Cole Hamels. I had no idea, shooting you back in March of 2007, that you'd someday be World Series MVP!

And congratulations to all the Phillies!  I'm particularly happy for Jimmy Rollins, though I can't back it up with my own photos, as well as Hamels, and Ryan Howard.

looking monstrous next to Tek, also March of 2007...



... and looking stylish next to Gentleman Jim Lonborg at the Boston Baseball Writers' Dinner, January 2007.

I'm happy for the Phillies, and for Philly in general, and for a couple of friends of mine who are devoted Phillies fans, and I raise a glass to all of you!

But I also toast the Rays.  I'm still growling and grumbling about Boston fans dissing Rays fans, but I've already griped about that so I'll pass on it here.  It was a terrific season for the Rays, and there's little shame in losing in the World Series.  Congratulations to Joe Maddon and his team; we'll see you on Opening Day at Fenway in April!

So I had it in my head that if the Rays beat the Red Sox tonight, I'd write a post of congratulations; that I'd write through my disappointment, toast the Rays on having succeeded in what I think will actually be their toughest postseason challenge, and post a few photos from the ALCS that show off the Rays better than the Sox.  Then I found that within moments of the end of the game, at least one Rays "fan" was already trolling Sox sites; I guess you've finally hit the big time when you get to be an idiot in support of your team?  Ah well.  (Cyn, bless her heart, is good with the delete key, too!)  [Edited the morning after to add:  you know, in retrospect, that was probably just a garden variety troll, and not a Rays fan.  I blame the grey fog of disappointment for that not being immediately obvious!]  So it's dimmed my benevolent spirit a bit.  But I do realize that there are plenty of deserving fans out there as well, and I offer good wishes to them, and congratulations to Joe Maddon and his team on earning a World Series berth.

I'll have several posts in the coming days to toast my own boys; it's a fine achievement to have made it as far as they did, and I love the Red Sox--these Red Sox--without qualification.  Their salutes, and photos, will come.  For now... a few from October 13, Game 3.



From batting practice... is that the Baldelli family nose, or what?











Not sure if that's David Price, but he certainly demanded a high jump!  Carlos Pena was willing...





... but Dioner Navarro...



"... ah..."





"Hey, look, it's your armpit.  Woo."

Hope no one got hurt in the pigpile (Jake Peavy waves, weakly).  ^_~  Congratulations.

How many days until pitchers and catchers report?

I went into Game 5 knowing that it would either be a wake or a party, and that whichever it was to be, I had to be there.  An excellent omen: I called the box office that morning to find that one of my favorite field box singles was available!

I made my way in in time for BP, of course.



Josh Beckett and Dustin Pedroia.  "Don't bite your fingernails!"



Kevin Cash, Gary Tuck, and David Ross trek in from the bullpen.



Devern Hansack, Justin Masterson and Manny Delcarmen, waiting too far out in center to have to do much of anything.

The Sox spared no opportunity to remind us of past comebacks pregame, not only in the montage from 2004 that still leaves me sobbing, but in bringing out history in the flesh for first pitch!



Curt Schilling.



Daisuke Matsuzaka took the mound for the Sox, and the battle began.



Akinori Iwamura and Jason Varitek.



It didn't start well for the Sox.  Aki singled...





And BJ Upton homered.  Two batters, two runs.





Carlos didn't fish for that one, but he did strike out.





The switch to Scott Kazmir might have given Sox fans hope, but he would pitch six scoreless innings.



Even Dustin Pedroia, the littlest MVP, could get nothing going.



The wind whipped the flag and the banner.  "Don't forget," it challenged us.  "Keep the faith."





But Carlos Pena wouldn't strike out his second time up.



And Evan Longoria followed with a home run of his own.



While Jed Lowrie grounded into a fielder's choice...



... to be stranded on second with nothing to show.



Hideki Okajima came in after Aki walked to pitch the fifth and sixth, allowing no runs.







But Manny Delcarmen walked the two batters he faced in the seventh...



... resulting in the call to Jonathan Papelbon.



After a double steal, Paps allowed both of Manny's runners to score on a BJ Upton double.  7-0 Rays, top of the seventh.  Backs to the wall.

But Fenway's an amazing place.  And you could feel the spirit of the park stir.  No cowbells, no thundersticks, no exhortation from the scoreboard to "Make some noise!"  Just the passion and the life's blood of the faithful, the ones who love and support this team, the ones who believe.





Kazmir gave way to Grant Balfour.  Jed Lowrie got it started with a double.  Tek and Kotsay flied out, but Coco singled, Pedie singled (knocking Lowrie in), and then came Big Papi.







And after a three-run homer, the drive was on.  Papelbon had three up, three down.  Jason Bay would walk on  four straight pitches from Wheeler before J.D. Drew drilled a pitch out of the park.  Lowrie and Casey made outs before Mark Kotsay doubled to center field.

And then came Coco.





Coco Crisp.  Overlooked, perhaps, in the rush to anoint Jacoby Ellsbury prince of center field, but a gamer and a man possessed of a fierce and determined heart.  Coco had a magnificent at-bat, working a full count, fouling off four consecutive pitches, and finally lacing a single to right, scoring Kotsay and tying the game.  Fenway was in a frenzy of Dionysian proportions.

We'd had Papelbon for all he was worth--but we needed a closer.  And we turned to Justin Masterson.







Jason Bartlett singled, and got a lot of attention at first,



but instead of bunting him over, Aki flied out.  Upton walked, but Pena hit into a marvelously scripted double play.

How to explain the ninth?  Pedie, our MVP, grounded out.  Ortiz, our heart, struck out.  Then came Kevin Youkilis, who gutted out a ten-pitch at-bat that ended in an infield single, thrown away by Longoria to put Youk on second.  Jay Bay was intentionally walked... in order to face J.D. Drew.

It seemed as though Drew might not get a pitch in the strike zone...







But he did.



And Fenway erupted.















Who knows what tonight will bring?  I only know this--I'll be there for my team until the last pitch is thrown.

I'm a believer.

I'm a firm believer that any fan who blogs, or even posts on a message board, should do so to express his or her own thoughts.  And as a result, I'm sometimes hesitant to comment even on the thoughts of people I know personally when I think they're out and out wrong.  I find that October, in addition to bringing pumpkins, bats (the flying kind) and the scent of burning leaves in the air, seems to find me spending a lot of time biting my tongue.

 

Allow me, then, to use my own blog for the purpose for which it was intended.

 

I really respect the Rays.  And I'm sick of Boston fans bashing them.

 

First of all, I'm tired of Boston fans complaining about Rays fans.  You know what?  The vast majority of Red Sox fans I know were born into it.  They've been following the Sox for as long as they can remember; they had family members and friends to nurture that commitment all along.  Even latecomers to Red Sox Nation had history to draw on, so much to know and appreciate about the team before pledging undying devotion.  Rays fans have never had that.  They're a relatively new franchise, and they started under the cloud of an owner whom Jerry Remy just called, if I heard correctly, "a despicable human being."  You want to call Rays fans "bandwagon" fans, Red Sox Nation?  You're looking at a fan base pulling themselves up by their bootstraps when you started off two thirds of the way up the ladder.

 

And I don't see how Sox fans, beneficiaries of two rings in the preceding four seasons, can be so surprised that the rest of public sentiment falls to the underdog Rays.  If you've ever spoken of the Yankees' payroll, don't be surprised that Tampa's vs. Boston's comes up in the discussion!

The fight with Coco?  Coco had a point, believe me--but if you don't think the Red Sox don't have passionate enforcers who would have taken some shots at another team's hothead (I say that endearingly) who charged one of our pitchers, then you're crazy.

 

Yeah, I don't like the cowbells any more than you do; but in the context of what's done at parks across the nation to get the fans to make noise, I'm not sure it's as horrific as it seems.

 

I love Joe Maddon.  I believe in managers for teams.  I think Terry Francona is perfectly placed with his front office and his team.  I think Joe Girardi may never find a better match than his team of baby Marlins.  And I think Maddon is both a fascinating and delightful guy and an unsurpassed motivator for a team that had to find a way to put it together to achieve.

 

And I really like the Rays themselves, which has been evident in my shooting!

Carlos Pena, of course

Aki Iwamura










After losing an argument--Pedie was safe, to Aki's chagrin!






Playing Twister with J.D. Drew

Dioner Navarro

Andy Sonnanstine

Jonny Gomes

Scott Kazmir

Matt Garza

Cliff Floyd

Evan Longoria

After years in which facing the Yankees brought bad blood from all sides, it's refreshing to me that this year we have two talented teams vying for the right to represent the American League in the World Series.  Whoever wins will have earned it.  I hope it's my beloved Red Sox.  But if the Rays should triumph, I'll support them wholeheartedly, and I'll hope they take home the biggest October prize of them all.