Lightning strikes twice for rally Sox while Indians short circuit
BOSTON -- The spirited debate for eternity in each of these two cities will be whether Boston won this American League Championship Series or whether Cleveland lost it. A case can be made for both. Just as a case can be made that a Red Sox franchise once best known for gagging on the big stage now thrives on spotting the other guys an ALCS lead and then frantically storming back.
Come the stroke of midnight Sunday, one thing was clear -- or, as clear as things can be through champagne spray and stinging, bloodshot eyes: The days of the Red Sox tripping over their own shadow or walking under ladders are finished. They're headed for their second World Series in four seasons, and this one is baggage-free.
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| Manny Ramirez's spirits soar after Boston punches its World Series ticket. (US Presswire) |
My goodness, do you realize that by the first of November, there could be 4-year-old children who will never have known the angst of a Red Sox World Series drought of longer than three seasons?
Boston's 11-2 Game 7 laugher even came packaged with a Bucky Dent-like Mighty Mite coming through for the Red Sox. That would be little second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who broke Cleveland's back with a two-run homer off stud reliever Rafael Betancourt in the seventh, then boomed a three-run double in the eighth, and wound up rapping seven hits in his final 13 at-bats over the last three games.
Gentlemen, strap on your eye-protecting goggles to keep the champagne and beer out.
"It's the same game you play when you're 10 years old in Little League," backup catcher Doug Mirabelli said. "It's just that things change, and things go quicker."
Tell it to the Indians. Boston's clincher, like the rest of this ALCS, was part opportunistic, part Cleveland collapse. Whatever, as generations of Red Sox fans will tell you; you take it however you can get it. So it is that Boston will open the World Series against Colorado on Wednesday night, with ace Josh Beckett rested and raring to open in Fenway Park.
Soxtober vs. Rocktober, start your corny word plays now.
"Obviously, they have a great team," Pedroia said. "They've won I don't even know how many in a row. They've been playing great baseball for a long time. We're excited about the opportunity. We get to keep playing, and it's going to be fun on Wednesday."
The Red Sox punched their ticket on an unseasonably warm October evening when, like J.D. Drew a night before him, Daisuke Matsuzaka (five innings, two runs) found redemption, Beckett won the ALCS MVP and New England discovered that just maybe that wasn't simply a single bolt of lightning that struck in 2004.
This is the second successive ALCS in which the Red Sox trailed three games to one and came back to win (in '04, they trailed the Yankees 3-0 before firing the Shots Heard 'Round the World to humiliate the New Yorkers). Under manager Terry Francona's smooth guidance, the Sox now have won seven consecutive LCS elimination games.
"I don't know," said Francona, who might be up for canonization in New England if he can pull off a second World Series title in four seasons following an 86-year wait. "I do think that games of a huge magnitude, our guys don't get overwhelmed. It doesn't assure that you're going to win, but it is a good feeling.
