The Sox are history this year. Go Rays beat Philly!

Garza is wicked good!

The Rays are now my favorite team. At least until the World Series is over.

My 1918 wheat penny will be forever remembered. 17 wins 1 somewhat gut wrenching loss.

My next question is: "Will the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins?"

I can't hear what my talking magic 8 ball is saying. All I hear are cowbells. Help Me!!!!

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays and all their fans!

Boy, I'll tell ya. Some of the comments you get back for writing a blog are absolutely rediculous.

It's on the same level as getting hate mail!

You talk sports and give reasons why you believe in your team or who is going to win what or an intelligent opinion of a sports figure.

Then you get comments such as "You suck". "Your team and their fans suck". "Your city sucks".

These people won't even talk about the blog you've just written! Not even a scrap of an opinion about the story.

I even had to go as far as to delete some of these comments because they were completely irrelevant!

Let's put it this way. Why would you want to make a comment written in intelligible English when you couldn't pass an SAT when you were in high school?

Anyone who writes an insult laiden tirade is an ####. People who swear over and over are morons who can't think of anything else to say!

All I can say is GO BOSTON RED SOX!  Jon Lester on the hill. Things are looking up!

Choking stinks. Giving up a 7-0 lead in the 7th inning of a clinching game stinks. But blowing a 3-1 series lead in the ALCS is embaressing and humiliating!!

Josh Beckett gave it his all and came through like the BIG game pitcher he is.

The Red Sox came to play and dominated the Rays, who now  have their backs to the wall.

Suddenly the over confident Rays don't have that same look in their eyes. Now it's a look similar to a deer in a car's headlights!

Don't look now but the Defending World Champion Boston Red Sox have their ace on the hill tonight. Jon Lester.

Will Lester be beaten again? I doubt it. Will Garza win his second game of the series and be named ALCS MVP? I really doubt it. Will Tampa win the Pennant? I absolutely positively  do not think so.

I know for a fact the Boston Red Sox do not think so!

Oh yeah. If you've read my other blogs, I bet you a penny the Sox don't lose!

I am very tired. It's 1:20 am on the East Coast. The Boston Red Sox were not supposed to win this night. Just like the last two games at Fenway it's the bottom of the 6th inning and as the 3rd out of the inning is made, the crowd at the old ballpark is almost ready to give congratulations to a young, confident, overpowering, Tampa Devil Rays.

But it's not over yet.

Once again the impossible is ready to take place.

In the history of playoff baseball, no team has come back from more than 5 runs down in a game that would clinch the series by the opposition. The Boston Red Sox, down 7-0 to Tampa Bay after 6 and 1/'2 innings, came back to win 8-7  in the 5th game of the 2008 ALCS.

I'm sure you all saw it. All great fans of baseball must have seen it. Those who didn't, it doesn't surprise me because you probably give up at everything when it seems almost impossible!

In 2004 , Iwas at the American Veterans Club in my home town watching the Red Sox go down 3 games to none to the Yankees in the ALCS. The score that night was 19-8. I thought it was the Red Sox year to win it all, finally! Obviously I Said to the bartender " I can't believe we're gonna lose again, and to the Yankees".

I reached into my pocket to pay for my last beer of the night and when I pulled my hand out I noticed a wheat back penny. I turned it over to look at the date. It was 1918. The last year the Red Sox had won the World Series! Of course I showed everyone in the place. But it didn't matter because the Sox had just lost and were only 1 game away from getting knocked out.

Every night from that point on, I kept the penny with me and put it out on display as the games continued. The Red Sox beat the Yankees 4 games to 3 in the most incredible comeback in the history of sports. The Sox then went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games straight and win their 1st World Series in 86 years! The penny was 8 wins, 0 losses.

In 2007 the Sox wre losing 3 games to 1 to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. I figured if it worked once , why not break out the 1918 penny again? I did and the Red Sox came back and beat the Indians 4 games to 3 and went on to sweep the Colorado Rockies 4 to 0 for their second Championship in 4 years.

I never breeak the penny out till I absolutely have to. I think that's the way it works!

Up to this point , the penny had a record of 15 wins and 0 losses.

Well, You know what I did last night?

The Red Sox , down 3 games to 1 to the Tampa Bay Rays and losing 7-0 in the top of the 7th inning, miraculously came back to win 8-7  in the 5th game.

You all saw it ....right?

Maybe it was the penny! In the right hands finally of a true diehard Sox fan!

The penny is now 16 and 0. It will stay out the remainder of this series and hopefully the next. If we don't win, it still did it's job. Two Championships and an incredible run in the hands of a Red Sox Believer!

Masterful. Thats the only way to put it.

Dice-K's pitching performance last night was one classic for the Red Sox faithful. Talk about shutting down the Division winners at their home field. And slamming the door shut at the end was Papelbon(again).

With veteran Josh Beckett going next and sesational Jon Lester slated after that, the Devil Rays had better get their bats going.

Granted the Sox didn't do much offensively themselves. But Tampa Bay had their chances also. Clutch or as some call it, timely, hitting and mistake free baseball goes a long way in playoff games.

To beat the Sox you have to play real good. I mean the White Sox.

To beat thedefending World Champion Red Sox you have to play extremely good!

Some people have said the Rays have got the Red Sox number. Winning 10 of 18 during the regular season and losing the !st game of the playoffs at home, doesn't resemble that.

Tampa Bay is to the country as the NY Football giants were. I know, we are the bad guys now! The truth hurts.

But this series is all about pitching and the Red Sox have it. Just like they had it last year! Ask the Colorado Rockies.

• The Cubs went down in order in the ninth. Only problem was that it was the 3rd game in a best of 5 series , and they were already down 2 games to none. Oh yeah, and they were losing this game 3 to 1. One, two,three. Without even a whimper. The Dodgers were moving on to the National League Championship.              


• It doesn't matter who's on the Dodgers. It doesn't matter that of all the playoff teams in both leagues, the Dodgers had the worst record. They actually were on the brink of a sub .500 season. It doesn't matter that Joe Torre was the manager now.


• The only thing that matters is Manny.


• Not the team. Not the fans. Not LA. Not the World Series Trophy or rings. Not even the sport of baseball itself. Only Manny.


• Manny being Manny.


• It's too bad it ended in Boston the way it did. We were a team. We were a bunch of idiots who hadn't won in 86 years. Manny was happy. I guess?  He finally got a ring. He said he was happy , right?


• Two years later , same thing. Red Sox sweep the Rockies!  Manny was so happy? Two rings now. Manny being Manny. Manny wants to play the rest of his career here in Boston. It's all about the team. Manny is happy?


• 2008. Boston Red Sox are fighting for 1st place with the Devil Rays. Manny having his usual great year. Manny goes to the All-Star game. As usual. Except when he doesn't want to play.


• The Sox fall into 2nd place. Manny suddenly develops an injury. Is Manny happy? The Team needs Manny but Manny can't play. He takes himself out of the lineup. He's hurt you know.


• What about every other person associated with the Boston Red Sox organization? The ones who don't quite make the millions of dollars. The ones who don't make it to the front of the sports page?  The ones who pay for cable or a dish to see their team win? 


• It's not about them. Manny is not happy. Manny wants to be traded. Manny says he was never treated right in Boston. He was always uncomfortable here. Boston doesn't deserve Manny. LA  does.


• LA says Manny is great. But it's not about LA . It's only about Manny.  Good luck to Manny if he makes it back to Boston. If the Dodgers make it to the World Series. But as Manny has said," So what if we don't win, it's only a game, there's always tommorrow." Boston has Jason Bay now. The Cubs are out , but the Red Sox are in. So long Manny!