Regarding a Sox comeback, Game 5 was the biggie. Getting it back to Boston is HUGE. I'm not trying to go all Chandler Bing on you or anything, but, seriously, can Josh Beckett be any better in the postseason? Sweet move by Cleveland, by the way, bringing in his ex-girlfriend to sing the national anthem. JB don't play that shit. That was comparable to when St. Aubyn cut out the famous picture of Hakim Warrick blocking Michael Lee's shot from the 2003 championship game, and hung it up on the fridge just before the 2004 elite 8.
Next up, Manny's comments from Wednesday. "If we lose, who cares? We have a good team. There's always next year." Yada Yada Yada. The media had a friggin' field day with these quotes. I listened to literally 7 straight hours of ESPN radio ripping into Manny yesterday. Personally, they don't bother me. At all. He's not saying that he's not trying. That's ridiculous. Ummmm he's hitting .429 with 4 ya-yas and 11 RBIs this postseason. If that's Manny not trying, then good lord. Also, has anyone noticed him screaming at himself after pitches that he just missed and fouled off? He's not trying? I know that Manny is an idiot (the pimping of his home run down 7-3 was indefensible, but really, is the move where Manny jumps into Ortiz's arms the best home run celebration in baseball, or is it just me?), which is also why I love him, but the media just pounces on any chance to tear into him. This is why he refuses to talk to them most of the time. All that being said, if J.D. Drew or Eric Gagne had made those comments, they would have to place them in some kind of protection program.
My next beef is with media, Cleveland players, Cleveland coaches, etc. saying that ''no one was giving them a chance to win this series.'' Um, what? Of all the postseason predictions I read, Cleveland was picked to win the AL just as often as the Yankees, and actually more than the Sox. And going back farther than that, last off-season, no team was picked to win the AL more than Cleveland (except the Yanks.) Here is an actual quote from Joe Girardi the other night: "I mean, this is a team that was 1/2 game down to Detroit in July!! 1/2 game DOWN!!" To which I replied: "Are you fucking kidding me?" Wow. A whole 1/2 game down, folks. How did they pull themselves out of that hole to find themselves here, one win away from the World Series? By no stretch of the imagination has this team been disrespected in the last 11 months. The only time people were down on them was after Game 1. And that's because they looked like shit. And now they don't. So quit playing the No Respect card, Cleveland. We know you're good.
It's amazing how a few months ago, the strength of this Boston team was its bullpen. Now, everyone out there besides Papelbon and Jon Lester gives me a mild heart attack when I see them start to warm up. Ick. On the bright side, Lester and Manny Delcarmen can play a mean water bottle percussion set on Doug Mirabelli's knees. That was pretty funny, as was Papelbon doing the YMCA arm motions while doing jogging in the bullpen during Game 5.
Now we have both Schilling and the home crowd going for us in Game 6. Both need to turn in a better performance than they did in Game 2. Unfortunately, we would have Dice-K for a potential Game 7. I have lost every shred of faith in him that I ever possessed. I think it would help me emotionally if he MADE A FACIAL EXPRESSION every once in a while. Whether he's pitching a one-hitter or getting shelled, his expression only ranges from "I can't believe I have to repeat the 4th grade" to "I just came home and found my wife humping the mailman."
This picture was taken after he just got done striking out the side.
But anything can happen in a Game 7. Just gotta get there. Go Sox.
