Beaneater

Works for me. I give all the credit in the world to Schilling for the Sox' success last year, but I only get to see the Sox play about once every two years on average, and right now Wake gives me a better chance to see a victory than Schill. Chan Ho Park is starting for Texas, and he's having a pretty good year, IIRC. Should be a good pitching matchup. But more of that on the game thread two days from now.

Today's game is going to be a rain-out? Does that mean (with no game Thursday, unless I'm mistaken, which I could very well be) that Wakefield will be on the mound Friday? I have a vested interest since I'm going to Friday's game.

Maybe we can put him on probation or something. And if he tells us tomorrow that he watched 'Gigli' instead of the game, well, we'll know what to do.

No, but I'm accepting applications.

Yeah, sorry about the long absence from posting. I've been busy, uh, performing secret curses on the Yankees, as you can tell from their (snicker, snicker) record.

Sorry, yeszir, you may be called "Administrator" and have seven little boxes under your name, but I'm afraid you're banned now. It's a terrible shame... you seemed like such a nice admin.

Nice pic... but I think there are 1 or 2 guys on the team other than Manny and Papi, right? The other 38+ guys seem a bit underrepresented... For instance, I'd like one of Cabrera knocking Jeter (or was it Cairo -- can't remember) arse over teakettle in the ALCS.

The look on the pitcher's face was great. But I see it as a look of relief: "That is the longest home run that will ever, ever be hit off me. No man can do that to me again. Having survived the worst, I can now look fearlessly to the future." I mean, I assume he survived -- it's possible that he might have died of shame shortly after leaving the mound. And surely if he were in a samurai movie, he'd be carving himself open after experiencing such a resounding public defeat. But I don't think they do that in Japan anymore, so his life is probably not in danger.

Noah and Yeszir-- There are some effective weight-loss plans available for large people such as yourselves.

I've posted this elsewhere, but I agree with schillingouttheks' assessment that the Cards' offensive woes had more to do with our pitching than their bats. As I review the games in my mind, I see tough pitch after tough pitch coming at Walker, Pujols, Rolen, Edmonds, and Sanders. Sometimes the Cards could do something with the tough pitches -- Walker's (meaningless) HR in Game 3 came off a good Foulke changeup down out of the strike zone, as I recall. Just a good solid piece of hitting, making something good come out of a pitcher's pitch. But more often than not, our tough pitching meant pop-ups, weak grounders, etc. Oh, we got lucky, too, as quite a few balls were hammered but directly at a fielder. But here's an example of what I'm talking about -- you know the NLCS Game 6 walk off HR by Edmonds? Where was that pitch? It was a gigantic meatball, a not-so-fast fastball between the belt and the letters right over the heart of the plate. How many meatballs did their big guns see in the WS? Not very many. We saw some, though. Manny's Game 3 HR -- meatball. Trot's Game 4 RBI double -- meatball (not that the pitcher had any choice given the situation, but, hey, it was his fault for getting into that situation). But their boys got a steady diet of high-and-tight heat, low and away junk, back door breaking stuff, etc. (as well as occasionally being blown away by Schill, Pedro, Embree, and even sometimes Lowe). Just beautiful. In conclusion, yes, the Cards had cold bats in that they were unable (for the most part) to overcome good pitching with opposite field hits or Texas leaguers or Beltran-style "I-don't-care-where-the-ball-is-I'm-going-to-hammer-it" hitting. But in the same way that every team went cold when facing Bob Gibson, this was more about pitching than hitting.

Do it. Doesn't even have to be free of charge.

I think that if Bellhorn had mashed one or driven in some runs in either Game 3 or 4, he would have been the choice (not saying whether or not I think that's right, just what would have happened). As it is, I would have voted Foulke, but then again he really wasn't in that many very tight save situations (just Game 1, right?), so you could say that he just mopped up. Mueller batted .400+, as did Manny, so I think either one would have been appropriate. I guess Manny had more RBIs, plus the HR, so that's that. Now that I think about it, the MVP should have gone to... the Sox pitching staff. They just throttled the NL's best offense. Absolutely made them look like schoolchildren. It was a thing beautiful and astounding to behold.

Just to clarify, I think it's safe to re-commence beer consumption now. If you're over 21, of course, and in moderation. But I the the metaphysical danger is over.

You're right -- that is shockingly effective. Nice work! :thumbsup:

I don't believe in superstition or curses or whatever, but it might be fun to catalog the things that we "did" to "help" the Red Sox win the World Series, knowing all the while that nothing we did actually made a Fig Newton's difference to how the Sox played on the field. The Sox needed no supernatural help to win the ALDS, but when we were in an 0-3 hole in the ALCS, it seemed appropriate to take drastic action. So in the spirit of a true witch doctor, I examined my behavior to see how I might have contributed to the 3 losses. What had I done in common for all three games? The answer was simple. I had had a beer during each game. So I decided to ax the beer. Final results? ALCS and WS games when Beaneater had a beer: Sox were 0-3. ALCS and WS games when Beaneater had no beer: Sox were 8-0. The results are clear, indisputable, and convincing . So what did you do to spur the Sox to victory?

Yes, scraping your herpes sores will be an eternal reminder of this special moment. If you think hard you can find a better way to celebrate. Not that I'm trying to poop on your moment or anything...

Yeszir--- Time to change the header from "27 outs away" to... well, I'd suggest something understated, along the lines of "Boston Red Sox - 2004 World Champions". Or "'...best Red Sox team ever assembled. --Curt Schilling'" Whatever you like.

Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, that is one sweeeeeet birthday present for Mrs. Beaneater.

Yes, it does feel a bit dreamy. I called my brother in CO and he confirms that the Sox won on his TV, too. That's one independent confirmation. This board seems to indicate that the Sox won, but maybe it's been hijacked by people who are trying to deceive me and ruin my life. On the whole, though, I'm cautiously optimistic that the Red Sox did indeed just become the 2004 World Champions. 2004 World Champions. Mmmmmmmmmm... tasty. I think I'll type that one more time: 2004 World Champions. Stat of the Series: not that you don't know this, but the Sox starters in Games 2-4 pitched 20 innings with an ERA of 0.00. There has been a lot of talk about how cold Edmonds and Rolen (and to a lesser extent Pujols) were, and that is partially true. But think back -- how many good pitches did these guys see over the course of the WS? I'd say it was roughly zero. The Sox pitchers threw filthy filthy stuff at these guys every stinking time they got to the plate. Every time. The Boston Red Sox are the 2004 World Champions.

Sweeeeeet.

Preach it, brother.

Yeah, I want to win. If we lose the next 4, I will probably end up at the Happy Acres Home For Incurably Insane People Who Have Had Their Psyches Destroyed By The Red Sox. All I'm saying is that when the games aren't tight, I'm not as likely to be jumping up and down and screaming at the TV. I'm not as likely to secrete so much stomach acid that I give myself a full-body ulcer. It's not that I'm less into the game or that I don't want the Sox to win or that I'm not happy. But the fact is that games 4-6 of the ALCS were some of the most gut-wrenching baseball games I have ever seen, and I can't help but feel like this soon-to-be sweep (I hope) is not as dramatic as the ALCS. Probably has something to do with the competition, too. I hate the Yankees. I don't hate the Cards. They seem like nice enough guys, and they have the good sense not to be in the AL East. Our World Series was the ALCS, and the Cards just happened to the unlucky team that had to be the losers to our inevitable victory (at least, that's the way it seems right now). Or here's another analogy, if it will help you understand how I think I feel. Our title run is like a rock being pushed to the top of a hill and then being allowed to roll down the other side. ALCS Game 7 was the top of the hill. In Games 1-3 the rock was rolling backwards, and in Games 4-6 we barely got that rock pushed up to the crest of the hill, but in Game 7 we gave it that last little push. The first games of the WS were still crucial, as the rock might have gotten stuck somewhere on its way down. But it didn't, and now the rock is rolling fast. So the drama is over. I know, I know, you have two devastating objections: 1) "We haven't won yet!" True, but as yeszir helpfully pointed out, we will. These Sox are not going to be the first team to come back from 0-3 and then immediately become the second team to choke when up 3-0. Of the four games that are left, I see the Cards winning one. Game 4 is not one of them. Neither are Games 6 or 7 in Fenway. I know, I could be wrong, and often have been before. But we are not going to lose this Series. 2) "This is the WORLD SERIES, you toolbox!" I know. That is baffling to me, too. I should be more pumped. We'll see how I feel when we win it. If I'm not pumped then, I'll go see a shrink.

No, Yeszir, you're not the only one. I think I expended all my visceral energy on the Yanks series. And truth be told, these games haven't been that tense. OK, we made Game 1 tense with our bad fielding, but Games 2 and 3 were nice sedate wins. It's hard to get that rah-rah gut-churning feeling when you go up in the 1st inning and don't trail again in the game. Amazing factoid of the night: the Cards have not led in this series. Keys of the game: 1) Have I mentioned 2-out hitting? Good gracious, we are going nuts with 2 outs. If that continues in Game 4, this series is over. 1b) As a subset of the above, has anyone else noticed that Cabrera is a beast when he has 2 strikes on him? I would love to see the stats on how many of his hits this postseason have come with 2 strikes. 2) Petey. Wow. He was throwing some serious BBs (and I don't mean walks). He had a great quote after the game (from memory so it won't be word for word): "That [me calling the Yankees my daddy] was after one game when I was frustrated. But I can be anyone's daddy on any given night." Cards got adopted tonight. 3) Manny doesn't have a cannon, but his throw from LF was right on the money in the 1st. The whole ballgame has a different feel if the Cards tie it in the 1st. You have to think that Lowe vs. Marquis favors us. If I'm LaRussa, I've got to give serious thought to sending out the bullpen in the 1st inning. Haren pitches 3 innings, King pitches two, Reyes pitches two, etc. I mean, the Cards' starters are getting pwned in this series. October 27th is Mrs. Beaneater's birthday, so I'm hoping the Sox deliver a fine present tomorrow. GO SOX!!!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!

Me three, but I'm all for 86ing 86 years of baseball futility.