Did they run out of gas? I think I heard somewhere that both pitchers were 50 innings over their season highs this year.

Or is this some kind of jinx that we're working on here?

Both pitchers looked shook to pitch to Manny and Ortiz. And while that's not a crazy notion, with their kind of stuff, you'd think they wouldn't wilt. I'm sure Fewnway played a part in Carmona's two poor performances--remember when he was torched their in relief last year? I know he pitched a great game in Boston this summer, but when the pressure was on, he didn't deliver his best game.

Anyone give the Rocks a chance? I'd say you'd have to simply because they buzzed through the NL like they did. But all this time off, and now facing the Red Sox? Well, Boston is a far cry from the D Backs or Phillies, that's all I can say. Best thing the Rocks can do, is get down 2-0, 3-1, then maybe stage their own crazy comeback.

Then ARod hits into a double play, and follows that up the next inning by making an error that leads to a two run HR off Joba (or Mo). Then Joba/Mo gets shelled for 6 more runs, aided by ARod clumsily barreling over Jeter on a popup that turns into a double.

Finally ARod makes the final out of the game on an outstanding catch by Crisp.

That's what the Indians did last night.

I think people aren't giving the Rockies much of a chance just because of their almost supernatural run of luck and the talent disparity, but I love their story (even without the RS to root against), and I'm hoping they can continue the run.

I might choke on the bitter pill. It really sucks to be in Boston right now. I must finish my dissertation ASAP and get out of here.

I'm not ready to annoint them the top of the food chain. Not with the clowns they have on that team.

Let's go Rockies!

and let's go Yanks! Get yer shyte together, Steinbrenners.

I think the layoff is going to be bad for the Rockies, but hopefully they can retain enough of their juice. Their fans have had a while to rest up their lungs so I hope that joint is jumping.Maybe Big Papi turns into David Or-Wheeze in the thin mountain air, or Youkilis gets mistaken for an anti-earth lumberjack and some Greenpeace loco shackles him to a bulldozer, or Manny (being Manny) walks off the edge of a mountain and doesn't get found (Rulon Gardner style) until after the Serious. I've never been to Colorado, so these kinds of things seem plausible to me.

And I think The Office has been great so far this season. My brother and I were just lamenting the end of the hour-long episodes. Obviously, the tension b/w Jim and Pam is gone, but I think that's fine, as they've been able to flesh out some of the other characters and focus on the comeday aspect of it.

"I delcare...BANKRUPTCY!"

hang in there. these people really are becoming all they said they hated. it is amusing.

Jose Mesa.

Manny Ramirez and Thome walking out of town.

Charlie Manuel quitting in the middle of a season.

Milton Bradley taking a cab out of spring training.

The 68-94 record in 2003 and an Opening Day lineup featuring Matt Lawton hitting third and Karim Garcia fifth.*

The ball Grady Sizemore lost in the sun and the collapse of '05.

Jody Gerut falling into a black hole.

The collapse in Boston in 1999.

*(Hey, a Karim Garcia sighting!)

13 Who?

I think it is yankz that has been voicing his displeasure at the 5 game series. Let me say that I feel the same way. I would think MLB would have some interest in playing the extra game or 2 per series ($ wise). Especially considering 3 out of the 4 division series games went the minimum of 3 games.

They are so certain of victory going into this Series. They're actually talking sweep.

Looking back, I'm sure I didn't feel that way going into the '98, '99, '00, '01 , '03 World Series. The '95 and '97 postseasons, and a little thing called the 1980s taught me about cautious optimism.

Haters can say whatever they want about the Yanks, but the Joe Torre Yanks always respected their opponents. I'm getting a completely different vibe from the Sox and their fans these days.

I've got to tell you, the only two guys on that whole team that I respect are Papi and Wakefield. Both handle themselves with uber-class on and off the field. The rest are a bunch of clowns.

Yes, Wakefield is very respectable and far and away the only guy I like on that team. Papi seems like a nice guy, but he buys into that clown shit too.

What is the opposite of schadenfreude? I think I'm suffering whatever it might be. I just hate it when the Sox win.

I can't help but wonder what happened when we played Cleveland. Seems like the team we played was a different team than the one that played BoSox. Where was Kenny Lofton, the two out rbi machine? Where were the Raffy duo, the late inning reliever killers? Carmono and Sabathia looked cooked against the Sox.

(sigh)

Have the Yankees lost their ability to intimidate other teams?

Francona is cool too ...

The rest ..... meh.

Oh yeah, Francona is alright too.

the big difference i've seen is definitely in the general population. a girl at work who was asking me "how baseball works" last week came in this morning wearing a sox jersey. a guy here wanted to make a bet with me that "his sox" would win it all. i asked him who played 2B for the sox, and he was stumped. he couldn't name 2 starting pitchers.

i think a lot of the swagger in "the nation" is from the bandwagon set. the people i talk to who have suffered therough the dark years are still reasonable people and appreciate this run for all that it is, as opposed to the loud and gathering hangers-on.

still, it is pretty obnoxious around here.

Not to change the subject too much, but Torre brought a certain amount of class to the organization and the team and it rubbed off on the players. I sure do hope that the team doesn't lose it with whoever takes over. I mean, I'd hate to see guys like Joba and Robbie begin to act like fools (see: the entire Red Sox team)

It's also hard to think of the Rockies as still being "hot" after this ridiculous layoff.

The Sox have one big disadvantage, though. In the middle three games they have to leave Ortiz, Lowell or Youkilis on the bench. And if they play Ortiz, they have to suffer his defense.

Hysterical, actually - but they'll never admit it they're turning into Yankee fans! Amazing what 1 win (possibly 2) in 4 years will do to a team. What a bunch of buffoons!

Go Rockies...

Hysterical, actually - but they'll never admit it, which is even more hysterica!! Amazing what 1 win (possibly 2) in 4 years will do to a team. What a bunch of buffoons!

Go Rockies...

I know the Yanks haven't had the big dogpile since 2000, but I've appreciated the effort, even though it hasn't come to fruition the past few years.

It could always be worse; it could be 1990...

Who knows, stranger things have happened. This whole thing feels like Yanks/Marlins of '03 to me, except Beckett's now playing for the favorite.

0 You didn't like the 'Shrute Farms' episode? I was giggling as soon as Jim & Pam watched Moses running alongside the car...

Heroes- and Claire Bennett- tonight.

Guess the interviews begin today with Girardi,; and Randy Levine worked hard over the weekend - way to earn those incentives.
http://tinyurl.com/ysp6d8
http://tinyurl.com/2gsr53

(Yeah, I've used that one before, but nobody ever read it.)

Whatever, dough-boy.

Losing in the NBA finals
Losing in the NCAA basketball finals (OSU)
Losing in the NCAA football finals (OSU)

Rough year.

I also remember a few years ago saying that I didn't think anyone had any business playing baseball at that altitude, so it would be nice to be proven wrong on that.

Hey, if the Rockies can somehow avoid the total Fenway panic that seems to set in for most teams and play their game, they can easily hit the Red Sox pitching, which even the Tribe managed to expose as overrated save Beckett (Man, Hafner and Sizemore had AWFUL Abs all series).

I wouldn't count the Rockies out, and Coors field should do a # on Dice-K and Wake, but I'm not exactly giving them a shot either...

And finally, I have no problem with the Red Sox, though I do find their continued insistence on being "blue collar" "dirt Dogs" or "scrappy" to be completely contrived and disingenious, and find their fans embracing of it even more funny when the huge majority of them are so not "blue collar." Nostalgia I suppose...

And as for them "just winning," I'm not sure where that comes from as last year they were a 3rd place team. This is hardly the same team as 2004, so theres really very little to say that they "just win" until, well, the past three games...

As for the Giants, I've been enjoying the winning streak, but you have to take into account the quality of their opponents. I mean, the team is beating the teams it should beat, and that's great, but reality's going to hit after the bye week. They could make the playoffs due to their weak schedule, but right now I still doubt they'll get past the first round.

The defense certainly has been a joy to watch, though that too might be because their opponents have been so bad. But maybe NFC:NL::Giants:Rockies?

11 30 "becoming"? Surely you guys mean "have become", because IMHO, the process was finished sometime before Spring Training 2005 began.

IMO, anyway.

I'm not among the Red Sox fans now apparently able to make boasts like "We're winning this thing" (0 ). How can you ever say that in baseball? Maybe in basketball or football, when it becomes clear that one team has either figured out how to beat or is just physically superior to the opposition. Baseball is too unpredictable and random. You can never know. I'm never going to tell anyone how to root, but for me the legacy of '04 is not a belief in some kind of team invincibility in tough spots but rather in me being personally able to more fully enjoy the game. From '04 on it's all house money. Anyway, I'm definitely not counting any World Series chickens. The Rockies are a complete team, no weaknesses, loaded with hitters. (They've even got Christ on their side.)

All I have to say about Papelbon's cockiness in comparison to Jeter's is: "cinco-ocho".

http://tinyurl.com/2kpvle

And the paper earns my eternal gratitude for not putting the Red Sox on today's backpage.

Rick Reilly Leaving Sports Illustrated for ESPN?

http://tinyurl.com/27mowq

68 Yeah - they basically swapped Dan Patrick for Rick Reilly.

54 yeah, so much has changed in 3 years. people here are proclaiming the sox world champions already. not the majority, but far more than the dom & gloomers of yesteryear. just keep reminding them of the moves that they made to get to this point. how they're "buying a championship." that bologna was all i heard for so long, i'll gladly dish that out when provoked.

There should be a rule, if you can't name at least three starting pitchers and 3/4 of your infield you cannot declare yourself a "fan."

Most Yankee and Red Sox fans are knowedgable - it's the wagon-jumping jerks who make both fan bases seem arrogant. I can remember many Yankee arrogant "fans" (loose described) during the late '90s. It's the same now, but they're wearing red.

if i hadn't met a group of knowledgable, rational sox fans in my time here, i'd be nauseous right now. they are out there, people, they just aren't as loud as the rest of the people in the crowd, so they go unnoticed.

tinyurl.com/2dwc3j

(eventually i let my true colors show, proving my jerkitude beyond any doubt.)

it is a sad part of having a successful run, but a price worth paying in the long run.

If they tell me that Papelbon is the greatest closer ever, when he had his first 2 inning "save" ever last night I just walk the other way. Also, any mention of David Ortiz's clutchiness.

I mean, I've spent plenty of time around Cub fans and Notre Dame fans and Met fans and Kentucky basketball fans and other rabid fans in their own environment at times of great success for them. I have never seen a fan base turned obnoxious so rapidly by success as the Red Sox have in all my years of following sports. The marketing done by Red Sox management has been superb, but it's resulted in too many casual know-nothings declaring themselves "members" of "Red Sox Nation". And Bill Simmons -- case closed.

Trust me, these folks are already hated around much of the country. There was one year of feel-good triumphalism after 2004, and then most fans of other teams quickly saw the reality -- another high payroll team muscling its way to the top. Nothing wrong with that, except for the extreme entitlement of fans who somehow believe they're still cute loveable underdogs. it's time to drop the loveable dirt dog card and the "poor us -- we're up against the $200 million Yankees" schtick.

And for people who say I'm a hater, I point to the success of the Patriots as a counterpoint. I'm most definitely not a Patriot fan and can't stand Belichick, but I haven't felt besieged by the bandwagoning with what is arguably a much more impressive example of sports success with the Pats. I have a lot of respect for them and envy their fans (outside of video-gate).

Let em' all get a taste of THAT bitter pill.

I hate 'em. I really do.

Wait, so what's the difference between those haters and the haters on this board? Are you a hater? Of course not, because you only speak the truth right? Speak against the yankees = hater. But you read the comments up and down this board and that's not hating, that's just truth.

I love that you say boston fans don't respect their opponents, and yet read what's being written here about the sox. Don't get me wrong, there are some classy yankee fans, but most are not here. I think it has to do with over-the-top fans being drawn to message boards. Because most are, well, like unpopster. Hateful and probably 15 or 16.

So thanks for the congrats Alex. You're one of the good ones.

"Time to commiserate. Whatta ya got?"

Needless to say, you're not one of those fans deserving of very much respect if you're trying to pass moral judgement on people venting on a rival fans' board.

Divide and conquer, brilliant.

>> But you read the comments up and down this board and that's not hating, that's just truth. >>

In baseball, the only truth we can grasp is a statistic.

In Boston, the only truth seems to be that the 'Yankees suck'. You've all had that same attitude since the dawn of time - you chant it at Super Bowl victory parades, you chant it at rock concerts, and I'm pretty sure I read about one time during a church service.

Your Stadium vendors sell T-shirts demeaning the Yankees' sexuality & your players obsess over what A-Rod's doing even after winning your World Series in '04. "Hating"...? RSN practically invented hating. So don't act so shocked & appalled now that your team is receiving a good amount of the venom.

That's the way it works. You win, you get hated on by the opposing team's fanbase. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, there's about 965 other sites that'll make you feel all warm & fuzzy about the Red Sox.

ESPN.com comes to mind. :)

Any fan base whose most popular chant is "Yankees suck" and its variations should look itself in the mirror before spouting off about "haters."

And thanks for giving me the chance to use the word "shibboleth."

Ha ha ha haha h a!!

That's so adorable.

And Andre Robertson.

And that guy with the glasses...came over from California, I think...

And Butch Hobson! No, not really, he was 3B, but he popped into my head, stream-of-consciousness like.