Bring On The Indians

Although it’s strange to see The Red Sox play somebody other than The Yankees in the ALCS, it’s no less exciting. So we have Grady Sizemore, C.C. Sabathia, and Joe Borowski to root against instead of Johnny Damon, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera. The Cleveland names don’t exactly have the juice of their New York counterparts, but their team did win 96 games- same as The Sox.

And no matter who you play, you have to win four games to get to The World Series.

This is what us fans dream of every year. This is why we go to the park to see the games, watch them TV, or listen to the calls on the radio. This is why we pour over stats and box scores and read all the coverage in The Globe & Herald. Sure, if the Red Sox were in last place I’d still do the same thing (and have in years past). But winning makes it so much sweeter, so much more rewarding.

The season is exceedingly long and it’s incredibly difficult to play consistently well from April through October. So many things can go wrong, just getting to the League Championship Series is a huge accomplishment. But there isn’t a Sox fan or player who will say he or she is just happy for them to be there. We want to get into The World Series (which has happened only 3 times during my life) and win it all (only occurring once in 89 years).

But I’m looking too far ahead. The Indians are a very good team and will certainly provide The Red Sox with a tough challenge. Their top two starters- Sabathia and Fausto Carmona- have combined for 38 wins, they have a solid bullpen, and their line-up (7 players with double digit homers) produces a lot of runs. They are also well coached, scrappy, and play good defense.

But the Red Sox will have the advantage in two key areas- depth of starters and closers. Dice-K and Wakefield (or Jon Lester) are much stronger than their 3 & 4 pitchers. And while the Indians have great set-up men, their closer Borowski has had a lot of problems (8 blown saves and an ERA of 5.07). The Sox have Jonathan Papelbon, who is one of the league’s elite. These games should all be tight, and they have the potential to be decided by whoever can get the final 3 outs. With Papelbon you feel very safe giving him the ball in the 9th inning. I don’t think Cleveland fans feel the same way about Borowski.

So here we go. I will be rushing out of work early (4:10 west coast start) so I can make it up to The Buccaneer (my Boston bar in San Francisco) for Beckett’s first pitch. The Red Sox have won 99 games thus far this year. Hopefully we get number 100 tonight, and can squeeze out seven more after that.