JohnnyRock

If you saw the celebration by the Red Sox last night after clinching the Wild Card [Wild Card CHAMPIONSHIP if you listen to the Red Sox commercials in the boston area] you'd think they just won the World Series...signs of a team going out in 4 games in the first round...second-rate team to the end.

__________________
Not only do I not know the answer...I don't even know what the question is!!!

123dsa

Well, that wasn't very nice. (or accurate) This year's Sox are among the most productice offensively of all time. Only team in recent history to have 8 players with 80 or more RBI's. If the Sox can get one more starter to step up they will be having the World Series celebration. Just my 2 cents.

LSD

lions20

I hope the Sox win it.

MikeyChalupa

And yet they STILL finished behind the Yankees. And, three other teams in the majors posted more wins. Yes, the Sox will go to the playoffs, but with the Wild Card because Seattle flushed it down the toilet.

There's no denying, the Sox hit a ton, the stats don't lie. But they don't come through in the clutch (the word clutch is not, nor has it EVER been, a part of the Sox vocabulary, with the exception of David Ortiz, who SHOULD be the AL MVP but won't be) and that's what's necessary to succeed in the postseason. See: New York Yankees. A statistically inferior team to Boston, yet they just won their division for the 6th straight year by winning the important games.

And of course, it goes without saying that Boston's pitching beyond Pedro is dreadful. Particularly their bullpen, which was supposed to have been vastly improved. Instead, they will wind up costing Pedro the Cy Young.

As of tonight, the Sox have scored 950 runs this year, by far the best in the majors. Yet they have allowed 799, while the Yankees have allowed only 710. The Sox went 40-33 against the AL East as of today, while the Yankees went 45-28, or 5 games better. What a coincidence... the Yankees are 5 games up on the Sox.

That's what I mean by winning the games that count.

And if you want a really interesting fact that does not bode well at all for Boston in the playoffs: The Sox won their season series against every team in the American League this season except three: Oakland, Minnesota, and the New York Yankees.

-Mikey

BigGov

Actually, I think they've won like 20 games or so in the ninth this year, so they have been clutch.

Oh yea, but those games don't really count.

So you are pretty close Mikey, they don't come through in the clutch when it counts, but they do it over and over against puny teams (that they should win against to begin with), so Sox fans gain that hope they might actually do it one day when it counts (or against the Yankees, which won't happen either).

__________________
One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!"

reconmike

$$$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$ $$$$$ 195$$$$ 195$$$$ $$$$,

base average 85 million, $$$$ $$ $$$$$

__________________
Where is Darwin when ya need him?

stallion

I think for the Red Sox, just making the playoffs WAS their World Series. That is the difference between teams that know they have work ahead and teams that are just happy to be there. Usually the teams that, when they clinch, it is like any other game because they know they haven't won anything yet have a better chance down the road...

BigGov

Man, how bad is that.

"We suck so much compared to the Yankees we have to settle with just winning the Wild Card."

__________________
One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!"

djtestudo

You know, I can't wait until the top of the ninth in Game 7 of the ALCS, when Riveria is staring at the rightfield stands in shock after giving up a two-run homer to Ortiz with two outs.

Followed by Kim coming in and striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth.

Watching your most hated team getting their hearts torn out: priceless.

__________________
"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen."
--Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun

crewsor

I can think of an even better scenario,

Twins sweep Yanks.
A's sweep Boston.

__________________
We all have wings, some of us just don't know why.