WOOOO!! (Or How The Red Sox Learned To Stop Losing And Love Moneyball)

We started our blog last night with: "Call me Bill Simmons." How right we were. Simmons begins his World Series recap:

"So if we win, who gets the MVP?" I asked my father Sunday night.
"I ... I don't know," he answered. "Ellsbury?"

Our conversation last night was similar, although ignoring Lowell altogether. How things have changed since October 2003. The second World Series win in the last four years was great for the one of us that is a Red Sox fan, and at least tolerable for the other. 2007 was nowhere near the emotional rollercoaster of 2004.

Simply put, the best baseball team in April was the best team in October.

More importantly for the Red Sox, the stage has been set for another title run in 2008 and 2009 (as Tim McCarver reminded us before the '07 squad had won a title). Terry Francona saw the big picture the entire season, shutting down Okajima and limiting Beckett when needed, keeping Gagne on the bench for most of the postseason, etc.

Just think how differently things could have been starting with A-rod going to the Yankees in 2004. The fight with Varitek in July, trading Nomar, keeping Manny, Dave Roberts, bloody sock, etc. A-rod was willing to take a pay cut to win a title. After four years of that he is looking for another record contract that may bankrupt whoever wants to have an MVP every few years and a chase at Bonds towards the end of the contract.

But that's neither here nor there. It has been a great year and the Red Sox are champs. Woo!

Live Blogging the World Series, Part III

8:07 PM PDT: Bobby Kielty has come off the bench and ensured that the Rockies' gaining of ground is short-lived. If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times: when you think Red Sox, you start getting worried early about facing Bobby Kielty.

8:09 PM PDT: Infield hit for Ellsbury. Pedroia at the plate and the "this is meant to be a sweep" aura has engulfed all of Denver. You gotta feel a little bit bad for Denver fans. They were all excited when someone told them they had a baseball team, and that team is in the World Series. And the Broncos are looking like quite a disappointment.

8:10 PM PDT: The Fox announcers have just now reported and discussed that A-Rod is leaving, a full hour after we talked about here on 40AS. Ken Rosenthal said he had just talked to Scott Boras, but we believe he heard it here first.

8:12 PM PDT: Joe Buck: "John Henry is on his Blackberry and smiling. Is that a good sign?" Of WHAT?!?!

8:13 PM PDT: Tulo shows that the old adage is true that even if you're not hitting, you can always make a contribution with the leather. Great play by him, Matsui, and a scoop by Helton for a double play.

8:17 PM PDT: After a walk to Ortiz, the Rockies are changing pitchers. The good folks at Haley Barbour for Governor have just reminded Fox's Mississippi audience for the umpteenth time tonight that John Arthur Eaves is bad for Mississippi. For his part, Eaves' campaign appears to have spent all its money as the last ad we saw for that one was about 2 weeks ago. Hooray for Mississippi politics!

8:19 PM PDT: Manny is clearly trying to put this thing away with his first swing. Now he's gotten himself down 0-2. And now he's gone. Colorado has 6 outs to make up 3 runs, or else Rocktober is over.

8:24 PM PDT: Six outs left for the Rockies and the question has become: who's the series MVP to this point? Our guess is Ellsbury, came up huge in game three. Youklis didn't play really in 3 and 4, Beckett only pitched one game, Pedroia was only so-so for 2 and 4, Okajima was huge when he pitched but he's a reliever. Also, we see Gagne warming up just for the hell of it...good for him.

8:36 PM PDT: Atkins goes yard, ending Okajima for MVP and more importantly his night. 4-3 Red Sox, that was a pretty big homer for Kielty. The Rockies should be thrilled but in comes Papelbon....

8:45 PM PDT: Papelbon gets the second out. We've never met a man named Spilborghs we could trust. Former Tiger Hawpe up, and he flies out to current cereal brand Coco Crisp. On to the ninth, 4-3 Red Sox.

3:48 AM GMT: Top of the 9th, which could possibly be the last inning of baseball for 2007. Except for the Arizona Fall League.

3:51 AM GMT: First two Sox have gone down quietly. Is it weird that this is the first time possibly ever that a Boston team has visited Denver and Denver citzens have cared, but neither the Pats nor the Bruins were in town?

3:55 AM GMT: That's it for the top of the ninth inning. Three more outs from Papelbon and the Sox will be World Champs. Or, you know, the Rockies could score.

3:57 AM GMT: We're three outs away from a Red Sox World Series. Papelbon starts off strike one to Torrealba, then ties him up with strike two. Papelbon gets the ground out to second, there is one out.

4:01 AM GMT: You know what would be funny here? Eric Gagne! Given the choice of Gagne here for three outs and they give the Sox the 2007 AND 2008 World Series, I'd bet most Sox fans would decline. Papelbon ahead 0-2 and Jamie Carroll hits one to the wall. ONE MORE OUT!

4:06 AM GMT: Papelbon behind 2-1 to Manny Corpas. Will Corpas be Renteria tonight? It's 2-2........AND PAPELBON STRIKES HIM OUT...THE BOSTON RED SOX ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!

4:08 AM GMT: Folks (really just the two of us), it's been a blast. We'll be back to blog more later today, but for now there's sleep to be had.

Live Blogging the World Series, Part II

8:48 PM CDT: We just realized that in the last post we should have been writing "EDT" instead of "EST." Sorry--we know we don't "fall back" until next week. This time the one of us in Central Time is starting the post, so I'm switching. Deal with it.

8:49 PM CDT: With Mike Lowell on second, JD Drew grounds out. That's weird and unexpected.

8:51 PM CDT: Varitek with a big RBI grounder through the right side. The way Lester is going thus far, that's a huge run. Just heard from Tim McCarver: "What a slide by Lowell!" Wow, Tim. However: we do love the fact that the Fox national broadcast team is made up of such a couple of Cardinals homers. But we liked Joe Buck's dad more--growing up to the tune of Jack's "That's a winner!" after Ozzie's Cards would put one away is hard to beat.

8:53 PM CDT: The Red Sox offensive onslaught may be heating up--Lugo just got the 3rd hit of the inning. Lester just needs to not ground into a DP and Ellsbury will get a chance. Francona is having Lester bunt. Don't love that move, as bunting is a lot harder than people think and for an AL pitcher who never practices it it's nearly impossible. And...there's the inevitable strikeout. That's Cook's first of the night and thus first since at least August 10.

8:57 PM CDT: Jacoby Ellsbury, who could win WS MVP this year and ROY next year (weird!) has a chance to take a big step toward the first part of that equation and put this thing comfortably in Boston's control here. Deuces wild--2 balls, 2 strikes, 2 outs...he struck him out! Cook keeps it interesting.

9:02 PM CDT: Bottom five, big inning for Lester. This feels very similar to 2004. Is anybody else kind of disturbed by the Olympics-style intro music? Speaking of which, how did Saki get chosen to host an Olympics?

9:06 PM CDT: Aaron Cook with a hell of a play to get a bunt single. Could be big if Matsui makes it bigger, which he doesn't after a pop up. Tulo up, 2 down.

9:08 PM CDT: Lowell handles a hard hit ball for the third out. We're into the 6th, 2-0 Sox. Some NFL thoughts: can you think of a trade that's screwed both teams like Schaub to the Texans? What the Pats did today was shameful and classless (52-7 over Redskins), we hope they get condemned for it, karma has a way of working its way out in situations like this. Jags versus Saints next week could determine whether the Saints are a contender or not.

9:12 PM CDT: Top 6, and Cook makes a super play on a hard-hit ball up the middle by Pedroia. Cook appears to be a heck of an athlete.

9:13 PM CDT: The Southern Miss Golden Eagles closed the gap against UCF to 24-17, but UCF is insode the USM 5. There was a time we could say with a straight face that the Eagles were the best team in Mississippi. But now State seems quasi-legit.

9:16 PM CDT: Cook handles the Sox easily in 6th, which is huge. But even huger/more huge is this: SI reports that A-Rod is leaving the Yankees! Awesome! Now we just have to hope he doesn't play for the Cubs. That'd be horrible.

9:20 PM CDT: Holliday goes quietly to start the sixth. Very Manny like play for out number two as he saunters over to make an easy grab look tough. Lester gives up a walk and is done for the night. Nicely done Rockies fans giving Jon a nice applause on the way to the bench.

9:25 PM CDT: A-rod leaving is still kind of shocking. The Yankees got 4 good years from him, but the Red Sox have been to two World Series during that span. Our favorite potential locations for A-rod to go -- 3) Texas Rangers, 2) Seattle Mariners, and 1) Washington Nationals. Go Nats!

9:28 PM CDT: Delcarmen comes in and gets the strike out. Huge. There are nine outs for each squad left in a regular nine inning baseball game, just saying.

9:32 PM CDT: Mike Lowell chases Aaron Cook with a classic Coors Field blast that seemed like it was travelling through very thin mountain air. Wait...
The Rockies are still within striking distance, but with Former Good Pitcher Eric Gagne and Ridiculous Closer Man Jonathan Papelbon coming up the game is beginning to take on an air of inevitability.

9:38 PM CDT: Remember earlier when we said David Ortiz has ungodly bat speed? When JD drew strikes out by getting fooled on a curveball, like he just did, his bat speed is embarrassingly slow.

9:39 PM CDT: "This World Series Legend is brought to you by I am Legend starring Will Smith." Nice, Fox. Nice, Major League Baseball. The 7th inning stretch has arrived, and of course we need to not go to commercial so we can hear God Bless America. Because Take Me Out to the Ballgame does not show enough overt and conspicuous patriotism. However, it is hilarious when the Rockies fans cheer for "from the mountains..."

9:46 PM CDT: Here we go, nine outs left, Delcarmen facing Brad Hawpe from LSU.

9:49 PM CDT: Abram says "Former tiger Brad Hawpe has been not great in the WS" moments before former Tiger Brad Hawpe skies a home run to right. 3-1 Red Sox with Delcarmen struggling.

9:53 PM CDT: The Rockies fans waive their towels hypnotically as Timlin comes into the game, man on first, one out.

9:58 PM CDT: Timlin gets Matsui swinging, two outs. If you just heard a collective scream it was Red Sox Nation getting a look at Eric Gagne warming up in the bullpen.

10:02 PM CDT: Holliday is left in the on deck circle as Timlin strikes out Tulo. Most importantly, no Gagne yet. We go to the top of the eighth, 3-1 Bo Sox.

Live Blogging the World Series

Call me Bill Simmons. Up 3-0, we're live blogging the World Series. Thanks to FOX, we're stuck watching The Bourne Supremacy for a half hour until the game starts (much better than FOX's crappy pregame). We're not doing this blog for you, we're doing it for us. This is how our night goes:

8:15 PM EST: Some Onion links for your reading in the next fifteen minutes:
Red Sox Attempt To Break Fabled 'Curse Of Relief Pitcher Curtis Leskanic'
and World Series Flyover Turns Out To Be Full-Scale Airstrike
It's time to reverse the curse, go Sox!

8:20 PM EST: Jon Lester vs. Aaron Cook getting his first start since 10 Aug. So far no references to free tacos, but we'll keep you posted.

8:25 PM EST: Fred Willard to announce the Red Sox lineup tonight. We saw him on the Craig Ferguson Show just before the 2006 Rose Bowl, this has to be a good sign.

8:30 PM EST: And we're off...Ellsbury doubles off the second pick down the line to left. He might win rookie of the year next year.

8:35 PM EST: Ortiz singles to right, scoring Ellsbury and then Ramirez grounds into the 5-4-3 double play. After a full day of watching NFL on FOX today, we're kind of sick of the Taco Bell with the nachos bell grande and the car commercial where the girl runs into the car (or cops don't see the bank robbers). That's one time for each.

8:42 PM EST: Lester goes 1,2,3. For posterity sake we'd like to note that Texas is #15 in the newly released BCS and the Saints had a huge win over the lifeless 49ers to go to 3-4.

8:50 PM EST: Lowell grounds out followed by a JD Drew pop up to 2B, shocking for such a clutch hitter. Tek grounds out and we go to the bottom of the second. Interesting statistic, only the 2004 Red Sox have come back from a 3-0 deficit in postseason real sport history (hockey doesn't count).

8:57 PM EST: Todd Helton leads off with a double in the bottom of the second. Abram is happy to see this, as he has always admired Helton. Jeff: not so much.

9:02 PM EST: Former LSU Tiger Brad Hawpe walks following a couple of outs in a row; runners at the corners, but with 2 outs it's an ok situation for the Sox.

9:05 PM EST: In a microcosm of Helton's career, the Rockies waste his big hit as Torrealba grounds out to former Jackson General Julio Lugo.

9:06 PM EST: Rather than watch the Virgicolomentoflagantonio commercial again, here's a quick tour around the internet and television:

• On ESPN.com, you can watch Trinity College's multi-lateral play to beat the Millsaps Majors. One of us has had many friends play for Millspaps over the years, and they always wanted on ESPN--just not like this. And, a kid who grew up close friends with jaybro was on the play-by-play on this clip, and if we may say so, did a darn fine job.
• ESPN Classic is showing Major League
• On ESPN, Southern Miss is losing 14-10 to UCF
• The Bourne Supremacy is on NBC
• Red Sox-Rockies is still on FOX, Bottom 3, still 1-0 Boston

9:16 PM EST: Cancer survivors thrown out by Rockies fielders: 1. Cancer survivors thrown out by Red Sox fielders: 0. Bastards.

9:20 PM EST: "People do crazy things in ads, like eat at Arby's." If that doesn't sum up watching an entire World Series, commercials included, nothing does. Meanwhile, Manny plays left field like the center fielder on our IM softball team junior year of college. Matsui on 2nd, one out for Lester.

9:25 PM EST: Jon Lester doesn't fear Matt Holliday. Jon Lester strikes out Tulo and Holliday to end the 3rd. To the top of the fourth, pedROYa, Papi, Manny due up.

9:29 PM EST: Papi is up with one out. The dude just looks like he is ALWAYS about to absolutely hammer the ball. Although he hasn't swung the bat yet and is now down 0-2. Also, it seems as though Ortiz's swing would not work for anyone else in the world. He has this hitch at the beginning when he loads up so much it's unreal, but his ungodly bat speed makes up for it. But this time the ungodly bat speed just gets him an ungodly pop up to short.

9:33 PM EST: Tim McCarver has just finished discussing whether the '08 or '09 Sox will be better than '04 or '07. The number of things wrong with this is beyond counting, but the main ones are: 1. Who cares? 2. How can you have any clue and why is it relevant? 3. It's a huge jinx to anoint this team as side-by-side with '04 before this game is over.

9:34 PM EST: Manny being Manny and lining out to left. A pitcher's duel for now--until the Sox explode in a couple of innings, as has been their custom.

9:40 PM EST: For your enjoyment: Manny Ramirez Escapes Murder Charges with “Manny Being Manny” Defense...Meanwhile, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner allegedly has won the Argentinian presidency, as if YOU would care. Terry Francona says Jon Lester is on a pitch count of around 180, and Julio Lou-O makes a great grab for out number two. Scary thought: Eric Gagne is the Red Sox most rested reliever.

9:42 PM EST: A-rod wins the Hank Aaron Award, but for some reason does not show up to receive it...what gives?

9:45 PM EST: Lester gets through the fourth. Top of the fifth, new post. Four down, five to play.

Some Highlights of a Great Day

We'll get to the football in a minute, but first the baseball:

• 3-0. A few things come with being only one win away from a World Series title...
• The Red Sox are 27 outs away from their second World Series in four years. There's hope for us all.
• Jbrater said he'd eat mustard if Dice-K got a hit, moments before the rookie's RBI single, and he did.
• Explaining his dislike for the Red Sox, the bartender at dinner last night said a guy he had never seen before at the bar came in with Red Sox gear on and started cheering for Julio Lou-o. From now until the end of time Julio Lugo will be known as Lou-o.
• Think you're sick of the Red Sox now? Josh Beckett-27, Dice-k-27, Papelbon-27, Jon Lester-23, Dustin Pedroia-24, Kevin Youklis-28, Jacoby Ellsbury-24. These aren't your grandfather's Red Sox, these are your great grandfather's Red Sox.
• You probably haven't heard this yet but tonight's starting pitcher for the Sox (Jon Lester) defeated cancer over the last year. We're not sure if FOX will pick up on this potential storyline, but it would be a shame if they don't.
• The Red Sox bullpen (our MVP this series) will be trying out for America's Next Great Band or some crap like that...we get it, FOX.
• The best part about tonight other than potentially winning the World Series: we get to remind everybody that only one team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit...the 2004 Red Sox.
• Go Sox!

Now on to football:

• We officially have no idea about this season. Texas won, lots of other teams lost (about half the teams that played this week). It was by no means pretty, but it gets Texas one win closer to the BCS discussion which we assume will start now.
• Simply put, this Texas team is not all that good this season. Blame Greg Davis or Mack Brown or Benji Orlansky all you want, but when it comes down to it the players on the field are either too green or not good enough to make plays that we are accustomed to Texas teams making. That's ok. Maybe Texas will win out, maybe they'll lose out. Either way we won't be all that shocked (actually, we'll kinda be shocked by either outcome).
• Jamaal Charles is special. We've been saying it all year. He's probably not being used to the best of his abilities, and the fumbling is crippling at time. But let's never forget this performance. We're hoping this gives him a boost of confidence and leads to big things the rest of the season and (more importantly) next season.
• Things could be worse, we could be waking up as Aggies this morning like Martellus Bennett has every morning. Tellus tells us that he's not impressed by Kansas, adding "I promise you when we meet them in the Big 12 championship, we're going to win the game." Riiiiiiiiight. Every week brings a great Aggy quote.
• Tulane's Matt Forte: 44 carries, 278 yards, 2 tds in another devastating loss for the Green Wave. For the season Forte has 1539 yards with a 6.6 YPC and is leading the nation in rushing by 300 yards.
• BC finishes with Florida St, at Maryland, at Clemson, Miami PLUS ACC championship game. By the way, BC is #1 in the computers, so the only way they don't make the championship is because pollsters are dumb.
• Texas caught a break catching Nebraska, KSU, and Iowa St this year. The Horns could have gone 0 for the North against CU, KU, and Mizzou.
• Finally, this guy is going to be a Horn next year...should be fun.

On Bandwagons and Baseball

The World Series starts tonight in case you hadn't notice. We'll get to that in a second, but first we wanted to talk about the bandwagon fans popping up this time of year. One of us lives in DC and it has been beyond rampant. What we've got is a bunch of shameless, fair-weather, Colorado Rockies bandwagoners. Do you know how many people wearing Rockies caps we saw during the baseball regular season? Can't remember a single one. For fairness sake, let's say we saw one and forgot about it. This week, we've seen at least 3 or 4 Rockies fans walking around. Can you imagine if you saw a 300% or 400% increase in Red Sox fans walking around? There probably wouldn't be any hatless people (random Simpsons reference: "subject is hatless, repeat, hatless") out there. We don't know any Rockies fans, but we assume that you're better than this.

Now on to baseball. You undoubtedly noticed that Benji Orlansky called out Red Sox fans last week for being identical to the hated Yankees. That's cool. Actually, that's really cool. You know why? Because we aren't talking about the Sox as chokers, or cursed, or doomed to devastating Bartman-like failures. Instead, the Red Sox are good and that's what goes for smack talk these days. 16-3 in the last 19 postseason elimination games, having come back from a 3-1 deficit outscoring the Indians roughly 500-5 over the course of the last three games.

All thanks to Dave Roberts. 2004 ALCS Game Four, steals second, Sox win series, wins World Series, goes to World Series again three years later. Anyhow, the Sox have been to two World Series in the last four years, have a strong pitching staff, a dominant closer, good farm system, and one of the best managers in the game, all for $40 million less than the Yankees.

In other words, go Sox!