The Boston Red Sox are the World Champions!

For the first time in five years!

What a feeling. What a game. What a team!

There's so much that can and should be said about this team that I can't cover it all right now. (But, don't you worry I will at some point.) There are some things, though, that just need to be talked about now. Like last night's clinching game.

I've often said that the definition of “clutch” as “late and close” is somewhat misleading. There can be clutch home runs prior to the seventh inning. Steve Pearce proved that last night. His home run three batters into the game did more than give the Red Sox a first inning lead. It was crushing to the soul of theDodgers. They're in an elimination scenario. They have their ace on the mound, so they at least have some hope. Then, bam, they're down two runs before fans have found their seats. If there's a way to lose a game before it starts, that was it. A one-hundred percent clutch “here we go again” home run in the top of the first inning. Incredible.

Speaking of clutch first inning home runs, the Dodgers tried to get one of their own when they led off their game with a home run on the first pitch. (Thereby making Pearce’s home run even more clutch looking back.) That, of course, could have been crushing for the Sox. A momentum shift to be sure. And, admit it, part of you wondered if it was going to rattle Price. OK, all of you wondered if it would rattle Price. But, it didn’t. New Price didn't let it get to him, and just shut the door on the Dodgers without allowing another run. This isn't your father’s David Price.

Or, what about the “triple” to right field that JD Martinez lost in the sky? That was going to be it, right? A guy who was in the lineup only for his bat, which had been missing for a while, makes a mistake like that. Once again, fans were probably thinking that was it. It was Buckner in there for his bat costing the team with his glove. And specifically for Price, you could almost see it in his head. “I'm finally pitching well, and he does THAT!?!?” Another perfect opportunity to unravel. The odds failing Price again. But, no. He retired the next two batters, and left the guy standing at third base. Two chances to fall apart turned into two chances for Price to simply stand up taller instead.

The key bats returned just in time. We had been wondering where Mookie and JD were hiding. They had allowed the bottom of the order to do a lot of the heavy lifting this far. But, they came back with a key home run each late in the game. Key for a couple reasons. For one, in a clinching game you can never have too many insurance runs. Make it as easy as possible on the bullpen to close out the game. But personally too, it was nice to see them chip in. Mookie didn't end the series going 0-15 or whatever. He hit a key home run in the clincher. That has to feel good, and makes his stat sheet look more respectable. I am especially glad in his case, since it looked like he was coming around, and hitting the ball harder. It would have been too bad if he ran out of time before he found his swing again. JD looked more lost at the plate. But it was still nice to have him end on such a positive. Next year, they'll have something to build on.

After Price’s magnificent start, the game was turned over to another new pitcher, “Playoff Joe Kelly”. Kelly continued his newly remembered dominance and struck out the side. Amazing.

The last inning was handled by Chris Sale. So, apparently he was healthy after all. I was worried that the ball would go to Craig Kimbrel. While he had rediscovered his dominance, in his outing during game four he looked TIRED! I was afraid he would get to close out the game because he “deserved” to close, even if he wasn’t the right guy at the time. After all, he probably had pretty good numbers in Cora’s binder. But, Cora actually played this one by ear. (Unless Sale’s numbers were even better, which is possible.) He slammed the door by striking out the side himself. He even created the best finishing moment since Papelbon levitated with his hands on his head. The image of Manny Machado falling to a knee after being embarrassed by the pitch pretty much summed up the series for him and the Dodgers.

So the best regular season team is the best playoff team as well. It was an amazing ride through an incredible season and I can’t wait to keep talking about it in the months to come.

What was your favorite moment?

Morning Confusion

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I didn't make it through the entire game last night. Round about the tenth inning I decided that my comfort today was more important than seeing one more inning. I'm glad I made that decision. But, it did lead to some momentary confusion.

The first thing I did when I woke up, as usual, was to open my At Bat app, wondering if the Sox pulled it out. Looking at the line score, I was confused for a bit. 13 runs? I must have the wrong game. It was 5-5 when I left. So, what are these totals from? No, it looks like an extra inning game. But, nobody scored until...the 14th? Then how did...holy crap...the Sox scored seven runs? In the fifteenth?!?

Of course, the thought come pretty quick after that. Wow, 15 innings again! Wow, the Sox won another extra innings game. Wow, I wonder if there was a point in the fifteenth when the Rays would have gladly quit just to get the game over with.

Of course, whenever there's a crazy game like this one, there are more wonders to be found by digging a little deeper. Dustin Pedroia was 0-9 and left 13 runners on base. Yikes. Clutch as ever. 

Second base was one of those fun revolving door positions. Holt started the game, and had Sam Travis hit for him who then had Tzu-Wei Lin immediately hit for him instead. He was eventually removed when Christian Vazquez hit for him, until he was lifted for pinch runner Rajai Davis. He was then lifted defensively in favor of Deven Marrero. So, six players occupied that spot in the batting order at one point or another during the game. Gotta love September baseball.

It's also easy to forget the three key innings Joe Kelly threw. Those kept the Sox in the game when they really needed it. That's a great piece to have out in the bullpen.

So, once the confusion passed, this was a great result to discover. The Sox kept pace with the Yankees, and probably really annoyed them in the process...especially if they were watching the game. They get closer to that division title we've all been waiting for. The team showed they can win a tough game when they need it. The limited the damage when they could, and exploded when given the opportunity. They can win a game when Chris Sale isn't at his best. I don't want to take too much from a single game against the Rays. But, the was a pretty good team win.

Now they just need a bunch more.

Drew Pomeranz, or Greg Maddux?

I'm not a major league pitcher. That should be pretty clear. I don't have a deep understanding of pitching nuances. So, I don't feel too bad about being a little confused.

I've always said that dominance from a power pitcher was easy to recognize. I knew when Pedro was having a good game. (That was easy, if he was on the mound he was having a good game.) You could tell when Josh Beckett was on fire. You know that Chris Sale is as dominant as they come. I can tell that Craig Kimbrel is on a roll. Those are easy. You watch the batter look completely overmatched. You see them flail about wildly. You see them walk back to the dugout dejectedly. You don't have to understand baseball to see how good they are.

It's different with the "pitch to contact" dominance. I've always said that I didn't realize that Derek Lowe had a no-hitter going until around the sixth inning. It's hard to pick up dominance from a series of ground balls to third. Or Koji. How was he dominating by inducing all those popups? Or Greg Maddux?

I understand the concept. If you throw the ball right down the middle, the hitters will hit it a long way. If you paint the corners, and keep them off balance, they'll still hit the ball, but it will be a weak grounder or soft pop-up. 

But, then, what do you do with Drew Pomeranz?

He had a game last night that I wouldn't call dominating. After all, he threw 120 pitches in 5 innings. But, he only gave up the one earned run. He struck out seven, and walked two. A pretty good line, actually. But, 120 pitches in five innings??

He threw a lot a pitches. He had a lot of long at-bat, which is why he had so few walks. So, the batters were fouling the ball off a lot. Which means, he was pitching to contact...but not enough contact?

Where is that middle ground? Does he need to throw the ball more towards the middle so the batters can hit it into fair territory? Does he actually need to be less effective? Does he need to put the ball closer to the plate? Is it fooling batters too much?

Because, like I said, he wasn't exactly wild. His strike percentage was better than Joe Kelly's. About the same a Craig Kimbrel. He was just throwing a lot of strikes. A lot of pitches.

So how does he find that line? Seven strikeouts is actually damn good for five innings. So, it's not like that's a problem. It's the other pitches. The ones that are too good to hit fair but not good enough to swing and miss. How does he fix that? How does he get them to ground out on the third pitch instead of the thirteenth? Does he need a better "out" pitch so that he's striking out more than 12.6 batters per nine innings? That seems like a lot to ask. Would a better out pitch get him to that point sooner? Do we want him striking out more batters than that? I don't know what the answer is.

So I really hope he does.

Green Grass

There's an old saying that applies to the Red Sox these days. "The grass is always greener on the other side of fence. Until you get there, and see that it's artificial turf"

That quote has come to mind a lot lately. Especially as it applies to the Red Sox pitching staff. Now, I'll bet the first to admit that the staff did not exactly shower itself in excellence this weekend. Maybe even the past week. But, some of the tweets I saw made me think that people just don't get it. "We can't win meaningful games with this bullpen!" "This rotation is killing us!" "If this rotation doesn't improve, the Sox can't win anything."

Now, again, I'm not saying the pitching staff is perfect. It's the "can't win" portion of those comments that get to me. Let's take a look at the situation that the Red Sox currently find themselves in. They sit in a virtual tie for first place in the American League East, a mere .003 behind the Orioles. They have the second most wins in the American League, one behind the Rangers. So, clearly, they can win with this pitching staff. In fact, since they have put Clay Buchholz in the bullpen and Joe Kelly in the minors, some would say the rotation is actually better than it was with them in it. So, they have won games with a rotation worse than what they have now. They have also won games with the bullpen they currently have. A lot of games. More than almost anyone else in the league. So, why do people think they "can't win"? 

Are they focused on the "meaningful" portion of the tweets? I'd argue that since more than a third of the season is gone, the fact that they're still at the top of the division is very meaningful. I'd say that two months of wins have meaning. 

So, are you talking about the Playoffs? September? Are those the "meaningful" ones? Well, so far the Sox have played six games against Cleveland, and seven against Baltimore. So, the other teams that would be in the playoffs have made up almost a quarter of the Red Sox schedule thus far. I'd say the fact that they're still putting up wins is a good sign. And if you want to get really specific and say that the playoffs are all that matter, the pen and rotation will be much different. Joe Kelly won't start in the playoffs. So, the fact that he imploded won't affect the rotation in "meaningful" games. 

So, yes. The Red Sox staff has had a rough stretch. There have been a few garbage outings. But, if you're saying it's going to kill the Sox when Koji sometimes has a bad inning, then you're never going to be happy. Could he blow a playoff game? Of course he could. So could Kimbrel. Jonathan Papelbon threw a terrible game once. Marino Rivera blew two saves in two playoff games on the same day. Sometimes people have bad innings. Since the Sox are at the top of the league, clearly other teams are having bad innings too. And bad games. And bad stretches. It happens. It happens to the Sox. It happens to the Orioles. It happens to the Cubs. The good teams overcome the bad spots. Just like the Sox have overcome theirs.

So having a bad inning in May doesn't not mean the team can't win with that pitcher. Or group of pitchers. 

Especially when you can clearly see that they have been doing exactly that.

For the past two months.