the one in which she gives a longwinded recap

this was the strangest post season series i ever recall watching. or as it could otherwise be called: a stress sandwich with a side of sympathy. you know: one incredibly stressful game sandwiched between two games that barely felt like a mid-April match up in intensity, and i do feel bad for the Angels because, let's be honest, we remember all too well how that feels from 2005.

Sunday's game was about as made to order as... well... Wednesday's Joshy start for Game One. we saw October Schill, some back-to-back three-four punch in the line up for the first time this season (isn't that crazy? the first time they've gone back-to-back in 2007?), and a whole inning of small ball worth seven runs in the eighth.

i mean... how much can you really say about a game that you win 9-1 to sweep the ALDS? except maybe "sorry" to the Angels?

it was Friday's game that darn near killed me. if the first & third games of this series were the least stressful post season games ever, then this one made up for it.

Nichole, Daniel & i were in line with fifty other Sox fans, waiting to get into the packed-to-the-rafters ESPN Club on Disney's Boardwalk. the bar & restaurant were crammed Yankees and Indians fans, and the Sox fans who had gotten there before us. we finally got in, and shifted our attention back and forth between the two games. Sox fans led the Cleveland crew in a "let's go, Cleveland" chant, and then the cheer that went up when the Yankees lost was huge. Sox & Indians fans went nuts.

i need to break here for a minute to point out an observation. there are two kinds of Yankees fans, as was illustrated right at WDW this weekend. the first kind, the kind i am most familiar with, are the kind like the guy in ESPN Club: belligerent, obnoxious, and unable to take a loss in a room full of people that, for once, were not rooting for the Yankees. when the Sox fans cheered for Cleveland's extra inning victory, he immediately started getting in Sox fans' faces, and screaming things like: "Ohhh, you're losing now, how does it feel?? Here we go, Angels, here we go." except, well, it was the second inning in Boston. lots of baseball left to play. unlike the Yankees, whose game had ended with them down 0-2 in the series. these, unfortunately, are the Yankees fans that get noticed. (and yes, i know there are obnoxious Sox fans too, but i just don't seem to run into them with the same frequency as i do the Yankees fans who act like this.) but the other Yankees fans we ran into prompted me to say to the rest of my little group: "wow, not all Yankees fans are bad people, some are good people who just make very bad choices." ;-) when escaping the heat, humidity, and our own aching feet at the Rose & Crown in the UK pavilion at Epcot (got all that? LOL) we ran into three people who recognized us from ESPN Club the night before. they were Yankees fans who had been sitting one table over from us during the games. the pub was crowded & they were sitting down, right next to where we happened to be standing. as they got ready to leave, one of them grabbed my elbow & whispered conspiratorially to me that they were going to get up in a minute, so i should be ready to move quickly to get their seats. he also informed me that they would continue to be one bar ahead of us & that if i should see this (showing me his backpack), to just pick it up & bring it with me to hand off to him when we caught up with them again. they were very cool even for Yankees fans. and so proves my point... nice people, just very misguided. they would make *awesome* Sox fans. ;-)

now where was i before i got distracted by the side story & then the power went off. (for real, no power at work. poof! everything dark.)

oh right... Sox fans celebrated with Indians fans & the Yankees fans mostly sulked. welcome to what it's like to be the fans of most other teams. ::shakes head::

and then Matsuzaka pitched a game that made me ask myself over & over: "this is what we paid the hundred million for?!"

the game dragged on & on. tied forever. it was late. we were tired. but i was *not* leaving til the score went final.

top of the eighth, two outs, Cheerio Mouth relieves Jeemer. it felt like Papelbon had been pitching for a decade. and then they flashed his pitch count. twelve pitches? TWELVE?! OMG it felt like twelve *years*.

time.
stood.
still.

finally Sir Cheerio Mouth wriggled his way out of less than prime situation.
the Sox went down in order.
Papelbon mostly sailed through the top of the ninth.

the Sox fans at ESPN Club were either asleep at their tables or propping their eyelids open with straws from their beverages at this point. lead off single for Lugo perked a couple of us up. Pedroia sac'd Lugo up to second base. we all held our breaths. (or well those of us who were still awake anyway.) Youk went down swinging & cussed out his bat. Papi stepped up, and unlike a couple of other occasions at the end of the regular season, i felt... nothing. and Papi was given the old intentional pass. Manny strolled up to the plate. and that feeling in my gut woke up. i didn't even dare to utter a sound. just stared at the three televisions lined up side by side on the wall, all showing Manny casually testing the bat with a few warm-up swings. first pitch from K-Rod broke low & away. that same feeling of "something" remained. everyone was willing Manny on. all around me, i could hear "come on, Manny..." under the breath of every Sox fan with eyes glued on the nearest screen. that next pitch was right in the sweet spot. the absolute second i heard the sound of Manny's bat connecting with that ball, i knew the same thing he did.

and in case you were wondering? the inside of ESPN Club looked pretty much like this too.

that win was such a rush. i didn't even see that bomb sailing out toward the Coke bottles over the Monster seats til they showed the replay. the easy wins are certainly not something i am complaining about, but Friday night felt like October baseball. that precarious moment, when it feels like the whole world is quivering with the anticipation of something big, whether it's the let-down of a foul pop leaving the go-ahead run stranded or the towering walkoff home run.

man, i've missed seeing my Sox dig down deep & pull out that last bit of WOW from some secret stash they keep hidden in their heels to seal a game late. but i have to tell you, i don't think i can handle many more of those games like we had on Friday night. it's just too bad the Indians didn't follow suit & sweep the Evil Empire to clinch their LCS berth, like the Sox, Rockies & Diamondbacks did.

i watched yesterday's Indians-Yankees game on fast forward, but saw:
1. Trot homer off the remains of The Rocket. =)
2. Trot's new facial hair that looks like Youk's face beast bred with Joshy's regular game scraggly chin covering.
3. Trot play right field like JD Drew. =P
4. Jeter take what should have been a routine out at first, play it all dramatically in Jeter-esque style, and end up overthrowing Greasy McSquarehead so the runner was safe at first.
5. hear that Joe Torre's job may very well be riding on what happens in tonight's Game Four.
GO INDIANS!!

let's hope CC Sabathia gets the nod tonight over Byrd, and decides that this time he will impersonate Joshy and *not* Matsuzaka, and pitches a gem tonight. i'm ready to be done with the Crankees til next April... and also? i really don't think my psyche is strong enough to withstand another Sox-Yankees ALCS.