It Starts Tonight

OK, let me be truthful for a minute, no matter how embarrassing it is: I had real problems sleeping last night. I'm not joking. I tossed and I turned because I am just way too excited for tonight. If you don't know what tonight is, then let's just say you're not a baseball fan.

It's on these days that I miss Boston a bit. Tonight's going to be fun, watching the game with all my friends who are also Sox fans. We'll be at a bar that I enjoy watching baseball at. But there's no excitement in the air outside. If we were in Boston right now, all you would be hearing is Red Sox talk. There's something you can't put your finger on that happens whenever the Sox have a big game.

I'll never forget the last big game I experienced in Boston. It was Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS, the Aaron Boone game. I had the day off because I wasn't going to get anything done anyway (I'll take a half-day today). It was amazing how no matter where I went — Dunkin Donuts, Newbury Comics, even some small sushi restaurant — all anyone wanted to talk about was the Red Sox. There were flags everywhere. I bet 70 percent of people had some kind of Sox hat/shirt/button on. Seventy percent.

But I'm in New Haven today and, frankly, that's probably a good thing since the only time I ever saw the Sox win a World Series was while I was sitting in the same seat I'll probably sit in tonight. I'll drink the same beer, wear the same hat and try to remember what shirt I wore. I can't wait.

As I said in a previous entry, I like the Sox to take this series in six games. I know the Rockies are hot, but when I really think about it, I don't know how they can win. Think about it: The Red Sox have the better player at every position except shortstop ... and maybe right field, but that's still very debatable. The Sox have the better starting pitching and the better back end of the bullpen. The Rox have the better bullpen overall, but how often does middle relief really play a part in a game? And if it is, that means something bigger went wrong.

The one thing very few people are talking about is how Rox pitching walked a lot of Diamondbacks. It's damn tough to walk Diamondback players. Damn tough. The Red Sox are going to work those starters so much, we're going to see a lot of middle relief, a lot of four-inning starts. The Sox feast on middle relief.

I guess that's it. I could babble on about this game for hours, but I'll stop now. I hope God (I mean Josh Beckett) pitches a good game tonight. Either way, I'm just happy the Red Sox are in the World Series for the third time in my life. And let's hope they win it for the second time.