Being a Red Sox fan is not always easy. That could be said of any sports team, but since this is a Red Sox blog, let's stick to the emotional roller coaster at hand. The playoffs, because the stakes are so high, make the highs much higher and the lows much lower. As you can see from my previous blog, Monday night's loss was one of those low lows, where doubt doesn't only creep in--it takes over. Just lurking on Twitter last night, reading all tweets with the hashtag #redsox, you could feel the tension and anxiety as the Sox left a small country on base.
Peavy, who I'm sorry that I doubted, kept putting up zeroes until the fifth, when the Rays pushed a run across on two hits. The Red Sox finally got on the board in the seventh, with a pinch-hitting Xander Bogaerts drawing a one-out walk and advancing to third on a single by Ells. A passed ball brought Bogaerts home and some serious hustle by Vic (or Shanf, as the Over The Monster guys have taken to calling him) to beat out an infield single brought Ells home to give the Red Sox the slim 2-1 lead.
As this was happening, tweets of frustration turned into tweets of joy mixed with high anxiety. Could the bullpen hold onto this lead? Could they add some insurance runs? Should I stay put in this chair/room so the Sox' luck doesn't change again? Superstition is part of many a Red Sox fan's game-watching experience, no matter how nonsensical or irrational it may be.
Papi struck out to end the inning and what happened next on the mound was one of the most clutch relief appearances I have ever seen. Craig Breslow, a guy who doesn't rack up a whole lot of Ks, punched out the side in order in the bottom of the seventh. I wish Eck was calling the game so I could hear him talk about the Yale-educated cheese Breslow was throwing. Momentum was back on the Red Sox' side. More joy. More virtual quaking with anticipation and anxiety for that final out to be recorded.
The score remained the same until the top of the ninth, when Pedey hit a sac fly to add one more run. It turns out the run wasn't needed in the end, because Koji was back to being Koji and the Red Sox finished off the Rays and punched their ticket to the ALCS. Now, the tweets were of pure unbridled joy! And guess what? The next ride on the roller coaster begins on Saturday, as the Red Sox kick of the ALCS against either the Tigers or the A's at Fenway.
More ups, more downs, more shifts in momentum, more joy, more frustration, more excitement, more doubt, more anticipation, more superstition, more World Series dreams, more fears of heartbreak just around the corner. More memories of 2004, more memories of 1986, more memories of 2007, more memories of 2003. More series. More games. More October baseball. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride, but be sure to keep the barf bag handy just in case.
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