2004 ALCS - "beers of destiny" or "no child should be allowed to watch the Sox in the playoffs all alone"

This is an email I sent to my buddy, Ross, in St. Paul, MN on Oct 20, 2004 on the morning after the Sox tied up the ALCS 3-3
-----------------------------------------------------------
Wow! Who'd a thunk this could happen? I, along with many many others here, had written off the BoSox after that game 3 debacle. I wasn't down on them, mind you; they lost their best pitcher, Schilling, at the same time that the Yankees found two aces in Mussina and Lieber. It was a karmic thing - just not their time again - wait 'til next year. I still loved them, and the gritty way they play the game - no showboat, "me" guys on this T-E-A-M team.

But these last three games have defied explanation.

OK, it's hard to sweep, especially when you have your #4 guy starting, but the Sox were using their #5 guy - a guy, Lowe, who had had a zero September - losing all his starts and getting racked in the process. Lowe came up huge in game 4, and the Sox are still behind by a run entering the bottom of the ninth. And they find a way to tie the game, and then win it with Ortiz's blast.

Then game 5 - the "afternoon" game. Pedro pitches well, but he wasn't dominating - threw too many balls, too many 3 ball counts, but was really only hurt by the two out Jeter (Mr. Clutch) double that scored three. Sox again behind in the 8th, and again manage to tie it up on the Ortiz opposite field tater and a sac fly. They win 5 agonizing innings later when Ortiz fists a dink single over the infield.

So the Yankees lose two post-season extra inning games in a row (a first), and Rivera blows two post-season saves in a row (a first, though he can hardly be blamed for the second since Gorden had built the fire and doused it with gasoline before Rivera "gave up" Varitek's sacrifice fly to spark the flames).

BTW - the victories in games 4 and 5 can be attributed to my beer drinking. For game 4, I had been listening on and off. I flipped to the Sox late and see they're down 4-3 in the 8th. So I popped open a beer (Sam Adams of course) and went upstairs to be with Erica for the bottom of the 9th - no child should be allowed to watch the Sox in the playoffs all alone. 90 minutes later, we're still together watching as Ortiz (for the millionth time, it seems - you let this guy go for nothing?) sends the Fenway faithful home happy, 100%. I forgot to mention that the first beer merely provided the impetus for us to tie the game. I went down and grabbed another in the beginning of the 12th, and lo and behold, again it was the catalyst for another score and the win. Game 5, we all watched together, and after we tied it in the 8th, I got a beer, expecting a quick victory to follow, but I also got one for Eileen - bad move - her beer negated my beer, and so the extra innings rolled by until - you guessed it - I got another beer for the 14th (Erica said that Eileen couldn't have one as she, a bright girl, was way ahead on this one) and again we won. Last night no beers were needed as we were ahead the entire game. I've still got plenty in the refrigerator for tonight, though.

How huge was Schilling? Jack Morris-esque (you're absolutely right about the '91 series - E-P-I-C - Morris's game 7 10 inning shutout has to go down as one of the best pitching performances in history - I remember talking to Globe scribe Dan Shaughnessy at a kids soccer game on the Saturday after. He had been in the Metrodome for the game and said the whole experience was overwhelming - and this from Mr. Jaded Columnist - and BTW, said jaded columnist has been on the Sox bandwagon for months now - even he believes!)

I figured we'd go back to the Bronx and lose - Schilling would be game and go 5, giving up 3 runs. Lieber would hold us in check, the Yanks would add a couple off our depleted relief staff, and we could say, "Well, at least we made it a series." But Schilling was untouchable, UNTOUCHABLE - and the Sox hitters were pesky - making Lieber pitch out of jams in the early innings until the bottom of the order finally broke though in the 4th with 4 hits in a row with 2 outs capped by the Bellhorn slice job in to the left field seats. (Funny radio comment from a couple of weeks ago - fans in Boston are so rabid that I even see guys walking around wearing Bellhorn jerseys) Also of import was the way the umpiring crew made two crucial overrules for the Sox (can you say "tuck rule?"). That never happens against the Yankees - I remember vividly (too vividly) in '99 when we were jobbed by the umps on a couple of phantom tags that resulted in out calls against the Sox. But the umps get it right both times, and we have a game 7.

Finally, though I was a fan of the potential trade(s) that would have brought A-Rod and Magglio Ordonez to the Sox for Manny and Nomar, I am no longer. A-Rod is a punk - he was a punk in July when he railed expletives at Varitek after getting plunked by Arroyo, and he was punk last night when he tried to karate chop the ball out of Arroyo's glove. Bush league.

So I am poised for the Sox to fall short once again. No way they can win. Not a game 7, not in the Bronx. Not with Lowe on the hill (he pitched and lost the Game 2 that I went to in my only visit to Yankee stadium in last year's ALCS). Not against the vaunted big bad Yankees.

Before the playoffs started, I think I wrote that my big fear is that we get to the World Series, win the first three, then lose 4 straight. (the bright side would be that at least we'd stop talking about '86 :-) ). Now the tables are turned. Who knows....?