If he loses, I don’t see the Sox coming back down three games.

Yes we did it in our last two ALCS, but the circumstances were much different. In 2004, the Yankees were an overachieving team with shaky pitching. We had Pedro, ‘Bloody Sock’ Schilling, and Derek Lowe, the postseason wonder. Plus the best offense in baseball.

In 2007, the Indians’ top two starters were both wasted by the start of the postseason – Sabathia had thrown a million pitches and was overthrowing in each start, and Carmona had fatally overdosed on innings (witness his performance this season for confirmation of this). Meanwhile, we had Beckett, ‘Finesse’ Schilling, and a serviceable Dice-K.

This year Beckett is injured, Lester got shelled (and has thrown a ton of innings), Papi and Drew are not 100%, Lowell is out entirely, and Francona’s not managing the games to win (Beckett gets a 100ft leash in the fifth, Timlin in the 11th with Byrd still left).

And our opponent is much better. The 2008 Rays are the deepest team in baseball, and possibly the best. They defend and pitch better than anyone, and have a good offense. With Evan Longoria, BJ Upton and Carlos Pena hot, they can out hit and out score us.

Wake needs to pitch a great game for us to win. And he can, no doubt about it. I wouldn’t put money on it though.

But, last two World Series years, we fell behind in the ALCS only to come back and kick the NL Champ’s ass in the World Series.

If the Sox come back to win this year’s ALCS, the fans who left early tonight should be banned from attending Sox games, buying Sox gear, etc. (unless they had a legit reason for leaving)

He hadn’t thrown in a week and kept the ball up. He had a bad game, as simple as that. It happens. He looked great against the Orange County Angels. Unless you think the 14 innings he threw in the ALDS capped him out, you shouldn’t worry about Lester.

However, you should worry about the offense. Aside from beating up on Kazmir, who sucked against us this year, the Sox haven’t hit. Papi, Taco, and Tek have sucked. They’re a combined 0 for 34 in the series. I tend to blame Ellbury and Ortiz more thanTek because a lead-off hitter and #3 hitter are far more important to the offense than a weak hitting catcher who bats at the bottom of the order.

Even if Lester was sharp last night, the Sox probably would have lost. They need to score runs.

I my humble opinion, the reason why Lester failed last night was that psychologically he knew the team could not generate the offense to win this series. Asking him to carry the team with no offensive capability anymore is just asking him to deny reality. How “UP” so to speak do you think he (or you for that matter) could be when you see how injuries have rob the talents from your team. It is all about momentum capabilities, but in truth, the Sox just do not have the functional talent to generate that momentum, so it drags down everyone in the “head”.

It probably is nobody’s fault, but it is a long long season, which has taken its toll on the Sox more than most. I suppose if you really wanted to blame someone/something, it would be allowing such aging players to make up so much of your team. Aging players get hurt more often and recover much slower if at all. Hint for the future—GO YOUNG LIKE THE RAYS.

What is going on with Jacoby? As a Rays fan, he scared me the most coming into the series (and still does). I love watching him take bp because he just drills lasers into the seats. Is he injured or is this a very untimely monster slump?