Alright, folks, we've had a good few days to recover from the terrible events of last Wednesday. The Rays won, we lost, and Terry Francona is gone for different pastures. The long, cold offseason is underway for us.
For some reason, however, the playoffs have started up even without our involvement, and for the two A.L. East teams that kept the Sox out of the playoffs (though, really, the Sox did most of that job themselves), that means an opportunity for glory, and a chance to push the Sox down into an even deeper, sadder hole.
The good news is that both of these teams--I speak, of course, of the Rays and Yankees--will face elimination today, having each dropped Games 2 and 3 of their series.
First up, Tampa Bay and Texas, where Jeremy Hellickson will take on Matt Harrison. I'm happy to say that Texas already seems to be up 1-0. It's good to see Ian Kinsler doesn't just kill us.
A strong Rookie of the Year candidate--if only for the fact that such awards always ignore peripherals--Mr. Hellickson held Texas to just two runs in his only six innings against Texas this year, but allowed four walks in the process. Between the power of the Rangers and the fly ball tendencies of Hellickson, he can't be giving up that many free passes if he expects to escape with another quality start.
Harrison is just another Texas breakout starter in the same vein as C.J. Wilson. Does anyone know who invented that stem cell procedure that fixed Big Bad Bartolo for a while? I have my suspicions that he's a member of the Rangers' organization.
And if so, can we steal him?
We'll have Detroit and New York later tonight--likely in this same thread, given that the first game is in the middle of a work day.
Here's to finally having a good baseball day after so very many bad ones.