Thursday, October 25, 2007

2007 World Series Game 1: Don’t Stop Me Now

Final Score: Boston Red Sox 13, Colorado Rockies 1

Tonight I’m gonna have myself a real good time /I feel alive and the world turning inside out, yeah! /And floating around in ecstasy

That's a pretty damn good start. Call it Red Sox momentum, call it Rockies rust, call it whatever you want but it was still a pants-down spanking of world serious proportions. I don’t want to say anything too awful about these Rockies, because it’s not nice to pick on people you don’t know… and I still don’t know ANY of these Rockies players. Well, whoever they are, the 9 days of rest seems to have snapped them out of their hot-streak.

Blood was in the water and the Sox bats played the part of Jaws. Right out of the gate Dustin “the littlest rookie who could” Pedroia smashed a Monster shot and grabbed the Sox an early lead… one they never looked back from. I mean, are you kidding me Colorado? That’s your “Ace,” your #1, your big shot? Wait… wasn’t this supposed to be a pitching duel? Francis got absolutely OWNED by every single member of the starting lineup. It wasn’t pretty. And the bullpen? Like I said before, I have never heard of those guys, and now I know why. Every Sox starter but one (Ellsbury) got a hit, every starter but one (Lowell) got an RBI and every starter but 3 (Lugo, Pedroia and Ellsbury) got a double. The Sox had 8 doubles (tied a WS record) in the night, they had 13 runs (sets the WS game 1 record) and had a 12 run victory margin (sets WS record). These jokers even managed to walk in three runs! Unreal. When you take candy from a baby, at least the baby has the decency to cry about it. The Rockies pitchers didn’t even manage to look that tough.

I'm burning through the skies, yeah! /Two hundred degrees /That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit!

Speaking of pitching, the Red Sox could have scored 11 fewer runs and still walked away with this one thanks to the mastery of the gladiator named Josh Beckett. 4-0 in the playoffs? Check. Post season ERA slightly lower than Kevin Millar’s blood alcohol content? Check. Another World Series win under his belt along with 9 fresh strike outs? Big freaking check. The guy is a man-amal: half man, half animal. And that animal? I think it’s a grizzly bear cause he tore through the Rockies like a top of the food chain predator. It is a down right pleasure to see this guy blow away hitters. Beckett retired the first 4 batters by way of the K and could have pitched much longer than the 7th if it wasn’t for the fact that the Sox were already up by more than a touchdown.

Unlike our purple clad adversary, the Sox bullpen looked great considering we were using the B-squad. Timlin and Gagne didn’t allow a base runner in either of their innings of work. You know it’s a great night when you get text messages like “I feel good about Gagne” and “hey I think it’s Gagne time” or my favorite “If Gagne isn’t too busy crushing children’s dreams, I think he could pitch in this game.” Hell, I was happy to see him.

Anyway, do I think every game is going to be this one sided? Of course not (see: yes) but I think the Rock-mes may be a little overmatched. Maybe it’s the lack of World Series experience (only Wily Tavarez has seen action) or maybe it was the roaring Fenway crowd, but the Rockies looked rattled. Their tale of destiny now rests on the shoulders of their game 2 starter, the mighty Ubaldo Jimenez while the Sox have to turn to some guy named Curt Schilling. I heard this Ubaldo guy had some good stuff (I did not hear this) so this could be a good one… but I might have to lean towards the Red Sox in this match-up. They just look unstoppable.

Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time) /Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time) /I don't wanna stop at all

PS: Thanks, but no thanks Rudy. Sox Nation doesn’t want you.