Sox Rock the Rox

Ok. I know. It's really corny.

But the Red Sox have taken a commanding lead in the World Series as they travel to Rocky Mountain High for the next game, scheduled in the Winter Wonderland on Saturday night.

The little guy, Dustin Pedroia shone again on Wednesday night, leading off with a home run, and becoming the first rookie in MLB history to lead off a World Series game with a home run. In fact only one other player has ever done that. MVP, maybe? Who knows? They are all performing pretty well. The first game wound up being a complete embarassment for the Rockies, as Josh Beckett completely shut them down, and the Sox bats went crazy. They were already ahead 6-1 when Rockies pitching had a meltdown in the 5th inning and the Red Sox scored 7 more runs, 3 of which were walked in by relief pitcher Ryan Speier. He faced 3 batters, walked them all, and was quickly removed. That would be the last scoring for this game. Final score, Red Sox 13, Rockies 1. The Rockies "Cinderella run" was abruptly squashed.

It didn't get a whole lot better for them Thursday night. The pitching was better for them, and, actually, this game was more of what I consider to be a "World Series caliper" game. Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez did a good job holding down the Red Sox, but still left the game with a 2-1 deficit. That would remain the score for the rest of the game. Curt Schilling was in his usual postgame mode, only allowing 1 run over 5 1/3 innings, with only 4 hits. My eyes kind of teared up when he left the game, as the Fenway Faithful gave him a roaring standing ovation. This was likely the last time Schilling will pitch in a Red Sox uniform. He will probably be a free agent after this season. We will miss him dearly.

Unless he winds up in Texas. Then we will get to see him pitch in a Rangers uniform.

Anyway...Okajima came in and pitched flawlessly for 2 1/3 innings, and the great one, Jonathan Papelbon came in one out early to pitch 1 1/3 inning, also pretty much flawless. He gave up one hit. He also picked off Holliday at first base to end the top of the 8th. Looked like Holliday kind of fell asleep or something.

The second game wasn't nearly the embarassment that the first game was, but the Red Sox still dominated. They've allowed only 2 runs to the Rockies. And they continue to outscore their opponents 45-7 over the last 5 games. They actually look better than the 2004 team.

I'm not ready to go out on a limb and predict a sweep, yet. It depends on what we see Saturday night in Colorado. They have to give up a major bat in Saturday's game, at least in the starting lineup. It may be that Francona gives both Youk and Papi a half game or something. My personal opinion is that Youk needs to play. Nothing against Papi, here, but his knee is in bad shape, and he probably can't field as well as Youk. And Youk's bat has been roaring during the post season. He's batting over .500 for the whole post season so far.

TTFN, y'all