2 down, 9 to go

Prediction, cause in the end, the result is all that matters: Sox 5, Angels 2; Sox advance to the ALCS.

There's no denying that the Red Sox are rolling right now. Between the pitching match-up, the offensive dominance, and the general morale the Sox players must have coming into L.A., I've got absolutely no reason to believe that the trend will change. Here's why:

• Pitching
• On paper, these two are nearly a dead lock this season. Weaver (13-7) finished with a better 2007 record than Schilling (9-8). He threw ten more innings than Schill, but also allowed 13 more hits and 9 more runs. Weaver wins in strikeouts - 115 to Schills 101 - but Curt only walked 23 to Weaver's 45. Schill's control has been impeccable all year, especially in the second half when he's noticeably been mixing in more changeups and cutting down on the splitters. Weaver threw 10 1/3 innings against the Sox this season in two starts, going 0-1 with a not-too-solid 6.97 ERA. The hitters did their damage, 8 runs with a .311 average. Schill fared better against the Angels, going 2-1 in 3 starts with a better-but-still-less-than-awesome 4.05 ERA. Anaheim got him for .263, but got to him for 9 runs - but that's kind of OK, considering Schill threw 20 innings against them. 3 homers given up apiece. It's a real close match.
  
• As far as I'm concerned, though, this is Schilling's stage. This is what he does. It's not just the sock. I mean, the sock is a big part of it, but it's not just that. The reason Theo went after Schilling in the first place was his part in starting the Yankees' current ring drought with Arizona in 2001. He strives for the big game, he thrives in the big game, and he will deliver tonight. Is it going to be 2004 for Schilling? No, I think that guy is gone. But it's going to be the new Schilling that we've seen in fits and starts this season - a veteran who executes as well as anyone in the league, so long as he remembers that he can't blow guys away with power anymore. And honestly, there's probably a part of Schilling that has a little comfort knowing that even if he doesn't shut the door tonight, Josh Beckett is ready to slam the door tomorrow night. Certainly no one wants that, but working with a safety net guarantees a better show, because the performer has that extra confidence.
  
• All that being said, who knows? Jered Weaver has never made a playoff start. Maybe he will step it up to a level that will equal or top Schilling, and he'll keep the Angels in this thing for another night
• Batting
• Manny's back. Vlad is not. Papi is Papi again. Sounds like 2-0, Red Sox. Oh wait...
• No, seriously. I think everyone on the team is going to take some momentum off of Manny's walk-off the other night. They go into Anaheim as the team to beat, with morale and momentum on their side. These players feed off that feeling, I think better than any other team in the league. The Sox and the Yankees do it best, and right now, only one of those teams have given their fans anything to cheer about.
• Ball mashing - ten AL guys have hit homers in the playoffs thus far. Ten guys representing three of the four AL teams. Guess who isn't represented.
• We've got guys on streaks like nothing else. Drew has picked up the pace since September. Ortiz is looking more and more like the guy who threw the whole team on his back for the last three years. Mike Lowell is an RBI-hitting robot dressed like a third baseman. Manny is, by his own admission, a bad man - that three-run shot Friday night put him 2nd on the RBI list for the playoffs, behind Kenny Lofton. Then there's the wild cards - Dusty, Youkilis, Varitek, even Coco and Lugo will produce sporadically, and the first three are prone for hot streaks. Pedroia should be getting his Rookie of the Year trophy soon, and a nice showing in the playoffs can only help that.
• The Angels have only managed 3 runs in the first two games, and all three came off of Dice-K, who, let's face it, hasn't been quite what we expected. He certainly wasn't bad, especially not for a Major League rookie, but it's gonna take another season or two to get our money's worth for $100M.
• The Angels guys who got those 3 RBIs? Cabrera, Figgens and Mathis are 3-for-20 in the series, hitting a painful .150, and not a home run in the bunch. Our guys? Manny, Drew, Lowell, Papi and Youk combine for 10-30 - .333 ain't bad. 3 homers from the group thus far, and 10 walks - Papi has 5 by himself, with an ass-kicking OBP of .889. And with Manny looking like himself again, they're gonna have to start pitching to Papi again.
• No. Vlad.
• Fielding
• OK, I don't really know anything about fielding. But Youk and Dusty do ridiculous things on the right side, Lowell's got a Gold Glove and snags anything in his area, and we're not paying Lugo for his bat. Coco is a sprinting, diving machine, so as long as we can keep Manny from doing something stupid (like overrunning the bounce on Friday), we should fare OK. For the Angels... Cabrera is always solid, as is most of their infield, but I think Vlad on DH duty is hurting them in the outfield. That's a cannon they could use, especially since the Red Sox have a fast team (Lugo, Coco, Dusty, Youk - remember that inside-the-park homer this summer? I was at that game - and Ellsbury off the bench).

So yeah. Sox in 3, and a nice rest until the ALCS. As for the Yankees? I'd like to see them swept off the playoff map, especially with Clemens making his 18th "last start ever," but the Yankees don't go like that. They'll push it to at least a 4th, and quite possibly a 5th game. Clemens will hold on just long enough to get a win, before turning it over to Chamberlain, the real pitcher the Yankees ought to be building around. Of course, they will need some offensive help. At the beginning of the season, there were shirts being sold around Fenway that said "A-Rod: Mr. April, Miss October." The Yanks got to October, but A-Rod seems to be neutered. The first two games of the series with Cleveland, the clear-cut AL regular season MVP has gone 0-for-6 with 3 Ks and 2 walks. No homers, no RBIs, NOTHING. Maybe he will remember to turn on the hitting machine this afternoon, but oh well. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing that series go five games, cause regardless of who wins, they will go into the ALCS tired. And then the Red Sox, who I SWEAR are going to sweep this afternoon, will pick them off on their way to the World Series.

2 games down. Magic number is 9. GO SOX.