JD Drew: Great man? Or GREATEST man?

OK, I certainly didn't expect that.

Drew's 2-run homer (courtesy ESPN.com)

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I've certainly been holding out more hope than some of my friends and family this week, but going into last night, the situation certainly looked grim for the Red Sox. Heck, halfway through the game things looked pretty grim. But once again, the Sox proved that when their back is against the wall, they play better baseball and get more ridiculous luck than any other team. Ever. My fear, of course, is that they've somehow conditioned themselves to ONLY win in this manner, which will make every playoff run incredibly painful. But heck, if that's what it takes...

There's an argument that this was due. David Ortiz has had his worst playoff performance since emerging as Big Papi in 2003. He's hitting .167 in the postseason this year, compared to a .387 mark through the first two rounds of the playoffs last year. Last night's giant home run was his first of the 2008 postseason. JD Drew, the guy who picked up Ortiz's slack when Ortiz was out healing his wrist this summer, was certainly doing decently in this off-season, but hadn't shown the Papi-like knack for clutch hitting that he started showing in last year's playoffs. And Dustin Pedroia, the guy who started the scoring last night with a perfect RBI single, has been really the only Red Sox player to be consistently hot through the ALCS... it was only a matter of time before the rest of the team started bringing him around.

I make no illusion that I might be able to call this series right now. The ball is still in the court of the Rays, but last night the Sox demonstrated that calling them out of the playoffs is premature unless the World Series has already started without them. If nothing else, it guarantees an interesting 2009 campaign. The Rays, no doubt, are gonna be good, probably great. B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria are poised to become the next big superstar 1-2 punch in the majors. I think the Rays will replace the Yankees as the team for whom Sox fans will always keep an eye out.

When I left work last night around 10:15, it was 7-0 Tampa Bay. By the time I got home and turned on the TV, the 7th inning had just ended, and the Sox had brought the game back into questionable territory at 7-4. I think my neighbors hate me for the noise I was making for that hour last night. One thing's for sure... I need to find a way to swap my night shift tomorrow for the day shift. There's not a chance in hell I'm missing this.

Red Sox, Bill Simmons, Manny Ramirez and the first game of the playoffs

In early August, I wrote a rambling piece about the Manny Ramirez trade. It clocked in at about 1700 words and I think did a pretty good job of expressing my feelings on the whole thing. Now ESPN Sports Guy Bill Simmons, formerly known as the Boston Sports Guy, has outdone me 5 to 1. While half of this city ate the bull they were fed and said good riddance to Manny, there’s still a good portion of people – Simmons and my brother included – who aren’t exactly pleased with the trade. One game into the 2008 playoffs, I can’t say I blame them.

Simmons hits it on the head in a few different places – that Scott Boras is quite possibly the real villain in all of this is probably the most impossible to prove and still the most likely. Like he said, the man wasn’t getting paid unless Manny signed a new contract somewhere, and Scott Boras always gets paid. That despite all the crap that was piled on top of Manny in his last few months, I still can’t root against him or wish that the guy does poorly. But most importantly, Simmons is right that Manny’s good moments over seven-plus seasons greatly outweigh the bad, and no one is taking that away from us.

Going into the Red Sox division series with the Angels, who were by far the best team in baseball (to be fair, their division sucked, ours did not), it’s difficult not to wish for the comfort of Manny hitting behind David Ortiz. Instead, we get Manny’s replacement Jason Bay hitting behind a barely-recovered J.D. Drew… hitting behind Kevin Youkilis… hitting behind Big Papi. It just doesn’t have the one-two punch we’ve enjoyed for the last couple years, nor does it instill the same sort of fear in opposing pitchers that the Dynamic Dominican Duo were so good at exploiting. To be fair to the rest of the team, the Sox have had a different feel to them all season – Ortiz wasn’t the monster he’d been in previous seasons (Manny’s absence behind him during the last few months probably impacted this a bit, but not enough to make up the difference); Drew, after erasing any doubts about him in the last year and a half, went down for the stretch and I’m sure caused some grumbles last night; Mike Lowell’s similar absence in September was definitely felt, and the Coco Crisp/Jacoby Ellsbury lampoon in center field was not nearly as effective as many would have hoped. On the bright side, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia are fighting each other for MVP candidacy, and I don’t think anyone in April would have guessed that Jon Lester would start Game 1 of the playoffs and kind of beat up on the best team in the league like he did last night. It’s a different team than it has been in the last couple or four years, and to Boston fans, that’s scary. Because the last four years (re: 2004 & 2007) were the best years EVER.

I think it’s still going to take some getting used to. This series with the Angels will be the first real test. I doubt we’re going to see seven innings from Dice-K tomorrow, and with Josh Beckett’s oblique still a question mark for Sunday, these coming games have the potential to expose the soft underbelly that is the Red Sox middle relief. We’ve still got to get comfortable with the “get on base by any means necessary” strategy from Youkilis and Pedroia – even though they’ve been doing it for a few years now – because it’s not the baseball-destroying postseason fireworks we’ve come to expect. We’ve gotta trust the young guys. Papelbon, Pedroia and Lowrie help – Buccholz, Hansen, Delcarmen (and ultimately Ellsbury, I think… at least for this season) don’t. The team is still gluing together the consistency they’re going to need if they’re going to go back-to-back.

I’m still not sure on the Sox chances in this series. I'll admit, I like them more now than I did 24 hours ago, but again, the Angels are the best team in the MLB this season. One interesting point – the Angels won the season series against the Sox 8-1. The last time the two teams played was July 30^th. Manny Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers on July 31^st. Will this matter? I don’t know. You can be sure that if the Sox win the series, someone will claim that it does. I’d rather be able to chalk it up to a team that finally meshed, finally hit their stride together and finally got all of the vital components healthy and focused. But I don’t think we’d ever really know.

The one thing I do know? If the Red Sox make it to the World Series, I want to play the Cubs. If the Red Sox DON’T make it to the World Series, I want the Dodgers to. I still like Manny, and have no ill will toward the guy. But I don’t want to play him. Say what you will about Manny’s somewhat-suspicious resurgence after the trade. I’m willing to believe that he was just in a better mood and more focused because of it, not that he was actively holding anything back. But I don’t want to play a streaking Manny Ramirez (which he will most certainly be, if the Dodgers make it that far. No one else is going to carry that team through the playoffs like that), and I don’t want to find out if Manny can be vindictive.

On a related note, the final thing that Simmons nailed in his piece: for the love of Ted Williams, let the Dodgers step up and re-sign Manny. Because if they don’t, the Yankees will. Hank is just crazy enough to push for it. And psychological damage of seeing Manny in pinstripes aside, I don’t want to play in Manny’s division. The emergent Rays are bad enough. Them plus a resurgent Yankees thanks to Manny’s power? I’m just not ready for that.