Thoughts leading up to Game 3

We're up 2-0 in the series, but as a true Red Sox fan, I'm worried leading up to Game 3.

Playing Ortiz at first base worries me. If I were the Rockies, I'd drop a few bunts up the first base line to test him. Even if Ortiz handles them well, I worry about the wear and tear at first on his bad knee. I'd much rather have Papi pinch hit for the pitcher (or Lugo) in the late innings. The situation isn't a surprise to Fancona. Hopefully, he's talked to Ortiz, worked him out at first and has figured out that this is the right move for the ballclub.

Has someone been working with Dice-K to help him (and Varitek) understand how the thin air affects his breaking pitches? Does he get to use the special Coors Field humidor balls when he's warming up? Have they used the special Coors technology to apply an indicator to the balls that turns blue when they've reached the correct weight?

I'm hoping Schilling's thrown his last pitches of the season (for obvious reasons) and it was great to see him hold the Rockies down for five and a third. Schilling's no longer the pitcher he was, but I hope Theo has a talk with him after the season and makes an offer for an incentive laden contract. I think he's making the right adjustments at this point in his career and has another one or two 12W 8L 4.25ERA seasons left in him.

I'm not sure who deserves the credit for giving Okajima a breather down the stretch (Theo, Francona, Farrell, Timlin) but I'm convinced that rest was exactly what he needed in order to be dominant once more in the postseason.

Yes, it's goofy, but I'm glad that "Tacoby Bellsbury" is responsible for the free tacos for everyone.

It was great to see Game 2 be a tight game from the first pitch to the last. Of course, it was even better to see the Sox prevail. Truth be told, I didn't see the top of the ninth. I know, I know. Blasphemy. My bowling team was in the playoffs and I was worried that if I stayed 'til the end of the game, I would have gotten to bowling late. I'm OK with missing out on things like that unless it affects friends of mine. I even volunteered to drive one of the people on the team who doesn't have a car to force my own hand a bit. I did get back to the car before Papelbon threw the first pitch in the ninth and listened to the rest of the game on the drive to the bowling alley.

A group of fifty or sixty Red Sox fans have been watching the playoffs at a bar in Seattle. We take over the entire back room and the staff generally closes the doors between the back room and the rest of the place because, apparently, we're rather vocal. For Game 2, there was a private party in the back room so we had to find space in the main section, which was awful. No couches, it took forever to get a drink, etc.

I'm not sure if it was the change in the atmosphere at the bar or the other fans' attitudes about the series with the Rockies, but there was a lot less life in the fans. That's not quite right. Focus. That's it. There was much less focus on the game. Even late in the game when Okajima was working out of the jam in the sixth inning, it didn't feel like the Sox fans were hanging on every pitch. That actually bothered me. I was tempted to head home and watch the game there. I stayed because watching the game with other fans felt more social and because my place is further away from the bowling alley. Let's hope there's a little more passion at Game 3 tonight.

Speaking of which, time for me to publish this post, grab my BP jersey (older blue one, never liked the red ones) and get going.

And the hits just keep on coming

Wow. I was surprised to see that the Red Sox scored more runs in the first four innings than the Rockies had allowed to the Diamondbacks in the entire NLCS.

Actually, there's still a part of me that's surprised to see the Sox are still playing at all. I believed that they could come back from the 3-1 deficit to the Indians, but I'm not so cocky as to say I expected it would happen. Despite what many people believe about Red Sox fans, we're still not terribly accustomed to this whole winning thing.

Beckett looked great (yes, again) but I cringed at the sight of him taking the mound in the seventh inning. I don't care if his pitch count was low, I want him as rested as possible for Game 5. For anyone who occasionally looks at Lugo and wishes the Sox had kept Hanley Ramirez, there is nothing more valuable to a team looking to win the World Series than a pitcher who can dominate in the postseason.

How great was it to see Pedroia go deep in his first at bat? Unbelievable. How could anyone not like this guy?

I'm more and more impressed with Ortiz the more I watch him in the playoffs. He's making amazing adjustments given the problem with his knee by coming out of his standard crouch while still smacking singles and doubles. Even though he's far from a speedster, he's been going full throttle on the basepaths, almost to the point where people I was watching the game with were begging him to coast a little bit. With that said, I still loved seeing him score from first base on Manny's "single" the other night. And speaking of that play...

Why can't science produce a remote that would allow us all to mute Tim McCarver? I think that every Red Sox fan would agree that Manny should run hard and should have legged out a double. The outrage from McCarver makes it sound like Manny dug up Abner Doubleday's grave and shat on his remains. It's so much fun watching the games in a room with fifty or sixty other Red Sox fans where you can barely hear the announcers, but you can always hear people say things like "Did McCarver just say that last pitch was a gyroball?!? Seriously?!?" or "Shut the <expletive_deleted> up, McCarver". It's nice to know I'm not the only person who feels this way about his broadcasting ... er ... tendencies.

It was really sad to hear that Wakefield is still having problems and won't pitch in the World Series. I enjoyed Bob Ryan's piece in today's Globe about Wakefield and what he's given to the team this year and in his time with the Red Sox. The article sort of hints at the fact that Wake may have thrown his last pitch. Let's all hope that's not the case and that he's back on the mound next year.

Right now I hope the Red Sox get a good night's sleep, get back to the ballpark tomorrow and get back to business. A good friend was worried during the game that the players and the fans might get a little too cocky given that the game was a blowout. Fox showed a stat about the biggest wins in Game 1 of the World Series (I think) and showed that both times a team had won Game 1 by 11 runs that the team that won Game 1 had ultimately lost the series. I don't want this to turn into the 1985 NBA Finals where the Celtics obliterated the Lakers in Game 1, but then lost four of the next five.

What's the baseball saying about momentum again? Momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. Let's hope Schilling continues to add to his postseason resume.