Game 5 - Live From Imperial Lanes in Seattle

One thing you can say about the Sox - they're rarely boring.

I watched the early innings of Game 5 at an Irish pub before heading out to my bowling night. No, I hadn't given up when it was 5-0. Hell no. I got to bowling a little early, talked to the folks in charge and got them to put TBS on the monitors over a couple empty lanes. Then I bribed three teams to make sure my team was next to those monitors.

People kept coming over to check on the score. A couple of those people had Red Sox gear on. Other people near my lane asked how many of them were bandwagoners and drew some icy stares in return. Right after Paps gave up the double to make it 7-0, a bowler on one of the other teams (who had just helped finish off a pitcher of beer I'd provided as part of the lane shift) started flipping me shit about the game. "It's early yet" was all I said.

I'd love to say I *knew* the Sox would come back and win the game when it was 7-0. All I could do was hope. "If Pedroia can just knock in a run, maybe that'll start something..." "If Papi can take Balfour deep, then it's a three run game..."

After Papi's home run, I walked past the other lanes, finding the Sox fans and giving a couple quick updates. More and more people came over to check the monitors, heading back to their lanes only when it was their turn to bowl. Gimme spares were missed. Drew homered to make it a one run game. Crisp knocked in the tying run but ended the inning trying to take second. My cell phone buzzed again. Dad. We were both a little shocked, a little giddy and a little angry by Crisp's aggressiveness on the basepaths, but we figured you cut a guy a little slack for coming through with the hit there.

By the time Masterson got Pena to ground into a double play and the Sox ninth was kept alive by a bad throw by Longoria, most of the teams had finished bowling for the night. The Sox fans headed to the bar area where we watched JD Drew's game ending ground rule single. The bar area erupted. My cell phone buzzed and my Dad and I celebrated together despite the distance. I headed back to my lane, finished my string and let my thoughts drift to something I hadn't expected. Game 6.

Countdown to the playoffs

When last we left our heroes...

It's been a busy couple months to say the least. No time left to recap recent goings on before first pitch.

For the record, I am keeping an eye on flights to LA and trying to figure out how to score a couple tickets to Game 3 on Sunday.

Why do I keep having visions of JD Drew being interviewed after the series and congratulated on being the ALDS MVP? And am I jinxing any chance of that by putting that vision our there in the blogosphere? He's been hitting much better as of late and something tells me that's going to continue through the post-season.

I can't wait to see Beckett pitch.

I have complete faith that Manny will make a head scratching play in the outfield and follow it up with a 450 foot home run.

I fully trust that Matsuzaka understands pressure situations, given that he pitched brilliantly in the global summit thingie during the pre-season last year and in his time while pitching in Japan. My only concern is how he's looked fatigued down the stretch. And no, I have no idea why Francona had him pitch eight full innings and throw 119 pitches the other night. A friend of mine had stopped by for a drink and was asking similar questions when Dice K came out to start the eighth when my phone rang. Of course, it's my Dad asking the same thing. I think I actually answered the phone with "Why the hell is Dice K still on the mound?"

Okajima is the player I'm most anxious about. If he's close to the same pitcher he was in the first half of the year, I'll be a lot more relaxed about our chances.

At the All Star break, I was definitely concerned about Drew, Lugo and Crisp's hitting and had hoped that at least two of the three would hit above .280 the rest of the way. I checked some post-All Star break stats the other day and found the following:

• Drew: .286
• Lugo: .280
• Crisp: .272

Not bad at all. I'm still nervous about Varitek's hitting (.225 since the All Star break) but he had a few big hits down the stretch.

Speaking of catchers, I'm not sure why we have both Mirabelli and Cash on the ALDS roster, especially where Wakefield isn't on the roster. If we're that worried about Mirabelli getting re-injured, would it make more sense to drop him (sorry, Mom) and add Brandon Moss just in case Crisp is still battling dizziness? On second thought, I'm really nervous that without Wake, Tavarez or Snyder we don't have a long reliever on the roster.

Speaking of Tavarez, I loved his line about being OK with not being on the ALDS roster so long as he gets a ring and a big check. I'm not sure why it's easy to laugh at that comment and think it's being supportive of the team rather than selfish, but I guess we just trust that's just Tavarez. (I will not write "Julian being Julian"...um...damnit.)

The postseason pictures of Hinske chomping on a cigar, Pedroia howling at the moon to no one in particular, Papelbon (and again and again) celebrating like a madman were just priceless. Let's hope we get to see what they do for an encore.