Tea Leaves

Red Sox Win

My first Red Sox World Series experience was in 1975 against the Reds. My dad didn't let me stay up for game 6 and Carlton Fisk's home run. Of course, they lost game 7.

In 1986, I was in school and didn't even realize the Sox were in the series until we tuned in on game 6. For game 7 I was at a Billy Joel concert. He's a Mets fan.

Last year, I picked up the Sox again in the ALCS, and remember thinking that we had it locked just as it all fell apart.

I tried to watch the playoffs this year with a certain detached optimism. Time after time it looked like it would all fall apart again, and yet somehow this year it was always the other team that had Red Sox Moments. We get two calls reversed in Yankee Stadium? We get that fateful ground rule double that keeps the score tied in game 5. We get the Cardinals making weird base running errors. And, we survive eight errors in the first two games of the World Series against one of the best offensive teams in the league.

But ultimately, in the last two games I think the Red Sox showed that they were just playing better baseball. Great hitting, great pitching and great defense. A thing of beauty all around.

Let's hope we don't have to wait 86 years for the next one. It would be cool if my son could see this happen before he's 38.