6 Random (and Sleepy) Thoughts on World Series Game 1

1. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves…this is exactly where the Red Sox were in ALCS Game 1 after Sabathia imploded at Fenway, and that series ended up going to seven games. Let’s not get cocky.

2. Sweet Lord, those Rockies looked ridiculously overmatched last night. They looked like a Triple-A team! They can only hit fastballs! And not even that many of them! It was embarassing. Embarassing!

3. Let there be no doubt: the Red Sox Way (TM) is being pushed at all levels of the organization. We already knew that if Manny Ramirez doesn’t swing at it, it’s not a strike (no matter what the home plate umpire thinks). But when I watched #9 hitter and September call-up Jacoby Ellsbury, who at that point was 0 for 3 and must have been desperate for a hit (after all, everyone else in the lineup had one) stand in against Ryan Speier and take the bases-loaded walk, I realized just how hard the Red Sox organization has been pushing patience at the plate. Let it be known, Colorado: these Red Sox simply refuse to swing if it’s not a strike. Speier was called in to get one out—-just one out!—-and instead ended up walking all three batters he faced, and pushing three runs across the plate. Ouch. Nonetheless, there came a point in the fifth inning—maybe when I realized it was creeping up on 11pm and we were barely through half the game—when I just wanted the Red Sox to start hacking away. Beauty rest, people.

4. An interesting point made on WEEI this morning: Manny never seems to foul the ball off himself. Youkilis does it all the time. David Ortiz has been known to do it. I’ve seen it happen to Mike Lowell. In fact, most hitters foul a ball off of their ankle at least a few times. But I have never seen Manny Ramirez do it. Why? The consensus on the radio was that he just doesn’t swing at the low, out-of-the-strike-zone pitches that are prone to such activity.

5. Post-2004, Red Sox Nation is capable of magnanimity, even pity. We felt bad when we watched Victor Martinez weep into his sleeve after Game 7 of the ALCS. (Not as bad as if the Red Sox had lost, but, you know, a little bit bad.) And we feel sorry for the Rockies this morning. (You know, in a gloating kind of way.)

6. Given that tonight’s game could be very different, I am going to do two things today. Yes, I will read as much about last night’s blowout as possible, reveling in every word. But first, I need to make some more coffee.