It all started in 1946 when the Red Sox lost game seven of the world series to the St. Louis Cardinals when Enos Slaughter scored from first base on a two out short double to left center. Slaughter ran through the stop sign put up by the third base coach Mike Gonzalez beating Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky’s throw to the plate.

In 1949 the Sox needed one win in the last two games in NY, led in the first game, and then saw the Yanks come back and sweep the two games, winning the flag.

The trend continued through the 50’s, one disappointment after another, usually the Yanks posing as the villain.

In 1967 the Cards win game seven of the series behind Bob Gibson.

Future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio slips rounding third base in 1972 costing the Sox a chance to win the AL East.

1975 the Reds beat Jim Burton in the ninth inning of game seven on a single by Joe Morgan. Bill Lee throws the blooper pitch to Tony Perez, boom homer, Reds back in the game!

1978 Bucky Dent homers off Mike Torrez in the seventh inning giving the Yanks the pennant in a one game playoff.

Bill Buckner, Calvin Schiraldi, and Bob Stanley in 1986! No more needs to be said.

The A’s beat Roger Clemens and the Sox twice, 1988 and 1990.

2003 Aaron “Bleepin” Boone.

Like Don Corleone in “Godfather One” when Michael Corleone took care of the family business wiping out the Barrzini’s, the Solozo’s, and Mo Green, as the picture ended, the Red Sox took care of the Yankees and all the earlier indignities by winning four straight to win the pennant this year.

Simply amazing.

What’s next? Either Roger Clemens and the Astros or settling the score with St. Louis.

Either will do!
The Evil Empire has fallen.
You can believe it.

The Red Sox are taking care of the family business in 2004.

I like it.
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The A’s and Giants both face significant off season challenges this year.

Neither should try to put together a club with question marks at key positions.

Here’s why:

The competition is only going to get better.

Anaheim will spend and then spend some more to bring in top of the line players. The Angels knew what they were doing when they tried to pry Randy Johnson away from Arizona. The lack of a top of the rotation starter was missing from the mix in 2004. It’s clear that Bartolo Colon and Kelvim Escobar are not number one starters. Expect to see one of the premier free agent pitchers in Anaheim next year. Pedro Martinez is a likely choice, if the Angels can’t get Johnson.

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When you get this far into the playoffs small mistakes can be made. You don’t have the pressure of the five game series which requires tough baseball 24/7.

The pitching staff is the key and I mean the whole staff. To win a seven gamer you need three or four in the bull pen plus at least two horses on the mound.

Boston has the two horses and I think a surprisingly decent bull pen anchored by Keith Foulke. The key for Boston is not having to go to Foulke for more than one inning and not back to back to back days.

That’s why I like the Sox I think they can hit with the Yankees and not have to use the best guys in the pen every day.

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So far the 2004 playoffs have been less than spectacular.

When you have an overmatched Dodger team and an underachieving Angels team leading the way, it’s tough to get excited.

The Red Sox have the bats cooking. If Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez continue to throw the way they did in their opening starts, perhaps Boston fans will have something to cheer about.

The Yankees and the Twins have each other, a bumbling matchup with the Yanks doing everything in their power to give the series to Minnesota.

One word of advice to the Twins: Don’t let NY up, just when you think you have them, they are back in the game and beat you.

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Ron Gardenhire should worry less about what music Ruben Sierra listens to when he comes up to bat and watch the pitches his pitchers throw more carefully.

Who’s Gardenhire’s bench coach anyway?
Grady Little?

Joe Nathan was gassed, it was obvious he had nothing left on the ball when he threw four wide ones, the culmination of eight in a row out of the strike zone, to Derek Jeter.

A Rod who has enough power in this park to do some real damage even though he is often fooled by the pitch, ended the night with a mediocre fly ball double to tie the score and effectively end the Twins night.

Jasse Crain next in for Minnesota is a rookie, but he has a live arm and pitched well down the srtetch.

Why let the game get away?

Only Grady Little and Ron Gardenhire can explain last night’s brain lock.

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It was not vintage Johan Santana last night at the Stadium in the Bronx, but the young lefty got the job done as the Twins beat the Bombers 2-0.

The Twins play defense especially in the outfield. Torri Hunter is the best center fielder in the game today. He runs down everything, throws with the best, and displays an enthusiasm for the game which lifts his team.

The Yankees miss Jason Giambi’s bat in the middle of the line up. What a waste of time having A Rod bat second. Ted Sizemore batted second, Junior Gilliam, Tommy Herr, Kevin Seitzer, Rennie Stennett, they all hit second, you get the idea, the set up hitters in the lineup.

If this is the spot A Rod feels comfortable hitting in NY, because he again disappeared in the clutch this season, it could be a short postseason for the New Yorkers.

I’d move him to fourth right now and put Bernie Williams second.

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The Boston Red Sox traded for Curt Schilling for one reason and that is to pitch and win game one of the division series.

The Angels make you beat them before the sixth inning or else you have to deal with their bull pen anchored by Scott Shields, Brenden Donnelly, KRod and Troy Percival.

Not a lefty in sight for Mike Scoscia.

You can’t let Vladimir Guerrero beat you, but you better keep Chone Figgins and Darin Erstad off base ahead of the free swinging AL MVP candidate.

To win a five game ALDS or NLDS you have to play almost flawless baseball for the entire series.

The game changes by the minute and whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.

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Within the space of 29 minutes both Bay Area teams suffered agonizing losses.

The Giants might live for another day, the A’s won’t.

The A’s lost when their starting pitcher, Barry Zito, didn’t want to return to the mound in the eighth inning because his legs were starting to feel funny and he thought he was losing his fluidity on the mound.

Huh?

Can you picture Juan Marichal, Jack Morris, Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Tim Hudson, or Dave
Stewart saying such a thing?

No way. Unbelievable!

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With the playoffs scheduled to open up next Tuesday I can’t find a clear cut favorite to win the world series.

The Cardinals looked closest to a sure thing two weeks ago. Now over the past two weeks their starting pitching has come apart.

Matt Morris, the ace of the staff has an ERA over 4.70 after giving up 6 runs in 4 innings Thursday to the low flying Brewers. Chris Carpenter is out of the first round with forearm miseries. Jason Marquis has struggled noticeably in September, leaving Woody Williams and Jeff Suppan as Tony La Russa’s most reliable starters.

Teams win in October with strong starting pitching. It’s not a pretty sight right now in St. Louis.

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You play 157 games and figure by that time you ought to know where you stand.

No such luck.

The A’s now have five games at home to right the ship. The Angels have five games on the road to win the West.

Baseball wisdom tells me that the home team will prevail, but the A’s pitching has been abysmal. If they don’t get it right over the next two days with Rich Harden, their best starter, and Mark Redman, their worst starter at home, then it will be a tough weekend at the Coliseum. You don’t want to go in to that series down a game or two.

To make matters more appealing for Oakland, the Angels are throwing their pitchers this week on three days rest. I love the throwback to the days of Spahn, Ford, Drysdale, and Marichal, but I haven’t seen that plan work in the last 20 years.

If the A’s don’t get this one right it will be a huge upset.

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