The Red Sox are back in the World Series. They rolled over Cleveland on Sunday night, 11-2. They outscored the Indians, 30-5, over the final three games of the ALCS, which is as good a definition of “domination” as I can find.
Ladies and gentleman, prepare for the insufferable. Ben Affleck has just become vaguely relevant again, and the world is a better place for it.

Uh-oh. The Red Sox aren’t going away.
You had to figure the Indians were hosed when the series returned to Fenway. On the one hand, they’ve never lost a postseason series to a team from Boston — they swept the Red Sox in three games in ‘95 and beat the Braves in six in the ‘48 World Series. On the other, the Indians historically haven’t had a lot of success in New England.
Game 7 starts at 5 p.m. PT on Sunday. Jake Westbrook and Daisuke Matsuzaka hook up in one final game to determine which of these teams advances to the …read more

The ALCS heads back to Boston. While the Rockies do whatever it is teams do while they’re waiting for their opponent to be determined, the Indians and Red Sox hook up for Game 6 on Saturday night (first pitch: 5 p.m. PT).
This is a rematch of last week’s Fausto Carmona/Curt Schilling showdown. The Indians won the earlier contest on the strength of a seven-run 11th inning. (Hey, if the Rockies are trying to trademark “Rocktober”, maybe the Indians could trademark “7-11″; you think?)
Where there are Red Sox, there is drama. This time it comes in the form of rookie Jacoby …read more

Remember that thing I said yesterday about Josh Beckett? I believe my exact words were, “time for Beckett to pitch the game of his life.”
Heh. I suppose 11 strikeouts over eight innings qualifies.
Now we have a day off (on a Friday, so I can watch Stargate Atlantis in real time) before the series returns to Boston. That is a place the Indians did not want to go.
The good news is they’ve split in Fenway once before in this series. The bad news is, well, asking them to do that twice in the span of a 10 days might be a …read more

Welcome to the moment network execs have been dreading. The Cleveland Indians need to win one of the next three games to face the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.
A nation yawns. Or it would, if it could summon the enthusiasm.
Thursday’s contest at Jacobs Field (first pitch, 5 p.m. PT) features a rematch of Game 1 starters and leading Cy Young candidates C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett. For Boston, the equation is simple: win or go home for the winter.
For the Indians, it’s more like win or go to Boston’s home for two more games. I’m thinking they’d prefer Door …read more

Yeah, the Indians beat the Red Sox.
Again.
My favorite part of the evening came when Manny Ramirez hit a solo home run in the sixth. Boston trailed in the series, 2-1, and in the game, 7-2, when he hit his blast. Dan Shaughnessy explains the rest:
Establishing that he is classless as well as clueless, Ramírez raised his hands at home plate and admired his shot even though the Sox trailed, 7-3.
See, stuff like that is almost enough to make me root for the Red Sox.
Almost.
Still, its nice to know that Ramirez enjoyed himself in Tuesday night’s loss. I’m sure his teammates …read more

Meanwhile, back in the ALCS, we still have to figure out which team the NL champion Rockies will face in the World Series. The Indians have taken a 2-1 series lead over the Red Sox. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Cleveland, first pitch 5 p.m. PT.
Kenny Lofton provided the big blow in Game 3 with his two-out, two-run homer off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the second. Lofton apparently didn’t get the memo that it’s no longer 1995.
On the other side, Boston desperately needs someone other than Josh Beckett to pitch a good game. Tim Wakefield will be the latest to …read more

Hey, everybody, they’re still playing games. The ALCS shifts to Cleveland, where Daisuke Matsuzaka faces Jake Westbrook at 4 p.m. PT. The general strategy for Boston is to keep the ball out of Eric Gagne’s hands, specifically his right hand.
And in the evening game, Colorado looks to complete the sweep at Coors Field. Rookie Micah Owings starts for Arizona, while Franklin Morales gets the call for God’s team. First pitch is at 7 p.m. PT.
Sounds exciting, huh?

Game 2 of the ALCS features Carmona and Schilling. This is a close call, but I’m going with the Indians because Carmona has better hair:
Carmona:

Schilling:

First pitch is at 5 p.m. PT.

And folks said that Diamondbacks fans don’t care. Certainly they do, but as Rodney Dangerfield would say, “about what I have no idea.” Apparently not about dehydration. Oh, the water bottles were empty? My bad.
Either way, Arizona lost the game Brandon Webb started, which creates serious problems for the rest of the series. Friday night’s game (first pitch 7 p.m. PT) features slop-balling left-hander Doug Davis and young flamethrower Ubaldo Jimenez. If Jimenez is on his game (anyone’s guess given his lack of experience), he should have little trouble with Arizona’s hitters. Davis, as is his custom, will be perfectly …read more