Sports Redux: Out With A Whimper

So much for that. After the rousing Game Five comeback and the solid Game Six win, you can understand why we thought the experience and the mental toughness of the Sox would win out over the youth and the big dreams of the Rays. And, if the Sox had brought their bats to Tropicana Field last night, the story may well have ended the way we wanted it to.

But they didn't, and it just...ended. Matt Garza somehow flummoxed Sox hitters for seven innings, and the Rays' bullpen, which we thought they could solve, finished off the rest. Pedroia homered in the first, then it was six long innings until Jason Bay singled for the second Sox hit. That put two on with one out, but Kotsay and Varitek...well, do we even have to type "couldn't drive them home"? Even with 'Tek's HR in Game Six, was there anyone on the planet who didn't see Kotsay and Varitek coming up there and go make a sandwich? Blergh.

The Sox threatened once more, loading the bases in the eighth on an error, a single and a walk (that counted as a barnburning rally last night, believe us). But David Price, who apparently pitched the clincher in the Little League World Series three months ago, struck out Drew to end the "threat", and blazed through the ninth to get the save. The loss went to Jon Lester, who was pretty good but made a couple mistakes (see: Longoria double, backbreaking Aybar HR).

So that's that. Anyone writing a eulogy of the 2008 Red Sox has to somehow reconcile the fact that this team managed to underachieve and overachieve at the same time. They were the defending champs, part of baseball royalty, yet almost all of their '08 success came from scrappy guys and fresh-faced kids. They dealt with injuries, a soap opera that would have killed most teams, and a roller coaster bullpen, but hung on as long as they could. And in the end, this team which re-identified itself as a collection of scrappers, got outscrapped by an even younger team.

There's no bitterness here. Tampa Bay kept chugging all season, and we kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it didn't. It's the kind of team we definitely would have rooted for if their interests didn't directly conflict with ours. So our hats are off to Joe Maddon and his charges, and the 400 people at the game last night who could pick Damian Rolls out of a lineup. That said, we're going to endorse Philly in the World Series. Their fans have suffered - Lord, how they have suffered - longer, their ballpark isn't ridiculous, and most importantly, Philly doesn't have the cowbells. With both teams being likeable, that makes all the difference.