"Whatever the hex is, I guess somebody un-hexed it," said the Angels' Chone Figgins. We're not sure what that hex may be, or if it's really gone, but last night, the Angels looked like hex-free division winners. And the Red Sox looked like a team that staggered into the playoffs, mustering no offense and succumbing meekly to Anaheimorwhatever 5-0.
Results tagged “alds”
The Twins beat the Tigers, so the field of eight is set in the baseball playoffs. All we can do now is wait. And wait and wait and wait. The Red Sox won't play until tomorrow night, when all the other first-round playoff series start today.
The Red Sox didn't just win a series the other night. They may have destroyed a Major League franchise. The Angels, winners of 100 games and the best record in the bigs, spend the entire flight home to California boo-hooing about how this never should have happened.
We wanted the Red Sox to keep that door wedged shut against the Angels on Sunday night, but those pesky California types managed to crack the door open a smidge. While the team threatened again during Game 4 activity at Fenway Park on Monday night, the Red Sox, led by Heroes of the Night Jon Lester and Jed Lowrie, slammed the door shut with a 3-2 walkoff victory, putting a sudden end to a huge Angels season. Anaheim's sensational season is admirable, but it was Boston who got the three October victories that counted and earned the right to keep the postseason party raging on the Fenway grass.
That was a long wait for some bad news, wasn't it? The bad news is that past results are NOT indicative of future success, and apparently the Angels aren't going to go away quietly after all. Now the Red Sox have to learn from the adversity that they had to wait for until the second round in 2004 and 2007.
New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Cancun for Spring Break. And now, Anaheim in October. These are the place you go to get loose, have fun, and live it up. The Red Sox made it 11 in a row over the Angels in the postseason, crushing the Halos with a dramatic 9th-inning home run by J.D. Drew.
We were worried? Remember, last season the Bruins were 0-37-1 against Montreal in the regular season, and still managed to force the Habs to seven games in the playoffs. 1-8 against the Angels in the regular season? Pfffft.
Amidst all the sogginess, crankiness, and uncertainty of this weekend's "series" with the Yankees, we're forgetting one silver lining. Scalpers must be getting their butts kicked, after probably paying high prices for tickets that now nobody wants. They surely had visions of hundreds of dollars for a season-ending showdown, little realizing that it would be a messy, rainy matchup of Pawtucket vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre that nobody really wants to go see, and the players probably don't really want to play. But at least tickets will be reasonably priced.
