That run was borne purely of Cano's aggressiveness on the basepaths. But it doesn't matter! Rauuuuuuul!

I couldn't find the words. That's Jeff Weaver in Game 4 stupid.

Kinda hard to blame CC there. He gave up a few singles and then was forced to walk a poor hitter to pitch to one of the better homerun hitters in the game with the bases loaded. That one's ALL on Girardi. What an unadulteratedly stupid move.

"so I don't think they will go after starting pitching" That would be a huge mistake. They have a grand total of 3 real starting pitchers for 2012 (Aceves is not really a full-time starting pitcher, no matter what he thinks). And then after that they have extremely few options once Beckett or Buccholz do their usual DL stint, unless you want to give more starts to Wakefield and Andrew Miller (I think we can all agree these do not count as major league starting options). I'm pretty sure they have a grand total of zero major-league options in their minor league system. Maybe you could start Felix Doubront, but given his injury history to rely on him for anything is foolhardy. They better stock up on some innings-eaters, fast. The bullpen, uncertain as it is, should be a far distant second in priorities.

I just wonder if Theo will be more or less hated than Damon, who did the exact same full-page ad thing. I mean, on one hand, Theo basically quit right after his worst season ever and before his contract was even up. And for all intents the team seemed to want him to stay on. On the other, Damon's contract was up, he was a key contributor and a great player all 4 years, and he gave every chance for Boston to keep him. I don't want to stir the pot, I'm genuinely curious: is Damon or Theo more well-loved by this fanbase?

Cashman won't win another World Series until he trades Jeter away for Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz?

Just to keep the pot stirring, here's a (typically) vicious piece by Keith Olbermann on who the true schmucks are in this whole thing: the Sox ownership group. http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2011/10/12/the-curse-of-the-lucchino/ The Sox used to be pretty good at this whole PR thing. Lowe's a partier. Nomar was a clubhouse cancer. Damon's a filthy disloyal traitor. And now Tito is a pill-pusher. And I don't know if they've run out of tricks to try and polish this big of a turd, but the more they try and cast blame on everyone but themselves, the more they damage the already considerably compromised Red Sox brand. I do wish the worst for the Red Sox, simply because they're a continuous rival, but for everyone's sake, I hope to hell they sell the team, soon, to someone who actually has a semblance of class and/or honor. I've had quite enough of the annual Red Sox Smear campaign.

The fallout from The Collapse has helped cement some opinions of Sox for me. While there are plenty of punks who I don't think anyone actually likes (Beckett, Lackey, Papelbon), there were some surprising new inclusions. From Adrian blaming the schedule, and possibly whatever deity he worships, instead of taking personal responsibility, to Ortiz publicly questioning his manager about who he should be starting, to Youkilis apparently being a clubhouse cancer - it casts a lot of bad light, which of course is to be expected. Not too many come out looking good in these situations. But one player I have actually come to grudgingly respect is Pedroia. No, I still don't think he'll last much beyond his 30th birthday, and yes, I do think he suffers from the Red Sox epidemic of blaming umpires for every called third strike, but the guy is an upstanding individual, not to mention pretty funny to boot. Good on him. Maybe he'll request a trade to wherever Tito manages next.

I didn't really pay enough attention to individual Sox games to evaluate Francona and whatever moves he makes, but I don't think 2011 will define his tenure with the Sox, just like 2007 didn't define Torre's tenure with the Yankees. Francona remains a legendary figure in Boston sports, and good for him for recognizing his own personal limitations. If things were really as bad as rumors say, I don't think anyone can blame him for cutting himself loose. I really hope, for you Sox fans' sake, that the team doesn't actually consider Bobby Valentine as manager. I would hate a 'personality' as manager, since as Francona showed, more often than not a guy without a huge ego is really best-suited to run a team with its own collection.

Agreed with Nick - this is probably the most dramatic end of a regular season ever. Now both our fanbases know what it's like to be on the butt-end of 'magical comebacks'.

It's not a perfect comparison, but if the Yanks and Phils do get to face off, I see it like the '96 Yanks vs the unstoppable trio of Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine of the '96 Braves. Then again, since the Yankees already beat the Phillies in '09, maybe it would be more like the '99 team, tho' the '96 Braves were a much more formidable foe.

I don't see the problem with the Yankees - at the time - trading IPK instead of Hughes or Joba. Remember that at the end of 2009 IPK was just coming back from surgery and had never shown the stuff he's showing now in Arizona. Both Hughes and Joba were MILES ahead of IPK in terms of major league development. Both have backslid, yes, and IPK took a giant leap forward in terms of stuff, and maybe the Yankees should have bought a $100MM crystal ball but baseball doesn't work like that. The Granderson trade has been nothing but an unqualified success for the Yankees.

That's amazing. If Pedroia or Gardner did what Cervelli did, does anyone doubt that the sympathy would lie with them? But because Cervelli is a 'Latin' player, he must be an overemotional douchebag. The only douchebag in this scenario was John Lackey. What a dummy. And Salty is coming real close too with his comments.

There should be a rule in MLB that walking in the go-ahead run gets you immediately sent to the minor leagues.

David Robertson with three legitimate major league pitches is just unfair. He has a changeup now.

Every pitcher the Orioles trotted out tonight had an ERA over 5.00. What happened to all those can't-miss pitching prospects they piled up in their drafts?

Yeah, but now the Sox are hitting WAY too many homers...;)

Of course, one has the benefit of hindsight when looking back on 2006 and 2009. Sure, we can now say the Sox didn't have the depth necessary to compete back then, because that's how it played out. Do we know for sure that Wakefield, Aceves and Miller will perform well down the stretch? One could conceivably argue that it's more likely they don't, especially considering that Aceves has never performed well as a starter (5.14 ERA this year, with a 1.514 WHIP...his role is and forever should be middle relief), Miller has a similar problem (his acceptable 3.57 ERA this year masks his horrific peripherals), and Wakefield is one of the oldest active players in the game. However, those are the Sox's depth options, and they're honestly not any worse than pretty much any team's in the game. It's also rather likely that Lester, Beckett and Buccholz come back with a vengeance and clobber all competition, rendering whoever's pitching 4th and 5th rather meaningless, especially with that relentless offense (left field notwithstanding) behind them.

Jeter certainly has a flair for the dramatic. God it's going to be fun seeing people squirming in their seats trying to downplay Jeter's 3000th hit. Probably something about Jeter sets record for x number of outs made or some such nonsense. He kind of sucks nowadays, sure, but it's been an absolute joy watching a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer play his entire career. Guess they're going to have to update that Yankeeography, huh?

Sabathia is a beast...absolute disgrace he wasn't even selected to the All-Star team as a gesture. Even before tonight's beastly performance, Fangraphs has him as the second-best pitcher in the AL, behind Jered Weaver. Usually we complain about Yankees being unjustifiably selected to the All-Star team, rare to have a legitimate complaint otherwise! David Robertson also has reason to complain...

SF should rejoice - the Sox gave Cameron to the Marlins.

SF, come on. The Red Sox are as far from a disaster as you can get. Despite some inconsistent performances against a variety of pitchers, they still have the best (or close to it) offense in baseball. And their pitching staff is led by a rejuvenated Beckett and always-good Jon Lester. Buchholz will be coming back soon, and that's a top three you can go to war with. Yeah, Lackey kinda sucks, and the fifth starter is up in the air, but that's no different than any other team. The right field situation could be classified as a disaster, but these things tend to work themselves out. I don't believe for a second the Red Sox would risk their season over a couple million on some player they want on the trade market. Maybe Beltran can't be done, but there will be someone with a capable outfielder for sale. It's unfortunate Kalish is hurt, otherwise he'd have been up weeks ago.

How the hell do you score that a triple? That was a routine fly ball.

It's been more of a Big Three situation in Philly, but oh, what a three! It doesn't have quite the youth of Oakland's trio, but I daresay it's even more dominant.

Youkilis seems pretty poor at third base. Would the Sox let Ortiz walk and put him at DH?Strange to put a gold-glove first baseman at DH, but Adrian is even better than Youk at first. I guess the question becomes who plays 3rd next year if not Youkilis?