Thoughts on Game One:

- The number one thing I took from this game is that the Sox defense and starting pitching couldn't have been much worse and they still beat the Cardinals, 11-9. Wakefield's blow up (4 walks) in the 4th and the 4 errors, and the Cards still couldn't generate enough offense to overcome Ortiz, Bellhorn and the rest of the crew.

- Julian Tavarez certainly looked like he wanted to punch something after giving up Bellhorn's game winning homer in the last of the 8th. I guess after the NLCS phone punching incident, where he broke bones in his left hand, he thought better of it this time.

- The Sox offense is an order of magnitude better when Johnny Damon is getting on base.

- What the heck was Manny doing on that attempted sliding catch in the 8th? He tried to slide, somehow got his spikes caught in the turf, and dug up a divot that an 18 handicap duffer would have been proud of. Manny needs to be at least defensively adequate in this series. I was at least mildly surprised that we didn't see Dave Roberts in left joining the usual defensive team of Mientkiewicz, Pokey and Kapler in the late innings.

- Scalper prices for this World Series are completely out of hand. The Globe quoted prices of over $1,000 just to get in the place and up to $6,000 for seats behind the plate. It would actually be cheaper to buy a package from one of the travel agencies to fly to St. Louis and see a game than it would be to go to Fenway.

- Things were pretty calm after Game 1, in contrast to the deadly events following the ALCS win. Hopefully, the warnings from the city, the schools and concerned parents will keep the idiots and thugs off the streets and no one else will get hurt. What is it about a sports team winning a championship that makes people think it's an excuse for behaving like animals, anyways?

- Let the kids stay up late to watch a few innings last night, since it wasn't a school night. My thinking is this: if J. had been his current age the last time the Sox made the World Series, he would be 25 now. You never know when one of these is going to come around again, so I thought it was important that the kids catch a glimpse, at least. Keep in mind that the gaps between Red Sox World Series appearances since 1918 were 28, 21, 8, 11 and 18 years.

- Before we leave the Greatest Comeback Ever, I just wanted to save for posterity the David Letterman Top Ten List from Thursday night:

Top Ten Secrets to the Boston Red Sox Comeback presented by Curt Schilling
10. Unlike the first three games, we didn't leave early to beat the traffic.
9. We put flu virus in Jeter's Gatorade.
8. Lets just say Pete Rose made some phone calls for us.
7. We asked Pokey Reese to be a little less pokey.
6. It's not like we haven't won a big game before--it's just been 86 years.
5. Honestly, I think we were tired of hearing about the Patriots.
4. The messages of encouragement Martha sent on prison napkins.
3. We pretended the baseball was Letterman's head.
2. What'd you expect--we have a guy who looks like Jesus!
1. We got Babe Ruth's ghost a hooker and now everything's cool.


8 wins down, three to go!!!!