Well still pretty good year

Look, any neutral baseball fan should be rooting for the Rays in this series. They proved the flawed and immensely messed up sport we call "Major League Baseball" can still work competitively...When the Sox roared back to send the series back to Tampa, for the average baseball fan with no vested ties, it probably was like watching South Bend charge back from 20 down to break Hickory High's hearts. You can't root for that and you shouldn't.-Bill Simmons

But I am a Red Sox fan.

Akenori Iwamura's joyful leap off of second base after securing the final out in the top of the ninth closed the book on this year's Red Sox. Battered and halfway broken, they stretched this season as far as it possibly could go and defended their championship admirably. They gave us another October to remember--the greatest single-game comeback in 80 years in front of the home fans, and a gutty performance by Josh Beckett to make the ALCS a hard-fought and classic series just when it looked like things might fizzle.

They made a series of it. Hell, they made a season of it.

The feeling I have right now is like the feeling after a great concert has ended. The house lights come up and you squint, sigh, start thinking about the ride home. But you know you'd been spoiled by a generous performer--on the heels of a championship, this team treated us to one hell of an encore.

Comments

[Michelle]

Thank you. Your posts always resonate with me.

This team has the right to return to Boston with their heads held high. They could have blamed it on the injuries and gone home early--indeed, my friend and I were on the phone worried about Beckett, Papi, or Papelbon risking permanent injury. But they played their hearts out. As fans, we can't ask for more than that.

[maxwell horse]

Pretty sad. I absolutely hate how abrupt everything ends when the team doesn't go all the way. It just doesn't seem right. I think a "failed" season like this would be a lot easier to take (at least for me) if they had some kind of "day of celebration" at Fenway. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I'd enjoy it. Just have the players come out, let the public show their appreciation for them. Maybe show some videoclip highlights of the season set to stirring music.

I know that's kind of silly, but at least it would bring some closure.

[Dad]

GREAT season! This season was all a fan could ask for, drama (Manny, Game 5), comebacks (Coco), great stories (Lester, Bay, Dustin, etc). If sports is entertainment, then the Red Sox fans certainly got their monies worth this year. Nice season, thank you Red Sox--See you in the Spring!

[Sammy]

now we know how Yankee fans feel when they lose. WE love them. WE know we gave our all. WE know we can hold our heads up high. WE know we'll be back. but we're not cute anymore. The Rays are cute. Fuck em.