It is with a heavy heart that I bring you this news. There is little sense in saving the news until after the details, The Red Sox lost the ALCS in 7 games. Forgive me for the delay in posting, but I was a bit superstitious about posting during the series. Onto the breakdown.

The Sox took game 1 in Tampa playing good small ball behind Daisuke's lockdown pitching. The Rays looked stunned believing themselves to be nearly untouchable at home. Unfortunately the following evening, Boston came up short in an 11 inning shootout. It was back to Beantown where one would have expected to see the Nation carry their team to the Series, but it wasn't to be. Games 3 and 4 were total blowouts by the Rays and everyone was stunned. Things seemed increasingly hopeless in game 5, with the home team finding themselves down 7 runs to 0 halfway through the 7th inning. That's when the ALCS Red Sox showed up. Mounting the second biggest comeback in MLB post season history, they won on a JD Drew single in the bottom of the 9th to drive in Big Youk to win 7-8, and the comeback began. Back to Tampa for game 6, where neither Josh Beckett nor anyone else in Red looked for a second like they were worried about losing. A truly solid game 6 win tied the series and left one game to decide the series. Boston entered game 7 with Mike Lowell done for the season, Jacoby Ellsbury sidelined for an unknown reason, and Jason Veritek and Big Papi having been nearly silent at the plate all post season, and yet it looked like they might pull off another 3-0 or 3-1 ALCS come from behind victory. It was these very hangups that gave the Sox trouble in the deciding game. Despite what could not be described as less than a solid outing from John Lester, it was not meant to be. Posting only 3 hits, the Boston offense was lack luster to say the least. The few scoring opportunities that they had were ended my miscues or just good plays by the Tampa Bay defense. The last two innings were hardly bearable to watch. The last scoring chances fouled up by a feet first Coco Crisp slide in which his shoulders were even with second base before he touched. He was attempting to break up a double play which wouldn't have happened anyway and he would have broken it up by simply touching second base with his foot and being safe. A couple of extremely shady strike calls, as noted by everyone (except maybe Rays fans) and a ground out to second, the season was over.

Knowing that the odds were stacked heavily against them is little consolation now. Who knows, maybe trading Manny was a bigger mistake than we thought (not that it really looked like a mistake to begin with) and this is only season 1 of 86 which we will have to endure before his Curse is broken.

*Phillies win World Series game 1 in Tampa 3-2.