ALCS Game 6 Reader Mailbag

This is an actual letter received from a regular reader of Red Sox Rants from China immediately following the 12-2 Red Sox win in Game 6 win over the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. By way of background, this reader lives in Hong Kong and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and as well as a supporter of the Colorado Rockies (note that this dual loyalty is not in violation of Bill Simmons' Rules for Being a True Fan because of the exception provided under Rule 19).

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Dear Red Sox Diarist:

Now it gets interesting!

Huge win today for Boston. Nancy Drew finally did something positive in addition to collecting his hefty paycheck. The sun's gotta shine on every dog's ass sometime. Lugo also finally hit a ball in fair territory. Even Gagne showed he can hold a 10-run lead!

What role do you think maturity has played in this series? Sabathia, Carmona, and Perez all seem nervous and determined to throw too hard and off the plate, instead of challenging batters in the strike zone as they did successfully throughout the regular season and the Yankees series.

Beckett, of course, has been dominating. Schilling doesn't have great stuff anymore and was just fair in today's game, but the big lead gave him a huge advantage. I think a combination of youthful overexuberance and an effort to be too fine by Cleveland's pitchers and greater maturity and patience by Sox hitters plus Beckett resulted in success for the Beaneaters in Games 1, 5, and 6 (and the beginning of Game 2).

Can Dice-K stop the Tribe tomorrow? He looked confused at times in his last outing. The game is in Fenway and the Sox have the momentum, but Tito better have Beckett ready in the bullpen and keep Papelbon for a save situation, if necessary.

I still like the Rox and Sox in the World Series!

Your Faithful Correspondent

Mailbag

Since the Kids were getting it done this weekend in the Hub, first a no-hitter by top-rated propsect Clay Buchholtz against the Orioles on Saturday, followed by a strong performance by Jon Lester in Sunday's matinee, Your Red Sox Diarist decided it was time to open the mailbag and check-in with some of the rants of others who follow ups and downs of Red Sox Nation. The email below, from a Red Sox Rants reader in Hong Kong, sums up the state of the Nation as the team angles for its first AL East crown since 1995.

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Dear Red Sox Diarist,


Regarding your blog comment on former St., Louis Cardinal J.D. Drew, you should read this link http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7151274 if you haven't already. Drew consistently disappointed Cardinals' fans during his tenure in St. Louis. He was lauded as the next Mickey Mantle and every scout, journalist, and educated follower of the Cardinals raved about his five-tool talent and considered him to be head and shoulders above Pujols. Fortunately, Larussa and Jocketty finally gave up on Drew and traded him to Atlanta with Eli Marrero for Jason Marquis, Ray King, and Adam Wainwright. Although they have now departed, Marquis and King performed reasonably well for the Redbirds and Wainwright is now the ace of the Cardinals' (admittedly awful!) pitching staff, at least until Carpenter returns next year. After briefly returning to the Cardinals' organization earlier this season, Marrero is now out of baseball. Atlanta got one decent season from Drew, Los Angeles got one decent season from him, and I'm afraid Boston now has five years of disappointment. This proves that five tools are not enough. Players also need a sixth tool -- heart.


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The contributor of this email to the Red Sox Rants mailbag, who interestingly, is a noted baseball author, also provided a somewhat sobering comparison of performances, which is faithfully reproduced below:

2007 Performance (Year to Date)



J.D. Drew: 393 at-bats, .254 batting average, 7 home runs and 46 RBIs.


Rick Ankiel: 68 at-bats, .353 batting average, 6 home runs and 19 RBIs.

While former pitcher, turned position player, Rick Ankiel's statistics are based on a small sample size, unfortunately, J.D. Drew's are based on a pretty large sample. Also, although it was in Triple-A, Ankiel hit 31 home runs and had 86 RBIs in 381 at-bats in Memphis this year before being called up by the Cardinals.