Fast Forward to October

Dudes. Is it just me, or has this Kansas City series been virtually unwatchable? Playing out the string against an AL basement team -- most of it in the rain -- and SPLITTING THE SERIES -- I mean, what's the use?

And I'm sorry, but nobody wants to watch Manny Delcarmen flailing around on the mound and getting punk'd by teams that have no business beating a playoff-bound club, I don't care what the circumstances.

Regular-season Tito seems hell-bent on running him out there no matter how many times he's lit up like he's covered in napalm; let's hope Playoff Tito will follow his usual MO and stuff Delcarmen in a locker for the duration of the postseason.

Despite this week's tomfoolery, we also retain a healthy Wild Card lead, in which case, watching Delcarmen crap the bed has been not only excruciating, but probably irrelevant to boot. Not my idea of a good time.

All anyone I know wants to talk about is Lester vs. Beckett in Game 1, set to start in approximately three years judging by the time scale it seems we're currently working with. (One coworker wanted to discuss V-Mart vs. Tek, but that's not really a debate anymore, is it?)

There's been some reporting today by Sean McAdam that Lester will start things off. While it's entirely possible this could come to pass in the first series, I wouldn't bet against Commander Kickass reclaiming his rightful place in the rotation with a commanding performance.

Is it bad luck to be looking ahead already? Am I inviting doom by counting unhatched chickens? I have to remind myself we've got one more series in the Bronx to go, and in this case, there *are* major implications, even though the stumble in Kansas City probably has put the AL East out of reach for good.

Both sides of the rivalry have gone through so many personality transplants this season that I have absolutely no idea what to expect heading into this weekend or, possibly, a playoff series against them. The Sox still lead the season series thanks to early-season dominance, but the Yankees have absolutely trounced the Sox through the late season.

Though then again, this was before Papi found his stroke, Lester and Beckett mostly settled down, and Clay Buchholz was apparently bitten by that proverbial radioactive spider. This weekend's final showdown with the MFY will show us just how hot the Sox have really gotten of late, and what the odds are of sustaining this momentum as the leaves turn.

Which leads me back to my general impatience for the playoffs. I want to see what the Mighty Stickbug does in a playoff situation. I want to see if a little of that Commander Kickass comes out in him. I want to see what happens when he brings his best stuff to the national stage. I want to see what it's like to have the new Beckett-infused Lester in the rotation. And most of all I want to see a return of the Josh Beckett who seems like he'd as soon rip out your throat with his teeth as look at you.

Sigh.

Here's something, meanwhile, that may help keep me occupied as long as time-machine technology remains imperfect: the movement reportedly afoot to enshrine Fever Pitch as the state's official movie. I swear to God I will chain myself to the State House if this actually goes forward, which would at least distract me from the playoff hunger for a few days.

Comments

[twitter.com/blogtard]

Fever Pitch fills me with blood-rage. Any representative of the people who gets such an act passed must be drawn and quartered.

[MoonstarMA]

No real Red Sox fan or MA native could be so stupid as to pass that motion. I may have to move if they do it.

My wish for the playoffs: to see three versions of the 2007 Josh Beckett take the mound consecutively in the first three games of the ALDS and to make it a short series. That's what I dream of when I think playoffs!