It Ain't Over Till It's Over...Or At Least Until It Starts

Baseball is a wonderful game.

With Exhibit A, I give you the 2008 ALCS. Who in their right minds would have ever predicted the series would go as it has to this point? Who could have imagined that Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield would all get tagged by a team that has never even tasted the postseason before a week ago? Who would ever think that the defending champion Red Sox could look so unbeatable against, The LA Angels of Anaheim, a team they were supposed to lose to, and so flat against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team they should beat?

No one could have predicted any of these chips could have fallen the way they have. Fans and analysts spend countless hours crunching numbers from spring training all the way through game 162, but at the end of the day, the whole house of cards can crumble for any team in a span of four short, cold October nights.

And that is why baseball is so great. The old saying reminds us that momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Each day, one man has the golden opportunity and the heart-stopping pressure of putting an entire team and organization on his back. If he does well, his team’s success should follow. Should he fail, his team will not stand a chance.

This type of responsibility cannot be matched by any other player in any other sport. The quarterback in football and the goaltender in hockey are close, but they can always be picked up by their teammates. In the great game of baseball, this isn’t always the case.

The loneliest place on earth oftentimes is a small mound of dirt in the middle of a field a mere 60 feet and 6 inches from the adversary. Ironically, this Fortress of Solitude is located in a stadium filled with 50,000 screaming fans, ready to pounce.

For Beckett, Lester and Wakefield, the game that has been so good to them in the past has suddenly turned. Instead of bringing the momentum for their own club, their play has turned the tide and given all the positive energy to their opponent.

In their three consecutive starts, the Sox pitchers have combined to give up a whopping 18 runs on 23 hits in just 12 2/3 innings pitched. For those of you scoring at home, those numbers do not exactly set the defending champions up to make another run at the World Series.

But momentum is only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. The Sox next best hope is Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has been a stud for them all year long to the tune of a 2.90 regular season ERA. He also tossed a brilliant seven scoreless innings against these same, explosive Rays in Game 1.

When Matsuzaka takes the lonely walk to the mound at Fenway Park in Game 5, his job will be to fend off elimination and send the series back to Tampa Bay.

The beautiful thing about baseball is that when he takes the hill, anything can happen.

But the best part about baseball is that you just can’t predict these things.


-Phil DiMartino