That Old Familiar Pang.

There seems to be a sense of satiety regarding the outcome of the ALCS. It was alright. I was alright. Almost everybody seemed to be alright. Turns out, I may just be good at lying to myself.

Yesterday the players returned to Fenway to pick up their belongings. Theo gave a press conference and dropped this little nugget:

"Epstein met with reporters for about a half-hour at Fenway on Monday before Blake called the final question.

But with the free agent filing period at least a week away, the GM was in no hurry to leave.

"If they have more, I can answer," Epstein said. "I've got nothing to do today, unfortunately."

Heart in vise.

Although, I'm not entirely sure what he would have had to do if they had continued on.

Silence Fini.

End blog silence, 2o October 0054.

Not even the mojo-iest of positive mojo maneuvers (the self-imposed gag order) could fully bring them back from the dead. Thursday night, I spent almost the entire game coming to terms with the end of the season. But almost as soon as I had finished wishing Gil Velazquez a happy birthday (I sort of felt badly about it because at that point it wasn't likely they would still be playing when it rolled around) Ortiz hit his home run. Then I started in on Cora's birthday and JD hit his home run. At the time, they seemed like lucky posts. They begged for me to shut up and let Cora and Gil do their work. Obviously, it was the wrong tactic. I probably should have started in on the November birthdays tonight.

A disappointing loss? Sure. A soul-crushing, rip-your-heart-out-and-have-Gregory-Hines-perform-a-tap-dance-on-it loss? Not really. It's not 2003. (Although, I suppose that's an unfair analogy-no matter how much they try to push a rivalry, Tampa Bay will never be the Yankees. Intellectually I know they're a good team but losing to Tampa Bay still feels like losing to Kansas City or Seattle.) There wasn't any saline-tainted beer when it was over. The loss wasn't foretold in the stars. They weren't victims of some cosmic, comic destiny. The loss just was.

My boys extended the season as long as they possibly could. They went out with a fight. And without becoming entitled, greedy Yankee fans, that's all that you can ask.

During the past seven months, they've played some very good baseball and they've played some atrociously bad baseball. It's been fun, though. Even when it was terrible to watch, it was fun. So, thanks for the good times. February really is right around the corner (and with the WBC, I think they get to start earlier.)

Ganbare!

Desperate times and all that...

How to plead--cheer, I mean cheer--in Japanese for your favorite pitcher:

1. Ganbare: Do your best! Right now. I mean it.

2. Ganbatte: Go ahead, try your best! You can do it. Good job!

3. Ganbatte kudasai: Please, please, please do your best. For the love of God, please stop walking people and throw a damn strike. I'm going to be over in the corner with my eyes covered until this is over.

"Ee Daisuke!" *Clap, Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap* "Ee Daisuke!" *Clap, Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap*

Take That Chip Caray.

The relevance of the Nielson ratings has dwindled recently. Fewer people watch television when it first airs; instead catching the program on the Internet or watching later on DVR. One area of television programming, however, hasn't been as affected by DVR: Sports. Who watches a game after it's over?

The ratings for the ALCS have come in and they don't bear glad tidings for TBS. Just under five million people tuned in for the game on Monday night. Undoubtedly, these were not the numbers hoped for by Blackberry, Pfizer, and whoever the third major sponser is (for the life of me I can't remember-probably because I've muted the television by the end of the first inning during every game). Could it be because Tampa Bay may be able to get thirty thousand people to trek to St. Petersburg but getting them to watch baseball on television is a wee bit harder?

So Chip, how much do you want to bet that most of the people watching are Sox fans? Hmm? Did you not realize that those people you seem to make every effort to antagonize are the majority of your audience? And how much do you want to bet that they've muted you pretty early in the game, thereby cancelling out the advertising that your sponsers paid so dearly for? What no response? So shut it. Thanks.

Simply Awesome.

Red Sox clinch themselves a spot in the playoffs and, thereby, knock the Yankees out. They do it by beating the best pitcher in baseball. All is right in the world. And the Chili's mojo is still perfect.