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Notes for a Fan

While not personally a Red Sox follower, the blogger is not unfamiliar with them. He fathered two. From the perspective of a Boston rooter, the upcoming American League Championship Series offers a conflict of interests-the eternal battle between emotion and good sense.

On the one hand, any analysis grounded in anything approaching reality must acknowledge that the Indians with a rested C. C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona will be a far more daunting challenge for the Sox than the Yankees with whomever they would've had left to start had they beaten the Tribe in five games. If Carmona pitches as well as he did against New York, chalk two wins up for Cleveland as an opening bid.

So a Sox fan should be sad the Yanks were sent home? Not exactly. There's a huge other hand to consider here.

The Yankees' elimination removes baseball's pokiest team from the post-season equation, leaving Boston, the second-pokiest team. The breaking of the lethal Yanks-Sox-Fox Triangle of Torpor means there's a halfway decent chance several of the ALCS games will not last four hours after their 8:08 p.m or later first pitches. Sox fans with jobs may actually get more than two hours sleep on game nights, a much-needed boost for the New England economy.

Take it from an old sportswriter, gang. Forget matchups. Revel in your date with the Indians. To quote the legendary Leonard Koppett, "you're allowed to root for yourself."

Besides, with the Yankees gone, Tim McCarver won't mention Derek Jeter more than once an inning.

posted by Michael Gee @ 3:36 PM