It’s Cook vs. Lester tonight, a matchup that no one can really analyze given the amount of time off both these guys have had. Lester looked nice in his relief appearance in the ALCS, but Cook hasn’t been seen in months.I was kind of right last night on the type of game we’d see, and I think we could see the same thing tonight given the paucity of World Series experience on the mound. Obviously the Rockies will pull out all the stops since every game is a game 7 from here on.Join me, EWC readers, as we see whether the Sox can wrap this up or if the Rockies can wake up and give Beckett one more appearance….

Jacoby Ellsbury leads off with a double. Has anyone ever won a ROY award the season after winning a playoff MVP award? If the Sox win tonight and he has anything close to what he’s done the rest of the Series, he’s got a shot.

Pedroia grounds to 3rd, advancing Ellsbury, and Ortiz follows with a seeing eye single, scoring young Jacoby.

Manny hits into a DP, ending the inning.

1-0 Sox.

Bottom 1:

Jon Lester on the mound, and he handles Matsui’s pop-up himself.

Tulo strikes out swinging for the second out.

Holliday grounds out to Pedroia to end the inning.

1-0 Sox.

Top 2:

Sox go down 1-2-3. Nothing interesting to add.

1-0 Sox.

Bottom 3:

Helton leads off with a double to center, sliding in just under the tag. The Rockies could desperately use an early lead. The Sox have batted around so many times at this point that Colorado needs to force them to bat defensively instead of giving them the luxury of waiting for a pitch to hammer.

Atkins and his gaudy .100 (1 for 10) average step to the plate.

Lugo tries with all his might to commit an error on Atkins’ grounder to short. Instead, he bobbles it a few times then makes a terrible throw to first that Gold Glover David Ortiz smoothly picks for the out. Helton does not advance.

Spillborghs flies out to deep center, moving Helton to 3rd. 2 down.

It’s Hawpe time, and he gets ahead 3 and 1. If he manages a strikeout here, I say he gets some kind of award. Maybe the “Juice Memorial Sure-Thing That Ends in Disappointment Award” that was born during my college days.

He draws a walk, bringing Yorvit to the plate.

It’s fun at age 32 to find a word that you’ve never typed before. In this case, “Yorvit.”

Yorvit grounds out to Lugo, who smooths a nice throw to Ortiz. Inning over.

1-0 Sox.

Top 3:

Lugo grounds out to Matsui;

Lester grounds out to Atkins;

The Coors crowd goes nuts as Ellsbury is retired on a broken bat grounder to Matsui.

1-0 Sox.

Bottom 3:

Aaron Cook leads off the inning with a fly out to Drew in left. If you listen closely, you can hear Matsuzaka taunting him from the Sox’ dugout.

Will Kazuo try to test Ortiz by laying down a bunt? Can’t hurt, right?

Nope, he’s swinging away and falls behind 0-2, so no bunt this time. I know so little about baseball strategy, and yet it seems somewhat obvious to try to bunt at the obese guy with a bad knee.

Well, he smokes one over Manny’s head in left and cruises into 2nd with a double. I’m glad to demonstrate what an idiot I am.

Lester K’s Tulo, who really looks lost again tonight.

If you read my post from last night’s game, you’ll know about the terrific sign about Papi and boogers. Well, I have a new favorite: some kid has a big, round sign colored in like a bullseye that says “Hit It Here.” This is great because he cut out a hole in the middle and stuck his head through it. You’d think one of his parents would have thought to point out the repercussions if indeed a Rockies player “hit it here.” Then again, given how poorly the Rockies have been hitting, if anyone actually brained the kid, I have a hunch most of the fans (as well as the kid and his parents) would think it was worth it.

And Lester goes right after Holliday and strikes him out on a 94 MPH fastball up in the zone. He’s dealing!

1-0 Sox.

Top 4:

By now, everyone’s read about how “Christian” the Rockies clubhouse is, from many of the players to, evidently, the coaching staff. I was thinking about what the least likely locker room music would be. I’ve settled on DJ Drama and Li’l Wayne’s Dedication 2 mixtape. If someone snuck in and cranked that up, I like to think that the entire organization would be huddled in the corner, rocking back and forth.

Pedroia grounds out, and Papi flies out to shallow center, and Manny lines out to Holliday in left. Cook is just dealing tonight. I’m actually happy about this because I have to work in the morning and we’re in the middle of the 4th just 65 minutes into the game. Keep it going, pitchers!

1-0 Sox.

Bottom 4:

Helton grounds out to Pedroia, and all these grounders are just ripping up the grass in the infield. There haven’t been many fly balls at all so far.

Atkins lines out to Lugo at short – more of a lazy line drive if there is such a thing.

Spillborghs up, and he apparently hit .352 against lefties through the season and postseason. With that average, you’d think he’s due to get on base soon.

He works a full count and draws a 2-out walk. Can the Rockies steal the Sox’ 2-out mojo? As many commentators point out, many rallies start with a walk. I have to think it’s more often they start with a hit, but you’re not paying me to think.

Man, 8 K’s in 13 World Series ABs for Hawpe. It’s actually more impressive when you see it written out. He launches a fly ball to center, easily fielded by Ellsbury. Inning over.

1-0 Sox (still).

Top 5:

Lowell lines the first pitch he sees to left center and advances to 2nd on Holliday’s bobble. Score it a double since he was going to make it in safely anyway.

JD Drew steps to the plate with a chance to make me like him 0.0003% more than I did before he stepped to the plate. And instead he grounds softly to Cook and can’t advance Lowell. I never thought it’d be hard to cheer for a Red Sox player batting .500 in the World Series.

Varitek grounds between Helton and Matsui, driving in Lowell from 2nd. Hawpe made it close but Lowell made a nice, head first slide to the outside of the plate and avoiding the tag by about 6 inches.

Lugo grounds up the middle, and the Sox have men on 1st and 2nd with one out. Is this the obligatory “Sox bat around” inning? Lester’s steps in and squares to bunt. Matsuzaka thinks he’s a pussy.

He strikes out (Cook’s first), and I’m okay with that. At least there’s no danger of a DP ball.

Jacoby wins MVP of my heart if he drives a run in here.

He strikes out, and falls behind Pedroia in my personal MVP race. No batting around, but the Sox add a run.

2-0 Sox.

Bottom 5:

Is Johnny Damon watching the Series this year? I have to think he’s still friends with his old Sox teammates…it seems like players know this is just a business, but I have to think it’d be hard for him. It’s like having a good friend you do everything with, and at some point you become successful and he’s doesn’t, but he feels good for you in a way but wonders what he could have done differently, and why he didn’t succeed too. He’s probably also pissed he cut his hair and has to shave every 2 days.

Yorvit flies out to Lugo in shallow left-center.

Here’s another fun stat – The Red Sox never led the AL in ERA between the years 1915 and 1998. If I were a real Red Sox fan, I would have known that.

Cook finally does what no one else will, and bunts past Lester for a base hit. He didn’t explicitly bunt at Ortiz, but rather to Pedroia. No throw, and Cook is safe at first.

Matsui flies out to Lugo, who calmed down enough that I no longer shout his name in anger reflexively when I see a ball headed his way.

Tulo grounds sharply to Lowell, for the 5-4 forceout.

Keep this game moving, lads!

2-0 Sox.

Top 6:

Cook makes a great play, knocking down a sharp hit by Pedroia and easily getting him at first. 1 down.

I’d like Papi to hit this one very, very far. It’s been awhile. I miss it.

Nope, grounds to Tulo, playing behind 2nd base on the shift. 2 down.

Atkins fields a weakly-hit Manny grounder and gets him out by a step and a half.

Cook has been as good as anyone could have hoped, but the Rockies’ bats stay quiet. They’ve got the heart of the order coming up now, and you have to think this could be their last chance to really make something happen. They’re likely to have another chance later, but it’s likely to come against Papelbon or Okajima, rather than a starter entering his 6th inning of work.

2-0 Sox.

Bottom 6:

Holliday shatters his bat on the first pitch and flies out. Holliday obviously didn’t read what I wrote above and doesn’t have suitable urgency.

Helton flies out to Manny in left and a conversation about Manny’s penchant for throwing his batting helmet off ensues. It is funny, to be fair, but it’s received a lot of coverage relative to its importance. I’d rather hear more about why Jesus hath forsaken the Rockies after granting them wins in 21 of 22 games.

Lester walks Atkins on 4 pitches, and his night is done after 5.2 innings.

Tremendous performance by the kid. Got some key strikeouts when he needed them and has kept the speedy Rockies off the basepaths. If the Sox lose tonight, it won’t be because of him. And that’s my obvious statement of the night.

Here comes Delcarmen. Have to think if he gets Spillborghs out, he works the 7th and turns it over to Okajima. I might be giving Delcarmen too much credit though. One batter at a time, Juice, one batter at a time.

And he makes Hawpe look like a AA platoon player, just gassing him. Fair to say he’ll stick around in the 7th.

2-0 Sox.

Top 7:

Lowell!!!!! Leads off the inning with a solo shot that left no doubt. And Cook’s brilliant night ends with that shot.

He was outstanding, just quieting the Sox’ bats through 6. Like Lester, he gave his team exactly what they needed and then some. The offense continues to let the Rockies down, but there’s still time….

Affeldt in, and he promptly strikes out Drew, who’s not batting .500 as I wrote above, but rather .375 in the World Series. Well, a little less than that now.

Varitek grounds off Atkins’ glove into shallow left for a single.

Lugo then grounds to Helton for the 3 unassisted DP, stepping on first and tagging Varitek who tried to dupe him by coming back to first on an assumed throw to 2nd. Didn’t work.

3-0 Sox.

Bottom 7:

Some band called Lonestar, a “vaunted country music band” is doing God Bless America. This song sucks, I hate to say. If there should be an alternative to the National Anthem for these situations, it’s got to be America the Beautiful. A superior tune in every way.

And Delcarmen retakes the mound. He runs a full count on Hawpe, who takes him over the right field wall. That ball was crushed, the humidor cries. They could have stored that ball underwater for a month and it was still going out. Delcarmen grooved a high fastball and Hawpe just went up and got it.

Prepare for some mound visits (the first one happens now) to give Okajima some more time to warm up. I worry about him though, he looked tight last night and this will be his third straight night on the mound.

Yorvit flies out to Drew in right for the first out. Deep breaths, Juice. Deep breaths.

Sullivan gets ahead 2-1, and Delcarmen is kind of wild right now. I can’t see Okajima on the mound fast enough.

He smokes a shot past Pedroia for a base hit. Sullivan on first, one out, Matsui at the plate.

And it’s Timlin coming in to face Matsui. Joe Buck just mentioned that Francona said they’re going to be judicious with Okajima tonight, so my concern was not misplaced. I was right about something…hooray!

Matsui turns around to face Timlin left-handed. He won’t be bunting, obviously, but if there was a time for Sox fans to be concerned about Ortiz’s defense, this would be it. Sinkerballer + LH batter + Papi at 1st = concern.

Well, that was a nice 4-pitch strikeout. Excellent effort by Timlin.

Tulo steps in and Timlin needs to get him. Can’t have Holliday coming up to the plate as the go-ahead run.

Gahh….Timlin falls behind 3-1. Now I’m the one rocking back and forth in the corner. Metaphorically, of course. My computer won’t reach that far.

YES!!!! Timlin strikes him out. Big fastball. That was huge. Sorry, I know there’s no cheering in the pressbox, but in the Blogdome, I think it’s okay.

Whew…3-1 Sox.

Top 8:

Bobby Kielty!!!! Homers on the first pitch he sees in the pitcher’s spot. The Sox’ relentlessness is unreal. Give up a run, score a run. Give up 3 runs last night, score 4 runs last night.

Brian Fuentes did not do his job.

Ellsbury hits a squibber that gets past Fuentes and Atkins, and he’s obviously safe at 1st.

[INTERRUPTION WITH GIANT NEWS: A-Rod is opting out of his contract, which in theory means the Yankees won't negotiate with him. Where does he end up? I'm going with San Francisco, so he can someday usurp Bonds' HR record.]

[Also, way to go for Boras to steal the Red Sox' thunder as they close in on the World Series title (maybe!). Now they have to share headlines with A-Rod tomorrow and for the next week. And I thought that Boras was friendly with the Sox after the Matsuzaka negotiations. Dick.]

Amazing 6-4-3 DP turned around the Rockies infield. Matsui made a terrific pivot to get Pedroia by 6 feet.

Fuentes misses on 3 straight to give Papi a 3-0 count. He walks, and Fuentes will take an early shower. Here comes Mr. Manny Corpas.

Coco running for Papi, which seems like a good idea.

Manny II gets an 0-2 count against Manny I, whose dreads look more like black asparagus than black celery, as stated last night. Honest to God I woke up this morning thinking about that, and knew I’d made a mistake.

Manny II strikes out Manny I, and the inning ends.

4-1 Sox.

Bottom 8:

Here comes Okajima to face the heart of the Rockies order. I’m willing to concede a leadoff HR to Holliday if Okajima can sit the others down like he did last night. Papelbon is warming up, as is Gagne. If Gagne makes an appearance I will stab myself in the neck for every ball thrown out of the strike zone.

Holliday continues his run of poor hitting with a grounder to Pedroia for the 4-3 putout. At the rate Holliday is going, if the Series goes 7 games, he’ll hit another HR. I really like Holliday and it’s a shame to see him coming up short on the national stage. There are a lot of casual baseball fans who won’t understand why he won the NL MVP (if he does, of course).

Okajima gets ahead of Helton 0-2, but Helton makes a weird, inside-out defensive swing for an opposite field single.

Atkins comes up with a chance to get the game close and perhaps send Okajima to the bench. Of course, Papelbon is waiting, so it’s kind of a good news, bad news thing.

Okajima falls behind 3-1, and Atkins hits a ball very hard, and very far into the left field seats. It’s a one-run game, and Papelbon is going to come in.

You know, maybe the reason the Rockies keep scoring and then giving up runs is that whenever they score, their fans wave white towels and the team interprets it as a call to surrender.

Feel free to congratulate me on being the one-millionth person to make a “white flag = surrender”-related joke. I’m honored, really.

Papelbon vs. Spillborghs. I’m disappointed because I thought there were 2 outs. There is only 1. I need to stop blacking out from stress.

My friend EO pointed out that when Papelbon gives his stare into Varitek, he looks oddly like John Lithgow. Since EO said that, I find Papelbon far less intimidating. I hope EO didn’t tell the Rockies the same thing.

Papelbon ahead 1-2, and throwing 96-97 MPH gas over the plate. Spillborghs keeps fouling them off though. Very good, patient at-bat by the kid.

Spillborghs grounds out to Lugo…nice effort but Papelbon got him on a splitter or something that looks like one.

Here comes Hawpe, who tripled against Papelbon last night. He also homered his last time up. Now’s as good a time as any to strike out again, to restore the natural balance of things.

Hawpe gave it a ride, but Crisp tracks it down with a light jog to the track in center.

4-3 Sox.

Top 9:

Can someone walk my dog for me? She really seems to have to go, but I’m dedicated to you and God forbid I miss any at bats or Broder and Tassano will never invite me over to play again.

Lowell leads off. We know what happened last time he led off, right?

Well, that was wishful thinking because Lowell flies out off the end of the bat to Holliday.

Now would be a good time for JD Drew to raise his average back to .375 or so. But as with 85% of the season, he disappoints and grounds out to Jamey Carroll, now playing 2B.

I really hope the Sox win if for no other reason than to see whether Drew cracks a smile or looks remotely happy about it.

And Varitek also grounds to Carroll, and we’re going to have a down-to-the-wire finish.

4-3 Sox.

Bottom 9:

Okay, Papeltime! This is all the Sox can ask for – their categorically insane closer on the mound to win the World Series. It isn’t all the Rockies could ask for, or they’d to be able to hit off a tee for the half-inning.

Actually, they’d ask to face Gagne. Less effort getting the ball out of the park.

Papelbon will face Yorvit, Carroll and a PH to be named later.

Yorvit grounds to Pedroia, 1 out.

Carroll crushes a ball that Ellsbury catches at the wall in left. Wow…that looked really, really good off the bat (if you’re a Rockies fan). My heart is pounding and my dog looks like she might just piss on the floor to spite me. I wouldn’t mind, to be honest.

Seth Smith comes in to pinch-hit, and he’s the last hope. He’s got some power, so another miss like Papelbon gave Carroll and this is a different game.

And that’s it! Papelbon fittingly strikes out Smith to end the game.

SOX WIN!!!!! SOX WIN!!!!! SOX WIN!!!!! SOX WIN!!!!!!!!!

(please give me a minute)

Wrap-Up:

It’s sad to see the Rockies incredible September/October run relegated to the history bin, but they were simply overmatched. The Sox were better on the mound, better in the pen, and better at the plate. The only place they were evenly matched was in the field defensively. A historic run by the Rockies comes up short, but their youth should (hopefully) keep them exciting and viable for years to come.

And for the Sox, well, they did what they were supposed to do. This is a great win for the team and city, and I personally like to think they did it the right way. There was a good balance between talent they bought and talent they raised, and everyone chipped in. It’s going to be a fascinating offseason for the team, with Schilling, Lowell and others free agents. And now there’s the spectre of A-Rod hanging over the entire league.

Thanks again for reading along, and please let the editors know what you think of me (in the nicest possible terms) in the comments. I love you all. Enjoy the offseason.