Just When You Thought You Were Out...

A few random thoughts after an insane pair of games Monday evening:

* Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a series. For the second night in a row, the Red Sox have saved their season, their fans' sanity, and Fox's advertising department by prolonging the ALCS. David Ortiz is an absolute beast-- and to think nobody had heard of him 18 months ago.

* Speaking of Ortiz, he totally reminds me of Pedro Cerrano, the menacing slugger from Major League.

* I know it's still premature to predict that the Red Sox will win the series after having been down 0-3. But think about it: if a team were to make the ultimate comeback, wouldn't games 3 and 4 have to be emotional thrillers? Wouldn't the underdog team need this kind of magical, confidence-building boost in front of your rabid fans?

* I wish people would stop using the argument "since an 0-3 comeback has never happened, it can't be done." Everything is unprecedented until it happens. Besides, the past doesn't actually have that much influence on the future. Just to refresh your memory, after five games of the 2003 ALCS, the Yankees also had a 3-2 lead. We all remember how that one went down to the wire. (OK, I'm over-rationalizing now)

* Carlos Beltran has officially turned into Barry Bonds. And as his baserunning skills would attest, he's got some '92 Bonds in him too. Anyone who hits eight home runs in his first nine postseason games needs to be walked every time he comes to the plate.

* It must be very disconcerting to Cardinals fans to see such a high powered lineup suddenly disappear for a game. Did that lineup really get one-hit by Brandon Backe?