Huge Relief

It's a little sad, but at the same time, such a relief: Mike Timlin didn't make the ALDS roster. Potential disaster averted.

Josh Beckett looks FINE to me!

boston.com has a whole slideshow of rally pics

Josh Beckett Has Oblique Strain, Wall Street Panics

Okay, so one has little to do with the other, but it's definitely a day for panic. The good news is that our new ACE, Jon Lester, won AL Pitcher of the Month for September, proving that he's THE man to have on the mound in game 1. Sorry, I have to keep telling myself that, to try to avoid panic....

Because it's just too funny not to post...

and here I thought Giambi's stache was bad!

Because we could all use something to smile about

Chad Finn, at Touching All The Bases did a nice tribute to pitchers who've been around for a, well, since the mullet. He was kind enough to give us the above photo of Tim Wakefield with his MULLET!! lovelovelove it! =)

Talking myself off the ledge...

Apparently, Josh Beckett has an injured oblique. Yup, 3 days before the playoffs start, our Ace goes down..........

It's okay. Lester really is our ace. I mean, he's been the stopper all season. His season, and his record, were much better than Beckett's. So it's okay that Beckett won't start game one. Yeah, it's okay. Isn't it????

I should have seen it coming, really. I mean the Sox were extra cagey about the playoff rotation. When Francona fessed up to Beckett's oblique injury in last night's press conference, he did so with extraordinary reluctance -- as if news of this nature might send Red Sox Nation into a panicked frenzy, in the same way that a bank closure sends Wall Street spiraling.

I'm confident Beckett will be ready as promised in Game 3. A part of me thinks a sudden injury is a perfect excuse to get the rotation in order by their numbers and not by their reputation. I mean, if you base the rotation strictly on this season's numbers, Dice-K (18-3) is our guy. Since he can't play in the rain, he's not on track to start Wednesday, so we go with our number two guy, Lester (16-6), followed by Matsuzaka, followed by Beckett (12-10).

Handling Red Sox Nation is like handling a delicate political campaign. Beckett's injury allows Francona to explain away his rotation without taking responsibility. Especially after the rainy debacle that was Friday night, Francona is on unsteady ground. I try not to question the man that has brought us 2 World Championships, but handing the Rays the division title on a silver platter care of David Pauley was not my idea of championship baseball. Maybe it was smart to keep our best off the soggy field and in the end, it didn't matter. But it did throw some ice water on my playoff fever. I couldn't even sit through it. Blessedly, mlb.tv came through and dropped my connection when it was only 15 to something. I didn't bother to refresh....

Now, without cable and blacked on on mlb.tv, I'm off to plot my post season viewing strategy..