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Sox, Media Nation climb

I was sitting in my car last night, trying to get a signal from a campsite near Mount Monadnock, when J.D. Drew finally worked off the first $1 million of his $70 million contract. Absolutely incredible. At that point, I took a radio into my tent and listened to the wavering ESPN play-by-play on an AM station in New York.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew it was the fifth inning, and the Sox were ahead, 10-1. I turned it off and went to sleep. I still don’t know who the heroes were, other than Drew and Curt Schilling. As soon as I post this item, I’m going to find out.

Today I helped lead a group of eight Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to the top of Monadnock (elevation: 3,165 feet). It was a perfect day, made all the more so because we knew the Sox would be playing a Game Seven tonight.

Much better locker-room material

A Media Nation reader passes this along. Apparently this was up on the Indians’ Web site yesterday, then taken down.

Locker-room material

From the Cleveland Indians’ Web site.

7-0

Beckett should win Game 5, but can Schilling and (gasp) Daisuke bring the Sox home? I’m getting awfully close to saying, “Wait till next year.”

Pray for rain

But don’t count on it. According to this Weather.com forecast, it looks like there’s a better-than-even chance that tomorrow night’s Red Sox-Indians game will be played. Godspeed, Tim Wakefield.

It’s not over. But man.

In Terry we trust

Can Josh Beckett win Games 4 and 7? If so, then the Sox only have to win one other game. We’re going to have to trust Terry Francona on this. If he says Beckett can’t go on three days’ rest, then he can’t go.

If Beckett can go Tuesday, then I’d have Diasuke on a short leash tomorrow. If he gets in trouble early, bring in Wakefield. And if he doesn’t have it, hello Julian Tavarez. What the heck. Tavarez has definitely had his moments.*

It’s pretty amazing. The team with the best starting pitching in the league is down to one consistently reliable starter — although I expect Schilling will be heard from before this is over. Last night wasn’t a fluke, but it wasn’t what Schilling is capable of, either.

How depressing was it to have the bullpen set up perfectly through 10 innings only to have to bring in Gagné in the 11th?

*Um, I guess he’s not going to have any of those moments this week. He’s not on the playoff roster. Whoops.

Give it your worst, George

Go ahead, George. Be stupid. Fire Joe Torre — please. The great Yankees manager is now 67 years old, so he probably would like to escape the day-to-day grind. But he’d make a terrific special assistant to Theo Epstein, wouldn’t he?

Torre may have lost a couple of feet off his fastball, but having to rely on Alex Rodriguez in clutch situations can make any manager look bad. The fact is that Torre compiled the best second half of his managing career without a single consistently reliable starting pitcher. Wang for Cy Young? Uh, I don’t think so.

As for Cleveland, I think we all know this isn’t going to be like playing the Angels, who were pretty much a Triple A team by the time the playoffs began, and who continued losing players right through the sweep.

From a Red Sox fan’s point of view, the best thing to like about the Indians is the prospect of Joe Borowski trying to nail down a close game in the ninth. The man’s got 45 saves, but he’s hittable, and he showed it again last night.

Wow

Think they’re going to keep walking Ortiz? If Manny’s game-winner is the start of a hot streak, will it matter?

And consider this: J.D. Drew is having a better series than Alex Rodriguez.

Take your Sox off

Let’s see if I’ve got this right. We can watch every minute of all 162 regular-season games, not to mention spring training. But once the playoffs hit, we can’t see Game 2 of the Red Sox-Angels series until the extra-inning contest between the Yankees and Cleveland is over. Did no one at TBS anticipate this might happen? Unbelievable.

Put your Sox back on. Whoops. No sooner did I post this than I realized the Sox are on TNT. So never mind.

The sinking Sox?

I refused to panic after last night’s game. Four and a half up with a couple of weeks to go seemed like enough. But right now the Sox are losing and the Yankees are winning — again. Three and a half? Good grief.