Red Sox Reach World Series With David Price’s Playoff Breakthrough

If you're having trouble hearing Yankee fan reaction to the Red Sox getting to the World Series, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re72di5phM0

Hats off to David Price, who when he first came to Toronto, he helped carry the Jays to their first playoff in 22 years behind the genius of then GM Alex Anthopoulos In the playoffs he went from hero to enigma. So it was nice to see him get the play off monkey off his back. However, one thing that Boston has going for it is ownership, who plays and pays to win, like the Boss George Steinbrenner used to do, and like the Blue Jays did the years that they won the World Series. Congratulations Red Sox. Pardon me, but you're becoming this century's Yankees. The team every body hates because, well, they spend the money AND have the management to be great. I"ll be cheering for Brew Crew or Dodgers.

Fenway fans are so tough on Price that it is not surprising that he hit his stride in an away game. Hopefully he has turned the corner with Boston fans.

Outstanding play, with a little help from instant replay, on to the World Series. Love the Soxs!

Might the Astros be second-guessing their decision to include the "Crawford boxes" in left field? Devers' fly ball would have been bounced off the Green Monster and been an out every where else in the major leagues. No sour grapes from this Texan, though. The woeful Rangers are my American League team.

Price pitched six innings, gave up three hits and struck out nine. He was dominant and what does the manager do? He takes him out of the game. Leave aside for a moment that the Sox won and ask yourself why, if you were the manager, you’d risk losing the game by taking out a pitcher on a roll and bringing in a cold reliever in Barnes against a powerful lineup and ahead only four runs. It didn’t make any sense. Of course Barnes didn’t last and so Cora goes with another starter in Eovaldi. He does a great job and, again, Cora takes him out to put in Kimbrel who has been nothing shaky. What is driving this sort of decision-making? Why is Cora treating his pitchers like dainty flowers? Is it a slavish devotion to pitch counts, percentages? Would he have ticked off Kimbrel had Eovaldi pitched the ninth, clubhouse happiness being most important? Of course, Cora is in the dugout and has a pulse on things, but from my living room his moves don’t make a lot of sense. Oh, go Sox!

Somehow, one of the defining moments of this series was overlooked in this article, Mookie Betts leaping catch of a fly ball that was a near carbon copy of the one he missed catching the night before due to fan interference. This one was slightly less deep, but Betts had to make essentially the same play to catch it as the night before. It was as if he was given the chance to make that play by the baseball Gods to leave no chance for excuse making by the Astros and no taint on the Red Sox series win.

The Red Sox are a great team and Price did a fine job last night but I take issue with "in arguably the best game of his life." Price pitched well, but pitched for only six innings. As a baby-boomer Yankee fan its not easy to get used to the fact that (so far!) this century has been one of Boston dominance rather than the Bronx Bombers. Still, the Yankees had a fine year and will be back in 2019!

As a Red Sox fan living in Yankee territory, say this to my office mates: "actually, we thank the Yankees. The Red Sox played 23 high intensity games vs. the Yankees this season and post season. After that, facing Houston is like a Spring Training split squad game..."

Price beating Verlander and the Sox taking three from that team at home was epic. Houston had some serious swagger going in and I think they expected to take the series and repeat as WS champions. Many times Houston was a clutch hit away from changing the complexion of the series, but it never materialized. The Sox showed why they are the team they are. It was a great series to see.

As a Yankee fan I take comfort from the fact that the Red Sox began the last century, too, with a bouquet of World Series titles, including winning it all exactly 100 years ago, before the Bambino wagged his finger and Boston went silent for 86 years. We can take some comfort from the notion that all this distasteful recent Red Sox success might just be history conveniently repeating itself, with the upshot that we may soon be able to enjoy tears in Boston for many years to come...

With all due respect to the Dodgers/Brewers, many Red Sox fans like myself were most concerned with defeating the Astros. They have an exceptional team and many pundits expected them to go all the way. But we've seen the Red Sox be relentless throughout the season and it's satisfying to see it continue to the post-season. Now we just need four more wins (and great outings from Price and Sale) to capture the World Series title.

Well, I must say that I am proud to see this article on the home page of the NYT. I am just a little surprised to be the first to comment here - It's probably a little more competitive over at the Boston Globe. Thank you David Price for an awesome showing, and Alex Cora for all the thrills! A scrappy talented team you gotta admire! Love That Dirty Water! Go Sox!