Resistance is futile

Ouch. They're giving up.

The first Fenway game of this much-hyped series could not have been more disastrous for Boston. The Sox embarrassed themselves with poor base running, inept pitching, and dubious managerial decisions. By any measure, it was an ignominious defeat as the locals succumbed without much trace of competition or honor. At least the 2003 team, the Grady Bunch, took the Yankees to the limit. That the Sox could play this poorly after the yearlong competition (on and off the field) between the century-old rivals, staggers the New England mind. "We've got to take our medicine like men," said Sox CEO Larry Lucchino.

This was supposed to be their year. When they beat the Angels about the head in the Division serious, they had set up their pitiching rotation perfectly. They would be rested, tanned, and unshaved. They would finally beat the Yankees when it counts. They were the self-proclaimed idiots who didn't study history and didn't need discipline, who thrived on chaos and chemistry.

It will be interesting to see the mood at Fenway tonight. If I was attending, I'd be awfully careful about celebrating the Yankee victory too exuberantly. It could get ugly. In fact, I expect a pretty ugly game. El Duque hasn't pitched since his arm fell off the last week of the season. And he's about 49 years of age. Lowe, the Red Sox sinker ball pitcher, also hasn't pitched since September, is unhappy with how Francoma has used him, and needs to work regularly to keep the ball from rising up into the strike zone.

But, really.

19-8. 1918.

Last night's contest was unlike anything anyone had ever seen in post-season play. Before last night, only one player had scored five runs in a League Championship game. Two Yankee players scored five runs. And Boston surely didn't help themselves, looking more like the hapless A's team they beat in the 2003 ALDS, then the mighty Red Sox who scored more runs that any other team in 2004. The silence in Fenway was eerie. It was more than just the usual crushing disappointment suffered by Sox fans for nearly 90 years. They were stunned.

After every Yankee hit, the PA voice in the press box would inform all the scribes that Bernie Williams had just set one postseason record and tied another, or that Alex Rodriguez had just established a new postseason record by scoring five runs, or that the Yankees have just tied a postseason record by knocking out eight doubles, tying a mark set by the 1906 White Sox.

What that voice did not tell you was that back in '06, the fans were allowed on the outfield grass and that some of those extra-base hits were ground-rule doubles and even rule ground-rule triples. So the actual truth is that the Yankees had blasted the Red Sox worse than anyone has blasted anyone in more than 100 years of postseason baseball.

It ain't over, I keep telling myself. The Red Sox could salvage some dignity tonight with a win. Schilling could valiently pitch tomorrow, risking serious injury to beat the Yankees. Momentum shifts, and back to the Bronx for more nail biting fun.

But somehow, I don't think the Red Sox fans even want such a scenario to play out. They know it's over, and they just want the pain to stop.