The Paucity of Hope

22-5
Combined score of Tampa Bay's wins over Boston in Games 3 and 4 of the American League Championship Series -- 9-1 last night, and 13-4 tonight.

3-1
Tampa Bay's advantage over Boston in the best-of-seven ALCS.

3-1
Cleveland's advantage over Boston in the 2007 ALCS before Boston rallied back for three straight wins, then went on to sweep Colorado in the World Series.

3-0
New York's advantage over Boston in the 2004 ALCS before Boston rallied back for four straight wins, then went on to sweep St. Louis in the World Series.

I wish I felt some hope that the Sox could turn it around like they did twice in the past four seasons. But I can't see it happening. Going back to the Tampa Bay-Red Sox late regular-season series, the Rays just seem to have a knack for sticking the Red Sox with soul-crushing losses in extra-innings, or -- as in the last two games -- just 9-inning marathons of hopelessness, where the Rays take a massive lead immediately.

This year's Red Sox squad has carried on through key injuries, slumps, and Manny Ramirez's sit-down strke. They have done well to get this far. And I just don't see them turning this one around. I feel like I felt during the 2005 ALDS against Chicago -- the Sox have just met a superior team that has managed to play at an even higher level in the postseason. This is not a 2003 or a 1986 or a 1978 or a 1975, where it was winnable and you play the what-if game. This looks like the better team is indeed playing better, and they're choking the hope out of Boston.

I can see the Sox taking Game 5 at home, and bringing it back to Tampa. But I can't see them replicating their recent comebacks -- not this year.

Bourne to Kill -- In Volleyball Terms

3
State championships Bourne High School's girls' volleyball team has won -- 2000, 2002, and 2004.

7 of 9
Bourne has reached the state championship match in seven of the last nine years -- 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

328
Days between my final Potomac, Md. sports article, and my first Upper Cape Cod sports article, Bourne Volleyball Cultivates 11 Years of Success.

Fear-Free Fall

5 out of 6
With the Boston Red Sox playing in the postseason as the American League's wild card team, this is the 5th time in 6 years that the Sox have been in the playoffs. It is a gift to see your favorite team play in October, and I hope I never take it for granted.

0 out of 86
The Red Sox went 86 years, from 1918 until 2004, without winning a World Series.

2 out of 4
Three years after the Red Sox won the '04 World Series, they won the '07 World Series.

1
Only one team -- the Red Sox -- has won the World Series twice in the 21st century so far.

I'll repeat my above hope that I never take it for granted when the Sox are playing in October. Even in the 6 Divisions & 2 Wild Cards Era (8 of MLB's 32 teams make the playoffs in the format that started in 1995), it's still a gift to follow your favorite team in the playoffs.
For me, there's an especially sharp distinction between regular-season games and postseason ones. During the regular season, I listen to games on the radio more than I watch on TV. Come playoff time, I put the TV on. As avid a baseball fan as I am, I often don't know what players look like, what their batting stances are like, or how acrobatic they are defensively until October.
For many years, I held my breath on almost every single pitch when the Sox were in the postseason. That had tons to do with the 1918 monkey on the back of every Sox fan, and after celebrating two World Series championships in recent years, it just doesn't happen any more. I'm excited, and proof is that I'll watch every freaking inning of these West Coast games with their 10:30 p.m. starts. But I'm not on pins and needles any more. And I'm not sure that's a good thing.
Who knows? If Boston gets into a tense, emotional postseason series with, say, Tampa Bay, I may feel differently in a week. If they go into 5 games with Anaheim, I may become a nervous wreck. But for now, even though I'm back in New England watching a Red Sox playoff series for the first time since 1990, I watch with interest and without jitters.

Wretch's Brew

15
Years since I drank one of the two most awful cups of coffee of my life in Villanova, Pa. In fairness to my Dear Old Alma Mater, terrible coffee was not the norm. It was Villanova where I began the morning coffee routine, and it was also where I was introduced to espresso. With a premium coffee stand in the pre-Starbucks explosion days, Villanova gave me no reason to complain about the coffee. Except for this one day, when ....

7
Years since I drank the other one of the two most awful cups of coffee of my life, in West Virginia, town unknown.

2
Members of my Awful Coffee Hall of Fame. Join me as I relive drinking these two vile brews in Alex's Worst Cup of Coffee Ever, my INeedCoffee article for this month.

9.58
Years that MAS has produced INeedCoffee as an e-zine, building, editing and releasing content every month for most of that time. (It was weekly or bi-weekly for a year or two.) This is INeedCoffee's final month in that format. Many thanks to MAS, for all he's done on the site for nearly a decade. For INeedCoffee, as for Washington, change is coming.

Pat Pity

128
Consecutive games Tom Brady started for the New England Patriots before he tore his ACL in the season opener against Kansas City two days ago. He is finished for the season.

7
Months since the Patriots blew the chance for a perfect season with their Super Bowl loss to the Giants. I still don't know where the Pats' loss ranks among all-time most devastating losses, and there are a couple of reasons for this. One is because I haven't revisited it all that much -- not in denial or anything, I'm just not interested in watching the Helmet Catch on YouTube. I remember it fairly well, and it sucked to watch the first time. Whey watch it hundreds of times more? But another reason I can't rank it is because we're just beginning to experience the finality of it. Without Brady, the Patriots are definitely not going 16-0 through the regular season. They'll be lucky to make the playoffs. I don't expect to see another NFL team go 16-0 in the regular season -- so many things have to fall into place, and player talent is but one factor. Brady's ACL tear shows what is so easy to take for granted -- a football team is extraordinarily lucky to go through an entire season without losing some of its key players for a few games.

22-for-39, 253 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Career stats for Brady's backup, Matt Cassel, through three previous years with the Patriots. We'll see. I like the fact that he's in his fourth season with the team, and presumably is familiar with the system. But it takes a lot of optimism (delusion?) to think that the Pats stand any chance of redeeming their Super Bowl loss. Despite three recent Lombardi Trophies to console the Foxboro Faithful, the "Perfect Season" is something that, it is now clear, they will never get back.