The Time Is Now. Karen writes from Virginia:

"I have never been more confident and free of stress in any Red Sox playoff series save the one they just played. It is On. Why Not Us? Why not indeed? It will be. I swear I feel like the planets are lining up and cosmic strings are emitting vibes that sound eerily similar to Dirty Water. I am not saying it will be easy and it may not be pretty in some instances, but, damn, it's going to be good. The pay off rendered by each and every moment will redeem every agonizing, wretched regurgitation of Sox playoff history suffered by the RSN at the hands of the sports media. ...

My throat is already hoarse and I completely and totally expect that I will be unable to speak come the end of this month. ... It's no longer a question of belief. This Boston Red Sox team, including D-Lowe, will take the RSN to where no one alive has been before. It is On and the bottom of my throat is choking with the inevitable gut wrenching cleansing. I just have to decide if I should go into debt to get WS tix or just fly to Boston to revel in the win with the only group of people that can truly understand."

I had that same sense of confidence last October, when Boston was down 0-2 to Oakland. No worries of choking, no sweating over the task of winning 3 straight games, just a calm that everything would be alright. I've never experienced that before and it was amazing. And I'm feeling it again. ... This series will not be easy; these two teams are very much alike. What will happen in the next week -- and who will do it (whatever "it" is)? How low will we be brought? How high will we be raised? My seven scorecards remain blank -- rows and columns of white boxes free of markings.

From Jose Melendez's "Keys to the Game":

"Whose side are you on? Whose side are you on? There are no grays, there is no nuance. Whose side are you on? There is nothing to finesse, no fences to straddle. Whose side are you on? There can be no changes of heart, no defections or conversions. Whose side are you on?"

As he did for the ALDS, Curt Schilling began tonight's SoSH game thread:

8 to go. Didn't we all know it would come to this to get to a World Series? This will hopefully be a series for the ages. Say what you want as fans about the Yankees, but they are at the top, and have been, for a long time. Beating them in a best of 7, is at best, at grind, which I expect. The energy should be incredible, the games should be the same. But again I ask ... "Why Not us?"

Game 1 Lineups:

Red Sox            Yankees

Damon cf           Jeter ss

Bellhorn 2b        Rodriguez 3b

Ramirez lf         Sheffield rf

Ortiz dh           Matsui lf

Millar 1b          Williams dh

Nixon rf           Posada c

Varitek c          Olerud 1b

Cabrera ss         Cairo 2b

Mueller 3b         Lofton dh

 

Schilling p        Mussina p