Historic come-back or historic collapse?

Normally we at Silver Chips Online do not recap professional games, much less a playoff series. We offer our predictions, but that is about it. But this game is different. It can be summed up quite easily:

The Red Sox won. Against the Yankees. After trailing 0-3 in the series.

Woah, woah, hold on, wait a minute. The Red Sox? These same cursed Red Sox, the ultimate chokers of the world, flogged by the Curse of the Bambino? They actually beat the Yankees in the playoffs?

And there couldn't have been a better way to do it. Hey, not to gloat, but I had a bunch of friends gloating to me about the Yankees' three quick strikes against the Red Sox. Now, I'm not a Red Sox fan, not even close. I hate them. I hate them for all the grief they have caused my beloved A's. But I do hate the Yankees more and I have made no secret of that fact. I was, like them, simply rolling my eyes and saying "take out the brooms, folks, the Sox are getting swept under the rug like they always do."

Oh boy, how wrong we all were.

The Red Sox won Game Four. It was a close game. I am quite sure I was not the only one who felt it was over for the BoSox. The dreaded Mariano Rivera taking the mound, one point lead, closing out the ALCS. This was it, this was where all that hype ended.

And with one quick strike, the BoSox were back in the game. Rivera blew a save.

Most Yankee fans shrugged it off. A fluke, they said. Just wait for the next game.

We all agreed.

So it repeated itself in Game Five. The dreaded Mariano Rivera taking the mound, one point lead, closing out the ALCS. This was it, no amount of rally monkey juice nor cowboy-ing up could save the BoSox now.

And with a sacrifice fly, the BoSox were back in the game. Rivera blew a save again.

Wow, when did that last happen? Mariano Rivera blowing two straight saves in a post-season, both to close out a series?

Never.

But the series was still 3-2. The Red Sox still needed to win the next two games, no margin for error. They used their remaining ace, Pedro Martinez, to lock up that Game 5. Who were they going to turn to now, Bronson Arroyo, who got shelled for six runs in two innings in Game Three?

But a miracle happened for New England. Curt Schilling suckered up his injury (bleeding into his soxes and all to create a truly red sox) and pitched a post-season classic. The Red Sox went on to win Game Six 4-2 on the bloodied leg of Schilling's brave effort. This was what he was brought in for, after all.

So the series was tied at 3-3, a feat never accomplished before in Major League history. Never. Are these the same chokers that gave up the lead to the Yankees in Game Seven last year? Are these the same chokers who have mourned their bad luck and blamed all their failures on superstition?

Game Seven to find out.

Derek Lowe vs. Kevin Brown. Already people were rolling their eyes. The Red Sox have no chance. Derek Lowe is going to be shelled. Absolutely shelled. Nevermind the fact that Kevin Brown would probably get shelled too, no one gets shelled as badly as Derek Lowe.

And then David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the top of the first. There was a smattering of 'here we go again' from the Yankee fans. I mean, how many times were the Sox going to smack a two-run homer in the first inning?

But then something unexpected happened. Johnny Damon hit a grand slam. A grand slam. And this was right after the Yankees pulled out their relief pitcher, Javier Vazquez, after slightly more than an inning's worth of Kevin Brown. 6-0 Sox. Against any other team that is a hefty lead, a run towards a blow-out.

Not Red Sox vs. Yankees though.

In the bottom of the third, Derek Jeter knocked an RBI single to score Miguel Cairo. The Yankees were on fire, people thought. Here comes Derek Lowe's melt-down.

It never came. In fact, for good measure, Johnny Damon hit another two-run shot the very next inning. That was pretty much the end of Vazquez.

So the game goes uneventfully for the next two innings. We're all thinking, well shikes. Maybe the Sox can win this one.

And then they did it. The annual Red Sox Blunder. The Sox relieved Derek Lowe with Pedro Martinez.

Where's the justification? Derek Lowe allowed just one hit and one walk. That's dominance. Enter Pedro Martinez. On two day's rest. Against his daddy. Please.

He gave up two runs. It certainly looked like a Yankee rally, but Pedro pulled himself together and got out of the inning. 8-3 Sox.

So here we are, two innings left in the game. You think Yankee fans were leaving their seats now? Heck no. Game far from over, they thought. I know it's what I thought, and I'm no Yankee fan. Even those cheering for the BoSox were happy, but deep inside they knew the game wasn't over yet. These are the ultimate chokers, after all. They'll do something stupid to throw this whole effort out the window.

Then Mark Bellhorn launches a solo shot to make it 9-3. Cabrera knocks in Trot Nixon with a sacrifice fly. 10-3. Bottom of the ninth, the Yankees need a seven run rally to save their face in front of history.

They never even made BoSox closer Keith Foulke come out to the mound.

Talk about a slap in the face.

Final score: 10-3. That's the score for Game 7, mind you, not the series. That was only 4-3. Ultimate chokers? That title may go to the Yankees. October 18, 2004 will stand in infamy for the Sox Yankee rivalry' as the day Mariano Rivera blew two saves. October 21, 2004 will stand as the day the Yankees fell to the Sox in a historic fashion. The Sox, the ultimate chokers, the poor-old-fools of the MLB, came back in clutch fashion and beat the Yankees.

Who saw this one coming? Not me, for sure.