why is it that the pundits continue to reference back to the '04 team that came back from an 0-3 deficit in the ALCS?  or even the '07 team?  this red sox team that is being taken apart by the rays is NOT the same team that came back and beat the yankees or even that one the championship last year.  no manny.  no lowe.  no (insert key playmaker). 

the rays are a team of destiny this year - a true worst to first story that should captivate the baseball world and sportsdom in general. 

i can't see philly (or LA) doing much against them in the WS.    thoughts?

The Red Sox have come back to win at least 3 elimination games in a row 5 times in postseason since 1986 ('86 LCS, '99 DS, '03 DS, '04 LCS, '07 LCS). The eternal optimists will say that the Red Sox have Dice K tomorrow night, Beckett on Saturday, and Lester on Sunday, so anything can happen.

I am a glass half full Red Sox fan, and I am still going to say that this series is over. The Red Sox offense has not been the same since Mike Lowell got hurt, and they have had a tough time producing runs. The other major story here is that the Rays offense is as good as any in the game, and they are tearing the cover off the ball right now.

The Rays offense is so good that they made one of the best pitchers in postseason history look like a rookie in Game 2. Then they come back in Game 3 and knock this season's best postseason pitcher, Jon Lester, all over the ball park. The combination of BJ Upton and Evan Longoria has the potential to be the best 1-2 punch in baseball for many, many years.

The Red Sox couldn't hit a beach ball right now, and it seems like the Rays could hit frozen peas out of the ball park at this point. This just in folks, the Rays are really, really good. This team is drawing comparisons to the 1991 Atlanta Braves, and if that is the case, I expect them to be in the World Series conversation for years to come.

No Manny to protect Big Papi means no runs for the Red Sox.  Plus no Mike Lowell, means no heart and no punch.  The Red Sox are finished.

I'm a huge Boston fan and have been watching the games in agony and disgust. As history tells, Red Sox Nation is filled with fans with an insurmountable feeling of (perhaps misguided and foolish) hope. I just don't see the sparkle in their eyes - I see a team that is hurting and even though they've pulled off miracles before I'll resign myself to saying "Wait 'til next year." One final note...If I were Terry Francona I'd bench half the so-called superstars and put in the young guys. Can't hurt. How about making Masterson or DelCarmen a starter?

Goodbye Sox!!

The BoSox need a little of really check... They're done for the season!!! I don't see heart or passion within the players in the last 2 games.  

It is time for the national media (incluidng Mike Celizic who recently termed the Red Sox the "it" team) to step up and own the fact that they have been annointing Boston a "dynasty" that no one can stop.  Despite the MLB assistance in favorable scheduling (20 of the last 29 at home and not leaving the Atlantic Coast the last two months of the season), complete absence from the Mitchell Report, umpires with expanding Boston-centric strike zones and media who do nothing but gloat about the routine, the fact remains that the Red Sox are a first round playoff team and no more. 

The propaganda-laden Boston and national media have conducted no real analysis of a team that has labored against "real" teams and has beat up on the likes of Baltimore, Kansas City, the A's, etc.  Get off of your duffs and take the hit for shamelessly backing and making excuses for a team that is not that good and is shy of even being in the universe of a dynasty.  The celebration that occurred at Fenway Park after the ALDS win looks pretty embrassing now to all of you doesn't it?

I've watched over 140 Red Sox games every year for years and it doesn't look good.  I have to hand it to the Rays, they are for real!  They have a young, fast, athletic and talented team.  BJ Upton's bat and speed in center field are incredible!  For a fan, he's fun to watch!  (but not against my team!)  Despite, being down 3 to 1, I still have hope.....we did it before and we can do it again!  GO SOX!

Watching the dugout for reaction during last nights game it became clear to me these Red Sox are done!  Put the fork in them! There is no comparing this team and the past teams for a come back. The personnel, injuries, apparent attitudes and mental toughness are different. The Ray's are for real, young, and poised to be good for a long time. Barring injury, I don't see anyone in the AL East challenging the Rays for at least 2 years.....

Manny doesn't enter into the equation, except perhaps in Ortiz' head. Then again, Manny wasn't there half the time when he WAS here. The injuries haven't helped any, and the depth on the bench is pretty thin. Hell, TB has Hinske on its bench with 20 dingers on the season, and never even considers putting him in the game! Gross has lots of pop as well. During the season it seemed the more Rays were injured, the better they played. Longoria and Crawford, and Baldelli, to a lesser extent, are particularly amazing, coming back from serious injuries to perform like this. Good balanced roster, top to bottom.

This Sox fan doesn't see any signs of a Cleveland-like collapse. But then again, who saw signs of Cy Lester EVER being pounded like that?

Did MSNBC.com forget to hire an editor or something?  The very first sentence has a typo, then the word "nemeses" is used instead of "nemesis" (since it is the Yankees franchise - singular - that had tormented the Red Sox franchsie for so many years), and then the mortal sin: "the Red Sox then wrapped up . . . their first World Series championship in 84 years."

84 years?!!?  Is this guy serious?  Almost every baeball fan (Red Sox obsessed and casual viewer alike) knows that, by the time the Sox finished off the Cardinals in four games in 2004, 86 years had passed since the franchise's previous World Series victory in 1918.  How did MSNBC hire somebody who doesn't know this fact to write an article about the Red Sox?  And where is the editor who is supposed to catch this kind of glaring inaccuracy before it is published?  If I had known MSNBC was in such dire need of writers and editors for their sports section, I would have sent in my résumé a long time ago.

I'm a lifelong Sox fan, and always have hope they'll pull it out.  But you have to give the Rays the credit they are most certainly due.  People have been waiting for them to collapse and they continue to astound.  Small budget, mostly home-grown with some "experience" brought in to mentor and contribute and they're beating EVERYONE, home and away.  They're getting solid pitching, incredible hitting, and good defense (not great when you make three errors in one game, but hey, when you're up by 8, 9, 10 you can probably afford a few lapses).  If it can't be the Sox, I'd vote for the Rays--they're an incredible story that inspires people.

I don't understand why some of the comments in this blog are referring to the Rays being help by umpires or so.  I believe that umpires and players are human and they make mistakes.  You can't expect a team to win all games at all times.  The Tampa Bay Rays are a young team and despite of how young they are they are not being corrupted (yet) by how much money they are making right now.  They are actually playing with their heart.

I think they can come back. If they win tomorrow, they will win the series. Beckett will be clucth on Saturday and Lester has the heart of a lion and will win on Sunday. The Rays should look at tomorrow as almost a must win.

It was just too much to ask -

• Manny issues
• Lowell and Papi hurt
• Becket and Buchholz tanking
• Schilling retiring
• Dice-K still adjusting
• Ellsbury signing with Boras and believing his own hype

Personally, as a Red Sox fan all my long life, 2004 was the best ever. Anything else, including 2007, is gravy.  Sox still have some good players and need to do some tweaking (legit clean-up hitter, re-furbished Papi, another starter or two) but I am looking to next year anyway.  Rays are the team of destiny, and I am dealing with it.  Still, Go Sox!

The thing that annoys me the most is the incessant references to the BOSOX comebacks in 2004 & 2007. They were absolutely great in those comebacks and I enjoyed watching those games. They are in a similar hole this series against the Rays. The conversation is relevant so bring it up. But bringing it up to the point of ad nauseam?

Hey media, last time I checked this is 2008 and it is the BOSOX vs. RAYS, not the Yankees and not the Indians. The 2008 BOSOX are a different team than the teams from those years. And, in my opinion, a much less potent offensive team without Manny and Mike L. And no blood in the sock Curt Schilling. SO LET IT GO.

And remember, no matter who you are pulling for in THIS series, "it ain't over until the FAT LADY SINGS" and she is not singing yet. And nothing against the 2008 BOSOX, but I almost pray they lose just so I won't have to hear a year or two from now, ad nauseam, about how they came back from 3-1 deficits in 2004, 2007 & 2008.  

GO SOX...YOU CAN DO IT!!!

It's time for Boston fans to eat dirt -- they always complained about the Yankees buying championships and then they started doing the same thing.  And look, now they are losing to a team that's entire payroll is less than Ortiz makes in a week!  They will finally find out that money alone does not buy success -- their team doesn't play as a team and their fans have started to take winning for granted so like the Yankees, it's time for them to be taught a lesson.  Appreciate what you have, when you have it, and learn to share!  The Boston fans are the most disrespectful fan base of any sport and now they too can hang their heads in shame!! 

I totally agree with EJ Small.  Red Sox fans just let it go!!!

Hopefully the Rays will not pull what the Indians did last year....You are up 3 games to 1 - win the 4th game and send the Red Sox home for the year.  I want the Rays to win!!! I want to shut the arrogant obnoxious Red Sox fans up!!!

The comeback in 2004 was great; I was rooting for the Red Sox then, but...I've had enough of the Red Sox...and so has many other baseball fans

I believe it is good for baseball to have small market and small payroll teams win.

Go Rays!!!

As a lifelong Red Sox fan who struggled through all those disappointing seasons to finally see them win it all in 2004, I thought that was it for this century. But it wasn't and like a lot of other people in Red Sox Nation, I got accustomed to seeing them win like I was at seeing them lose.

I can't give up on them now because they've come back before and they can do it again. The Rays seem to have it all together and appear to be unstoppable. But, in the words of well-known Yankee Yogi Berra, "It isn't over til it's over". The fat lady may be warming up, but she hasn't started singing yet. The Rays' still need to win one more game!