BOSTON -- What a difference a week can make.
On Oct. 20, the Boston Red Sox were behind the eight ball in New York in the midst of the most improbable comeback in Major League Baseball history. They were heading into an unprecedented ALCS Game 7 with the Yankees after being down three games to none just a few days before.
With an early advantage in the World Series, all of Boston is cautiously optimistic, but according to the Magic 8 Ball, all signs seem to point in favor of the Red Sox.
Curt Shilling has brought a new meaning to the term "Red Sox." After a terrible start in the first game of the ALCS, Shilling has bled for his new club in two consecutive starts. The starter has undergone revolutionary treatment involving four sutures on his ankle to hold his tendons in place. As a result of the treatment, Shilling stained his socks with blood as he pitched.
Since the 2000 World Series, no team has won the fall classic without personally dispatching the Yankees from the playoffs. Beginning with the Diamondbacks in 2001, the Red Sox have followed the path of the Angels and Marlins in besting the $200 million gorilla that is the litmus test for greatness.
The Red Sox are playing for baseball's crown on the 100th anniversary of the original World Series. The team that won the inaugural contest was the Boston Americans, predecessors of the current-day Sox.
The Red Sox have lost two World Series to the Cardinals in 1946 and 1967, making this year either a hat trick for the birds or the charm for the Sox.
With Tuesday's win the Red Sox took a 3-0 lead in the series. According to The Boston Globe, of the 33 home teams that have won the first two games in a World Series, 28 (84.8 percent) of them have prevailed in the best-of-seven contest.
With talk of curses swirling around this Boston club, it is fitting that Halloween night coincides with a possible Game 7. At Sunday's second game, a fan to my right mathematically proved that the curse had been lifted. In her sign she had an equation that added Manny Ramirez (24), David Ortiz (34) and Jason Varitek (33) to 1918, the last year the team had won the series. With the subtraction of Nomar Garciaparra (5), who was traded to the Cubs in July, the equation equaled 2004.
After Sunday's win there was no rioting on Lansdowne Street or Yawkey Way outside Fenway. Fans in Boston have been here before. Almost no one can remember the taste of absolute victory in Beantown, yet fans are constantly reminded of agonizing moments they would like to forget.
The Red Sox themselves know that there can be no guarantees in October. After all, they were considered all but dead a week ago when the Yankees needed just five outs in Game 4 of the ALCS to put an extra chill into yet another disheartening New England winter.
Reach the reporter at mark.saxon@asu.edu.
