Two games away from glory

One of the tell-tale signs of a great team is when they can win games in many different ways. The Sox had been pounding the ball the last three games. They found themselves in an old-fashioned pitchers duel last night but still came out on top, 2-1 in game two of the 2007 World Series.

Curt Schilling vs. rookie Ubaldo Jimenez is a classic mismatch in such a big game. No question, Jimenez (he of the 100 mph fastball and dirty off-speed stuff) has an electric arm while Schilling is surviving on smarts and guile. Was there any doubt that Sox would do just enough to pull this one out? Chalk it up to 2004 or the team's success this year, whatever the reason the Sox just have an air of inevitability about them in these playoffs. When they're on (working opposing hurlers and getting good starts from its rotation), they're nearly impossible to beat.

The Rockies scored in the top of the first but the Sox slowly waited out Ubaldo, scoring one in the fourth and fifth. He was gone before the end of the fifth, having only given up two runs on three hits but he walked five. Schilling was gone one out into the sixth, surrendering only the one run on four hits, striking out four. The MVP of this game for the Sox was Hideki Okajima. He fell apart in the second half of the season as he wore down but last night, he looked like the lights out Okajima of May-July that made the All-Star game. Hideki got seven outs without allowing a hit or walk while striking out four. Papelbon recorded the last four outs, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Matt Holliday was the bulk of the offense for the Rockies, he had four of their five hits. As a team they struck out ten times and left 14 on base. Seeing them in the dugout in the late innings, they hardly resembled the freight train that reeled off 21 of 22 wins to make it here. They looked rattled, they look over matched.The Sox scored its first run on a Varitek sac fly which plated Lowell. Lowell had the biggest hit as his RBI double scored Ortiz. Drew was on base all four times he came to the plate: two hits, a walk and hit by a pitch.Once again, after Schilling left the game, you sensed that this could be his last game starting for the Red Sox at Fenway. Unless, this series comes back to Fenway (unlikely), he is probably done here. One more big game performance like that will look good as he tries to get into the Hall of Fame.

The series shifts to Colorado tomorrow night and as my buddy KC said, "all the Sox have to do is win one of the next two games because Beckett in game five is a lock of the century." So there you go. Matsuzaka in game three and Lester in game four don't exactly conjure up images of shutouts or no-hitter's. However, they're facing journeyman Josh Fogg and Aaron Cook (coming off a long injury layoff) so who knows what to expect from those two. I have a feeling the next two games will be slug-fests. The Sox clearly have the better bullpen so things couldn't look better after two games.