Curt Schilling notes how his championship rings keep getting bigger. At some point, a player's hand is going to collapse under the weight.

The Hardball Times looks at the greatest World Series game sevens. At the top of the list was a game I wasn't familiar with, the 1924 classic between the Giants and Senators.

In the final game of the Washington's first World Series, player-manager Bucky Harris made a surprising decision, calling on Curly Ogden as his starting pitcher, a completely forgettable right-hander who hadn't yet appeared in the Series. Everyone had expected the team's number-two hurler, southpaw George Mogridge. Huh?

There was a method to Harris's madness. Everything hinged on young first baseman Bill Terry. He was already a robust hitter for the Giants, but John McGraw liked to hide him against southpaws. If Harris started Mogridge, Terry would be available for pinch hitting duty later in the game; that was menacing as he matched up quite well against Harris's relief ace, right-handed Firpo Marberry.

But start Ogden, and you ensure Terry starts the game. Once McGraw had submitted his lineup card, and Ogden began the game, Harris planned on bringing in Mogridge. However, when Ogden struck out the first batter, Harris left him in: maybe it's his day.

No. After he walked the second batter, Ogden's day was done. Mogridge came in. McGraw, aware that was he being played to set up Marberry, refused to blink.

I always thought John McNamara should have done this with Boyd and Hurst in game seven in 1986. Davey Johnson loved his platoons. If the Red Sox started Boyd, then Dystrka and Backman start for the Mets. If McNamara then brings in Hurst, Johnson would either stick with his lefties against the lefties and have a weak lineup, or substitute early and lose flexibility later. Of course, Hurst starts the game and the Mets win the game and the series.

Curt Schilling thanks everyone involved with the Red Sox for making the World Series win possible. He praises the Rockies and ends with this:

To Red Sox Nation we'd like to offer our deepest and most profound thank you for making the last four years some of the greatest moments personally and professionally, of our lives. Much like the fans in Philadelphia, and Arizona, you always treated my wife and my children with respect. You were far better to me than I deserved at times, and never worse than I deserved at others. The only thing I know I can say without a doubt is that I took the ball, every single time, and never ever left anything in the tank.

If October 28, 2007, was the last time I ever wear this uniform, thank you. It was an honor and a privelage to be allowed to play here.

The team that pulled rabbits out of hats since the middle of September lost the magic in the World Series. And that's okay:

When little Jamey Carroll lifted a drive to left in the bottom of the ninth, the 50,041 in attendance held their breath. Could it be? Was it possible?

Well, no. It couldn't. It wasn't. The magic carpet ride is over.

But, man, what a ride.

Give credit to the Red Sox, who dominated the World Series and clearly earned their second championship in four years. The Rockies faithful ceded the ball yard to Red Sox Nation when it was over, and for all their celebrating, they couldn't resist a profane chant aimed at the Yankees, too.

For the Rocks, it ended on as beautiful a night for baseball as Colorado has ever seen.

Like the Red Sox, the Rockies have a model for sustainability, although I suspect it's more like the Twins model than the Red Sox model. The difference is a willingness to pay the price for quality free agents. However, if the Rockies start selling out the stadium due to this run, that could change as well.

Congratulations to the Rockies on a terrific and somewhat surprising season. They found a formula that works for them and had the patience to see it through.

Theo Epstein points out how the Red Sox World Championship was an organizational effort:

"It's a little different," said Sox general manager Theo Epstein when asked to compare that championship feeling. "It's like comparing your children. You can't do it. But this one was sweet because it was a top-to-bottom organizational effort. So much hard work. It wasn't a fluke. We worked hard to get here."

There is no doubt the Red Sox were the best team in the majors this season. They tied for best record, but they blew away the Indians in run differential, as they eventually showed in the ALCS. There weren't many weaknesses on the team, and the few were easily covered in a short series.

What's impressive is that Sox were able to both win and rebuild at the same time. They slid back a bit in 2006, but had pieces ready in 2007. Not only that, but they had pieces ready dispite trading away a potential MVP shortstop. The Red Sox are not taking their future for granted, however. Epstein:

"Maybe, just maybe, we're prepared to compete at a very high level for a long time to come. Baseball will humble you in a hurry. Just when you think you have something, it turns on you.

"No one wants to sit here, spray champagne, and talk about how we're going to be great for a long period of time. That's not the way things work. We have a foundation now, and let's see what we do with it."

It looks like this could be the start of a run like the Braves had and the Yankees continue.

The Red Sox complete the sweep of the Rockies. They take the odd games of the series by blowouts, the even ones by one run. Pedroia, with his 0 for 4 tonight was the only one of the starting position players to hit under .300 in the series, and he was still at .278. I'm not sure if Lowell or Ellsbury should get the MVP.

The Red Sox dominated every aspect of the game. They outscored the Rockies 29-10. They hit more doubles, they stole more bases, they struck out sixteen fewer times and drew nine more walks.

Congratulations to the Red Sox on building a great team, and taking that team all the way to the top. They're a great combination of veterans and youngsters, and it looks like they have a sustainable model. The combination of Henry's money and front office smarts is certainly paying off.

Update: Mike Lowell wins the MVP. Good choice. He hit .400 with a .500 OBA and a .800 slugging percentage. He wins two cars! One for hauling and one for saving gas. Now he gets to compete with A-Rod as free agent third basemen.

Torrealba leads off for Colorado. He grounds out to second. One down.

Update: Carroll comes close, sending Ellsbury back to the wall in left. Good catch, and the Red Sox are one out away from a championship.

Update: Seth Smith runs out of luck as he strikes out to end the series. The Red Sox win 4-3! They're World Champions for the second time in four seasons.

Corpas gets the Red Sox in order in the ninth. The Rockies have three outs to spend to get a run and keep this World Series alive. Papelbon needs three outs for his first World Series ring.

Helton singles with one out in the eighth. He's batting .333 for the series.

Update: Atkins homers to make the score 4-3 as the Red Sox go to Okajima once two often. Papelbon comes in for a five out save. They're really pushing Jon into long save situations in this series.

Four home runs tonight after only two in the first three games.

Update: Papelbon gets the two batters he faces. Now it's up to the Rockies bullpen to keep the game close so the offense has a chance to win it in the ninth.

Bobby Kielty gets the run right back with a home run of his own. The Red Sox appear to be unstoppable, which in this case means they can't be stopped.

Update: Manny Corpas strikes out Manny Ramirez to end the inning. The Rockies have six outs to get three runs.

With one out in the seventh, Sullivan pinch hits and singles. That bring in Mike Timlin to face Matsui.

Update: Matsui strikes out. It's up to Tulowitzki to keep the inning alive.

Update: Timlin strikes out Tulowitzki, doing a great job of getting out of the inning. It's a two-run game going to the eighth.

Brad Hawpe gets all of a Delcarman pitch and sends it into the rightfield stands for a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh. That gets back the run given up in the top of the inning. They still need two more.

Mike Lowell leads off the seventh inning with a home run, forcing Aaron Cook out of the game. The Red Sox lead 3-0.

Jon Lester leaves after two out in the sixth inning. He walks Atkins, bringing his pitch count over 90. I thought the probability of Jon getting knocked around tonight was high. He walked batters as usual, giving up three, but he kept the ball in the park and limited the Rockies to just three hits. A big outing in a big game for the cancer survivor. He's in line for the win if the bullpen (Delcarmen) can hold the lead.

Update: Delcarmen strikes out Spilborghs to end the inning. The Rockies season comes down to three innings.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, the Rockies allow Cook to bat. He pushes a bunt by Lester for a single. Now the Rockies need to capitalize on the pitcher reaching base.

Update: Matsui and Tulowitzki make outs, and the inning ends.

Lowell leads off the Red Sox fifth with a double, ending Cook's streak of retiring ten straight batters.

Update: Varitek pulls the ball into right, and a good slide by Lowell scores the second run of the game for the Red Sox. Lugo singles to put men on first and second for the Red Sox with Lester coming up.

Update: Lester strikes out trying to bunt. That's the only strikeout for Cook tonight.

Update: He also strikes out Ellsbury, and that ends the inning. The Red Sox have out doubled the Rockies 18 to 6 in the series.

Aaron Cook retires the Red Sox in order for the third inning in a row. He's doing his job of keeping the Rockies in the game. Once again, it's time for the offense to step up. Cook has thrown twelve fewer pitches than Lester despite pitching one more inning.

The Rockies get their second double of the game as Manny Ramirez has trouble reading a fly ball off the bat of Kaz Matsui. He doesn't break back right away, and the ball goes over his head.

Update: Tulowitzki strikes out for the second time tonight. Holliday up with a runners in scoring position.

Update: Nice finish by Lester as he also strikes out Holliday. Both teams have two hits, but only the Sox were able to put them together in the same inning to plate a run.

Todd Helton legs out a double leading off the second inning. The big Colorado outfield helped on that as Ellsbury cut the ball off, but still couldn't throw out Todd. It's the first hit of the game for Colorado.

Update: They get another man on with a walk, but fail to score. They are working Lester harder than the Red Sox are walking Cook. Jon has throws 16 more pitches through two innings.

Lester fooled the Rockies in the first with his breaking pitches as he retired the side in order, striking out one. Both starters are throwing a high percentage of strikes so far.

Aaron Cook starts a must win game for the Rockies, but allows a run facing three batters. Ellsbury picks up another double, moves to third on a ground out, then Ortiz pulls a single through the drawn in infield. The Red Sox break on top again, 1-0.

Update: Manny grounds into a DP to end the inning, so bringing in the infield early doesn't hurt the Rockies. But they still find themselves in an early hole.

Two thirds of the post-season series this year ended in sweeps, and the Red Sox hope to make it five of seven tonight as they serve with four match points. It's a comeback night as Aaron Cook returns from a oblique injury and Jon Lester gets a chance to cap his return from cancer with a World Series victory. Cook went down during a very productive part of his season. He wasn't striking out many batters, but he was keeping the bases free of free passes and not allowing many home runs. He posted a 2.95 ERA from July 1st to his injury.

Lester's high ERA this season came from too many walks and too many home runs. Unfortunately in the World Series, drawing walks and hitting home runs is something the Rockies aren't doing. On top of that, Colorado also didn't hit lefties as well as righties this season.

Boston's held sway in every aspect of the game in this World Series. Although I suspect both Lester and Cook will get hit, I'm guessing Cook gets hit more. There's a high probability the Red Sox finish the sweep tonight.

Helton flies out to start the inning.

Update: Atkins grounds out to third. It's up to Hawpe.

Update: Hawpe gets a hit down the rightfield line and ends up at third. The Rockies remain alive. Hawpe gets a triple on the hit.

Update: Torrealba grounds out to short, and the Red Sox win 10-5 in the longest game by time in World Series history, 4:19. The Red Sox offense was relentless for the second time in the series. The Rockies got close, but Boston knocked them right back down. The history of 3-0 series says the Rockies don't have much of a chance of winning game four, let alone coming back to win.

Mike Lowell reaches on a single, gets sacrificed to second, steals third, then scores on a sacrifice fly by Varitek. It's 10-5 Boston as they keep pouring on the offense. The Rockies need a big bottom of the ninth against Papelbon.

With two out in the bottom of the eighth, Delcarmen gives up a single to Matsui and a walk to Tulowitzki. That brings in Papelbon to face Holliday and try to get a four out save.

Update: Holliday flies deep to left, by Manny is there to catch it. The Red Sox still lead by four.

With one out in the eighth, Lugo walks and Crisp singles to bring up the top of the order.

Update: Ellsbury drops a double down the rightfield line just out of the reach of Hawpe. That scores a run, and Pedroia doubles to right to score two more. Fuentes gives back the three runs the Rockies scored in the seventh. A great relief performance by the bullpen is ruined in the eighth.

Update: That's all the Red Sox get. A nice answer to the Rockies seventh as Ellsbury and Pedroia keep hitting. It keeps looking less likely that Crisp will be a regular starter for the Red Sox again.

Kaz Matsui bunts for a single leading off the bottom of the seventh and then steals a base. That's a bit aggressive with a four run deficit.

Update: Tulowitzki singles up the middle. Kaz held up because he didn't want to be caught off second as he was in the first inning, so he only gets to third. But the Rockies now have 1st and 3rd with no one out, and Okajima coming in on a double switch that sends Drew to the bench.

Update: Holliday greets Hideki with a ball over the fence in straight-away center, and the Red Sox lead is down to one run. The Rockies are getting their swings back in the second half of this game.

Update: Helton goes the other way for a single, and there's still no outs in the seventh.

Update: Atkins battles, but strikes out swinging. One out.

Update: Hawpe strikes out for the eighth time in the series, also swinging. It's up to Torrealba to keep the inning going.

Update: Torrealba bounces back to the box for the third out. But it's a close game going to the eighth.

Matt Herges comes on to strike out the side in the top of the seventh. The Rockies bullpen has gone 4 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out five. The offense needs to match that kind of production.

Matsuzaka gets wild in the sixth as he walks two in a row with one out as he hits the 100 pitch mark. That brings Lopez into the game to face Hawpe.

Update: Hawpe delivers, picking up an opposite field single to left. That pushes Helton across the plate, and the Rockies trail 6-1.

Update: Torrealba singles to drive in the second run of the inning. I'd like to say the crowd is back in the game, but they never left. The Rockies fans have been great tonight, keeping the excitement level high. Notice that all this happened his they took Ortiz out of the game for a better defensive player. :-)

Update: Lugo makes a nice leaping catch of a line drive to end the inning. But the Rockies showed they can still hit the ball hard in the inning. They have three innings to score at least four runs.

Update: Spilborghs hits the ball as far as you can hit it in Colorado and keep it in the park. Two out as Ellsbury goes back to the wall in center to make the catch.

Seth Smith pinch hits for Morales, and once again delivers a pop in just the right place to fall for a hit. Morales pitched very well tonight in his 2 1/3 innings of work, allowing just one hit. It makes you wonder, given the poor start by Fogg and the poor offense by the Rockies if Morales and Smith shouldn't be starting in this series.

Update: The Rockies put two men on in the inning but don't score. Matsuzaka is doing a great job hitting the zone tonight, with 58 of his 83 pitches going for strikes. His pitch count is high for five innings, but given the lead there's no reason to rush him out of the game.

I just got back from a neighborhood dinner. Living in Massachusetts, the group was very pro Red Sox and thoroughly enjoyed the top of the third inning as the Red Sox scored six runs. When Matsuzaka singled to drive in a run, you got the feeling the series was over.

The move of Ellsbury to the leadoff spot worked perfectly as he went 3 for 3 with two doubles off Fogg. He and Pedroia combined for five hits in six at bats, setting up the heart of the order.

Dice-K is having now problem with the high altitude so far, striking out four through three innings. Hawpe was one of those, his seventh in nine at bats. He's been a huge black hole in the middle of the series so far.

The good news for the Rockies is that this is Coors, and anything can happen.

The Red Sox get high tonight as they play game 3 in the Mile High City. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes on Josh Fogg. Fogg's nickname, Dragon Slayer, may not fit tonight as Matsuzaka is hardly the Red Sox ace. Dice-K pitched well for two months this year, but has been less than outstanding the rest of the time. His strikeout rate was good all season, but that didn't translate into a low BA allowed, and many of the hits he gave up were for extra bases. That kind of pitching won't go over well at Coors.

Fogg's had a great post season so far, allowing one run over eight innings on a solo home run. Fogg might have made the decision to start David Ortiz at first difficult, since Fogg is a rare reverse righty. Right-handed batters hit for a better average and get on base more than lefties (30 points better), although lefties hit for more power. Fogg did pitch five okay inning against Boston earlier this season, allowing two runs. That was good enough for the win. In fact, against the Red Sox and the Yankees Fogg was a combined 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA.

Enjoy!

The Rockies are not bothered by their 0-2 hole:

This is, after all, a team that had to win 14 of its final 15 regular-season games to get to the postseason, and managed to do just that, the strongest late-season surge in major league history. In the process, they jumped ahead of the Dodgers, Mets and Padres to claim the National League wild card.

They had to rally for a 9-8, 13-inning victory against the Padres by scoring three runs off Trevor Hoffman to win the National League wild-card tiebreaker.

They are only the seventh team to have rallied from being as many as nine games below .500 (18-27 in late May) to get to the World Series.

"We've had some challenges before during the season," Hurdle said. "This is the last challenge. But our focus is on Game 3. We need to win a ballgame, but a sense of urgency hasn't hurt this club. We've been outplayed the first two games and we understand that."

Just another hurdle for Hurdle to hurdle.

Terry Francona decided to go with David Ortiz at first base in game 3, with Kevin Youkilis moving to the bench.

Francona also said his plan is to move Dustin Pedroia into Youkilis' No. 2 spot in the batting order and switch center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury from ninth to Pedroia's slot leading off.

Another option had been to sit Mike Lowell and move Youkilis to third base. Francona indicated in Boston that he could envision playing Ortiz in all three potential games in Denver, but he said Friday he hasn't ruled out a different configuration for Game 4, or 5 if necessary.

"I think David is a really good hitter, and I think Mike Lowell is a really good hitter, and I actually think Youk is a really good hitter," Francona said. "But they won't let us play all three of them. So we'll go with this."

If there was a left-handed pitcher on the mound, I might want to start Youkilis. Ortiz is a perfectly adequate first baseman, so I wouldn't too much about his defense at first. He should be able to make up for any mistakes with his bat.

Don't get cocky:

Speaking of dignity, I'm astonished at just how much my watching-the-game mentality has changed since 2004. My never ending angst and jittahs has been replaced by a cool certitude.

Tracy Ringolsby notes the Rockies offense poor play has been going on for some time:

The Rockies offense has been stopped cold by the Red Sox, looking to repeat the sweep they enjoyed against St. Louis in 2004, their first championship since 1918.

The Rockies have scored one run in each of the two games, a far cry from a regular season in which they ranked second in the NL with 860 runs. It is a problem, though, that has been festering during the postseason.

After a 10-5 victory against Philadelphia in Game 2 of the NLDS, the Rockies won their next five games, finishing the sweep of the Phillies, then sweeping Arizona in four games in the NLCS. They then lost the first two games in the World Series.

During that seven-game stretch, the Rockies have scored only 22 runs and are hitting .217.

Teams were 1097-145 (.883) when holding opponents to two runs or less this season, 437-111 (.797) when holding the opposition to exactly two runs. Despite all the walks, the Rockies pitching staff last night gave the team a great chance to win the game. The offense just lost its punch.

The pick off of Matt Holliday in game 2 was a result of steals against Papelbon in the LDS against the Angels:

They knew that the Rockies were scouting them in the Division Series against the Angels, when Howie Kendrick stole second and third unchallenged against Papelbon in the eighth inning of a tie game.

"If you were advancing us, you would have said the same thing, that Pap is 1.8 [seconds] to the plate, and he doesn't pick," Mills said. "But it was a different situation in the game against the Angels. We didn't care if he stole, because we had confidence in Paps getting the hitter and we didn't want to take anything away from him to try to get the runner on that situation.

If you get the hitter, the runner can steal all he wants. That's why the Yankees should have ignored Dave Roberts in the 2004 ALCS. There was too much concentration on the runner, not enough on the batter.

"We know they're advancing us, they're watching it. That night I was talking to Pap in the shower about that exact thing, and about what was to come. [Bullpen coach] Gary Tuck was talking to him about it, [pitching coach] John Farrell talked to him about it, about different things we were going to do."

When manager Terry Francona went out with trainer Paul Lessard to check on Pedroia, Mills noticed that Glenallen Hill, the Rockies' first base coach, never stopped talking to Holliday. Mills also had a color-coded chart he keeps on every player, that showed that Holliday likes to steal on the first pitch with two outs. "It was right there in my pocket," Mills said.

Now that's being prepared. It's what I love about this organization, top to bottom, they're always thinking ahead. They found a way to turn a pattern others saw into an opportunity for an out.

Like last night, the Red Sox put a lot of men on base. They collected six hits, seven walks, and a hit by pitch, almost doubling the number of runners Colorado put on base. Unlike last night, however, Boston didn't deliver the runs like last night. Two proved to be enough tonight, however.

The Rockies as a team walked just over three batter per nine innings. In these two games they've walked fifteen in sixteen innings. How much is the selectivity of the Red Sox or the wildness of the Rockies is hard to say.

Boston retains the home field advantage. We get to see how well Matsuzaka's pitches bend at high altitude in game three.

The Red Sox get a hit in the bottom of the eight but don't score. Papelbon tries to hold a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth. Helton leads off. He's 0-2 with a walk.

Update: Helton battles, but strikes out swinging. One down.

Update: Atkins flies out to center. It's up to Hawpe.

Update: Fittingly, Hawpe strikes out to end the game. The Red Sox win 2-1 and take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

Okajima gets the first two out in the eighth, retiring all seven batters he faced. Papelbon is one to face the heart of the Rockies order for a four-out save.

Update: Papelbon gets a Charlie Brown line drive hit back at him. He gets knocked down, Pedroia stops the ball but can't make the play. Holliday has his fourth hit of the night, a two-out single.

Update: Huge blunder by Holliday as he gets picked off at first. He wasn't even close getting back to the bag. The Red Sox are three outs away from a 2-0 series lead.

Okajima retires the Rockies in order in the top of the seventh. Okajima's faced five batters and retired all of them, striking out two.

Herges gives up a leadoff single to Ellsbury in the sixth, and he's advanced with outs to third. The Herges issues the seventh walk of the night to bring up Ortiz with two on and two out. That's it for Matt as Fuentes comes in to face Big Papi.

Update: Ortiz flies out to deep center. The Red Sox put 12 men on so far tonight but only plated two.

With one out, Matt Holliday picks up his third hit of the night, then Schilling loses Helton with a walk after starting him 1-2. With the tying run on second in the top of the sixth, Okajima comes into the game. If Hideki gets out of this jam, Schilling will be in line to get a win with a good pitching performance.

Update: Atkins grounds to first, putting runners on second and third as Brad tries to Hawpe to it.

Update: Hawpe strikes out swinging. That's five K in seven at bats for Hawpe in the World Series. Still 2-1 Red Sox.

After Jimenez walks Ortiz with two out in the fifth, Ramirez and the Rockies starter go at it. Jimenez starts him with a ball, then Manny swings through two pitches. He fouls off the next pitch, then pulls an inside fastball for a hit. Great adjustments by Ramirez in that at bat. Then Lowell pulls one into the leftfield corner to score Ortiz and give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. That's it for Jimenez as Drew comes to bat with men on second and third.

Update: Affeldt walks Drew, failing to get the one lefty. Herges comes in to try to keep it a one-run game. The number of walks issued by the Rockies in this series is amazing.

Update: Herges is no Speier as he gets Varitek to fly out to end the inning. Now the pressure is on the Rockies offense to generate some offense against Schilling.

J.D. Drew picks up the first hit of the night for the Red Sox after a Mike Lowell walk. Drew was hit his first time up. Lowell tries to go first to third, drawing a throw. He's safe and Drew goes to second. Varitek delivers a sacrifice fly and the score is tied at one in the bottom of the fourth. Nice base running by Lowell to make that possible. Both runs came as a result of aggressive base running tonight.

Update: Free Tacos! Ellsbury steals a base!

Update: Lugo grounds out to end the inning. The teams are tied at one after four. Jimenez has only allowed one hit, but he's walked four and hit a batter.

The Red Sox go back to selectivity as Pedroia and Youkilis draw two-out walks in the third. Ortiz misses the Pesky pole by inches, then strikes out as he tries to check his swing. Once again, Jimenez comes up with a strikeout, his seventh in eleven at bats with runners in scoring position in the post season.

Schilling retires the side in order in the third, and faced the minimum in the last two innings. He's throwing strikes with 31 of his 44 pitches resulting in a positive call or a swing. He's struck out three so far.

J.D. Drew gets hit above the ankle. He's the first Red Sox batter to reach base tonight. They continue to swing early as Ubaldo threw 14 pitches to the first six batters.

Update: Jimenez strikes out Varitek looking to end the second. Fox had the font of the night as Jason batted. "Enjoys listening to Dave Matthews Band and Bare Naked Ladies." What ball player doesn't!

Jimenez doesn't strike out a batter in the first, but retires the Red Sox in order. With Boston swinging early in the count, Ubaldo throws just six pitches in the inning. Not the selective Red Sox we're used to.

Taveras reaches base, getting hit in the hand with a pitch. Already, the Rockies are doing better than last night!

Update: With one out, Taveras goes from first to third on a hit and run on an infield hit. The ball went off Lowell's glove and Schilling was slow covering third. The throw to Curt was off, and that let Holliday go to second. Helton has two in scoring position.

Update: Helton grounds out to first, plating Taveras and giving the Rockies their first lead of the World Series.

Update: That's it for the Rockies as Atkins grounds out. They do make Schilling work a bit as he throws over 22 pitches in the inning.

The Red Sox try to build on their blow out win tonight while the Rockies look for a way to stop the Red Sox hitters. Ubaldo Jimenez and Curt Schilling take the mound tonight in game 2 of the World Series. Once again, Schilling is matched with a hard throwing youngster. The Red Sox split his appearances in the ALCS against Fausto Carmona. Jimenez does a better job striking out batters than Carmona does, but he also walks more. And as we saw in game one, the Red Sox are more than willing to wait out a wild pitcher.

Ubaldo got away with walks in the first two rounds (8 in 11 1/3 innings) because he's kept his hits allowed with men in scoring position low (1 for 10). A big reason for that low number is six of his eleven post-season strikeouts came in those ten at bats. The Red Sox as a team don't strike out very much, making that strategy a bit more difficult. He's put plenty of men on base and when you do that they eventually come around to score.

Schilling's song for the playoffs so far is "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." Five of the seven runs he allowed came in game two of the ALCS. In his other fourteen innings, he's allowed just two runs and six hits. And he keeps extra runners off base by limiting the number of walks he allows, just one this post season. He may not have the stuff of Jimenez anymore, but he knows how to control it.

Enjoy!

Kevin Youkilis doesn't think the Rockies hitters were rusty last night:

The Rockies, I don't think, looked that rusty. They swung the bats well. I think we just scored a bunch of runs and had timely hitting.

When people talk about the days off, don't they realize that the Rockies did more than just sit around for a week? Pitchers pitched and hitters hit. Yes, it's not game situations, but they didn't sit on their behinds for a week, either.

A big difference in the game last night was the percentage of strikes thrown by each side's pitchers. Beckett put 2/3 of his pitches in the zone, or at least tempting enough for a batter to swing. Francis was around 60%, about the league average. But Morales and Speier, who took the chance of a comeback from difficult to impossible combined to throw 28 of 41 pitches for balls. That's the kind of environment where a highly selective team like Boston thrives. They waited for their pitch, and when they saw one they liked they smacked it, otherwise, they were happy to take a walk.

Morales' performance ranks with the worst in World Series history:

It ranks among the most ineffective all-time relief outings in World Series history. The last reliever to go through a similar struggle was Yankees right-hander Jay Witasick, who gave up nine runs in 1 1/3 innings against Arizona in Game 6 of the 2001 World Series.

Witasick was a veteran at the time. Morales is a kid who was overwhelmed by the setting.

Pitching coach Bob Apodaca said an overly excited Morales let his body get out of control, and his performance rapidly deteriorated into a series of pitches to bad spots.

The Red Sox take all three game ones in the post season. So far, that's worked out well for them.

The Rockies come to bat in the top of the ninth trailing 13-1.

Update: Gagne retires the side in order, striking out Hawpe to end the game.

The Red Sox set a record for biggest margin of victory in game one of the World Series, twelve runs. The Red Sox put 25 men on base to the Rockies 7. It was a total rout. There won't be an 11-0 team this year.

Thanks to Jim Storer for the photos.

With Tulowitzki's double in the seventh, the teams have now combined for 22 hits, twelve to them doubles.

Update: Beckett finishes the inning stranding the runner. He's now allowed four runs over 30 innings in the post season, a 1.20 ERA. He continues to work very efficiently, averaging 13 pitches an inning tonight.

Neither team scores in the sixth inning. It's only the second such inning, and both were divisible by three.

Franklin Morales starts the fifth inning pitching for the Rockies. Francis turns in a poor start, allowing six runs in four innings. With ten hits and three walks allowed, it could have been a lot worse. Lugo greets Morales with a single.

Update: After a force out and a balk, Youkilis doubles home another run. Morales fails to shut down the Red Sox and they go up 7-1 in the game.

Update: Ortiz follows with a double, his third hit of the night. The Red Sox have seven doubles, two each by Ortiz and Youkilis.

Update: The Red Sox keep pouring it on as Manny singles in Ortiz. It's 9-1.

Update: Lowell picks up the eighth double of the game for the Red Sox and ninth extra-base hit. That ties a World Series record for extra-base hit. Men on 2nd and 3rd with two out for Varitek.

Update: Varitek walks. I can't believe the Rockies are letting Morales get pounded like this. Six of the seven batters to reach base in this inning did so with two out.

Update: Drew singles off the glove of Tulowitzki, and the Red Sox lead 10-1.

Update: Speier enters the game and walks in a run. At this point it seems like the Rockies will never get another out.

Update: Another walk, another run. It's 12-1.

Update: The broadcast just pointed out that the Rockies gave up just eight runs to the DBacks in four games.

Update: Speier walks his third batter in a row. Is there a mercy rule in the World Series? It's 13-1 Boston. Ellsbury is the only starter without a hit, Lugo is the only one who hasn't scored a run, and Lowell is the only one without an RBI.

Update: Herges gets Youkilis to pop out to end the inning. What a debacle.

Jason Varitek collects the third hit of the bottom of the fourth and the second double. It comes with the bases loaded and scores two as Boston extends their lead to 6-1. That's five doubles for Boston in the game. In his game against the Red Sox in June, Francis twice faced batters with the bases loaded and did not give up a hit.