***THE BOSTON RED SOX ARE 2007 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS......TOP OF THE WORLD, MA!!***

They did it! The Boston Red Sox defeated the Colorado Rockies by a score of 4-3 on a warm Sunday night in Denver. They are champions of the world once more, the only team to do it twice this century. Jon Lester was impeccable. He pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, giving up only 3 hits while walking 3 and throwing 92 pitches. The bullpen took it from there. Manny Delcarmen gave up a run in his 2/3 of an inning, Mike Timlin had 2 big strikeouts in his 2/3, an overused Hideki Okajima went 1/3 of an inning and gave up a 2 run home run to Garrett Atkins and zero ERA man Jonathon Papelbon threw 23 pitches in retiring the final 5 Colorado batters. And then, bedlam on the field. Pure and simple happy, joyous bedlam. And all around the world, RSN and RSI rejoiced with the team we love to love.

The Sox had a 1-0 first inning lead courtesy of a lead off double by Jacoby Ellsbury and a ground single through the drawn in infield by Big Papi. Their second run scored in the fifth inning. A leadoff double by Series MVP (he batted .400!) Mike Lowell and a single by Jason Varitek made it 2-0. Mike Lowell came through yet again leading off the seventh. He hit a home run to make it 3-0 good guys. But Brad Hawpe also hit a seventh inning tater, this one off Manny Delcarmen, to make it 3-1. In the eighth, another Sox player stepped up. Pinch hitter Bobby Kielty hit a leadoff home run, the eventual winning run, which made it 4-1. Good thing, too, for a tired Okie surrendered that 2 run shot to make it 4-3. Guess what happened next. PAP'S TIME!!! 5 outs later, with one minor scare on a ball corralled at the wall by Ellsbury, and the Red Sox had won their fourth straight over the overmatched Colorado Rockies and their eighth straight World Series triumph in all. I love that Dirty Watah!! Boston, you're my home.

The Red Sox finished this World Series with a team batting average of .333, second highest ever, next to the 1960 Yankees, who eventually lost, and a team ERA a staggering 2.50. They dominated the series every way possible, and we are so proud of them. And during the celebration after the game you could hear the many Red Sox fans chanting "Sign Lowell," and I so agree. AROD has departed the Yankees, or so it seems, but Mike Lowell belongs in our infield, at OUR hot corner. I hope he'll accept a 2 or 3 year contract, because at the age of 32, the Red Sox probably would not offer him a 4 year deal. But he was the sparkplug of this series with his uncanny infield glovework and his .400 batting average.

So it's ovah! We're all happy. There's a parade to come, in the streets and on the river. The Boston Red Sox are the best team on the planet. We knew it all along, didn't we? It wasn't that easy at times, but our continuing confidence helped us through these last 7 months. And click on the title of this post for the Globe's Gordon Edes' stirring and inspiring article entitled SOX ARE KING OF DIAMOND. And, Constant Readers, they're kings of our hearts, too, forever. Congratulations 2007 Boston Red Sox....you made us ALL so very, very proud.

I'll be back every day to cover the off season wheelings and dealings, including the Hot Stove negotiations. These will all be topics of conversations in later days, later posts. Thank you for sharing this unforgettable 2007 season. And it's all here, every game, every day. Just scroll down to the very bottom righthand side of this page, where you'll see the archives. Click on April 2007, start at the earliest April date, and enjoy this season day by day, game by game. Every day, every game! 2007 will live forever in our hearts and souls. Enjoy this Monday, after a night we'll NEVER forget! And I'll never forget YOU, either. Or my 2007 Boston Red Sox. Champions of the world. Be well.