The Red Sox Finish The Regular Season With The Best Record In Baseball

96-66, the best record in all of baseball, belongs to the Boston Red Sox. The team is to be applauded for its hard work and excellence, but the regular season is just the start. The ultimate goal? A World Championship for 2007. And the Sox have the team that could do it. But so do the Angels of LA. The Boston club has the home field advantage through the World Series by virtue of having the best record in the AL....in fact, in all of baseball, and should they make it that far, home field advantage for the World Series, too, thanks to the AL win over the NL in the All Star Game. So Fenway Park will be a very busy place starting on Wednesday, when it will be 19-9 John Lackey ready to face 20-7 Josh Beckett. Halos beware!

There are so many congratulations to go around, starting with Big Papi David Ortiz for having his best season ever, to Josh Beckett, the probable Cy Young Award winner, to rookie of the year (no doubt) Dustin Pedroia, and to Mike Lowell for his season-long sheer excellence. Of course, there's Okie, Papelbon and the whole 'pen, too, for without that bunch of guys, well, who knows what would have happened. But it didn't, and it did, if that makes sense, and we're on our way down that green brick road towards immortality. And the green is for Fenway Park.

My condolences go out to any Mets fans out there (that's you ML, among too many others), for their collapse was historic and heartbreaking. How could a future Hall of Fame pitcher like Tom Glavine be SO BAD yesterday, when everything was on the table and it was do or die? I HAVE NO IDEA. But they died. I feel for you, Mets fans. And I know EXACTLY what those emotions are....do you remember the tears in the Boston dugout in 1986? I do, all too well.

There will be a thumbnail analysis of the upcoming Angels/Sox series to come. I'm having a busy first part of the week, culminating in a Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert here in Hartford tomorrow (!!!) night. But stay tuned, right here, for everything I know and learn goes right to you. And click on the title for the latest on David Ortiz and his cortisone shot. He will carry this team on his shoulders, much like Yaz did in 1967, until that ultimate dream is attained. And we'll be watching. All of us. With smiles AND tears of happiness. Your comments are so very welcome, for without you, I'd be muttering nonsense to myself! Thanks...forever!