Not meant to be

Here I was, all ready to root for an "End-of-the-World Series" between the Cubs and Red Sox. Instead, we have to deal with a bloody New York-Florida World Series. Fox is, I'm sure, not looking forward to this--it's their worst-case scenario (as far as ratings are concerned).

Now, while everybody in Red Sox Nation (and others) are going to make manager Little the goat in this scenario, people are probably also going to forget the fact that Pedro was given the opportunity to go quietly under his own choice in the eighth--and refused. I think, more than anything, that the game was lost not because of Little's decision, but because of Pedro's hubris. He had no business even starting the eighth inning when he was clearly so tired, let alone stay in long enough to give up four straight hits and blow the game. He should have been content to have gone seven innings and given up only the pair of homers to Giambi, and then turn the game over to the bullpen to let them close it out.

Going the distance to win the pennant shouldn't have been the only goal in Pedro's mind. Unfortunately, that seems to have trumped all other concerns last night. And, like Little said, who really wants to tell Pedro "no?"

The interesting thing, though, is that the question now becomes, what does Epstein do next year? Clearly you don't need to do much retooling of the offense--and we finally actually have a decent closing crew in Timlin, Embree, and Williamson (although its ability to hold up over long periods of time has not yet been proven). More importantly, I'd be loathe to tinker around too much with the team--they have the kind of team chemistry that can't be bought or imposed which makes them so much fun to watch (except for last night, perhaps).

So, what does the team need right now? One or two more good starters (anybody know if Beckett or Zito or will be available next year?), a solid middle reliever, and perhaps a more improved Little (or another manager) capable of dealing with the enormous ego of one Pedro Martinez.