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It has been a long and winding road, this 2008 MLB season.  Who would have thought that today, the day the Red Sox clinched a berth in the 2008 playoffs, we would be seeing Manny being Manny in the Pacific Time Zone and the Red Sox not be on a West Coast swing at the same time?   Who would have thought that the American League MVP race would be all but sewn up by a true ballplayer, gritty and determined, in Dustin Pedroia?  Who would have thought that the Sox would be in a battle for tops in the American League East, and that battle would be observed nonchalantly from the sidelines by the New York Yankees, who fail to make the playoffs for the first time in 13 years?  And for that matter, who would have thought that the once-lowly Tampa Bay Rays (insert “Devil” as you see fit) would not only challenge for the wild card, but the division as well…and be successful?

It has truly been an interesting journey through the ups and downs of the 2008 season.  But that was the 2008 season…we now enter the 2008 postseason, which, for all intensive purposes, truly is a new season altogether.

Well Red Sox fans, savor this moment for just that…the moment.  The season within a season begins now.  Boston should and most likely will concede the division to the Rays, which is still at arm’s reach.  It now is more important to get the team healthy for what hopes to be a long postseason run.  Starters will certainly savor a few days off in the coming days.  J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and the rest of the roster have pained through bumps, bruises, sprains, strains and champagne-burned eyes…it’s time to kick it into that extra gear for what will surely be a battle against the best in the American League.

The Boston Red Sox are back in the postseason for the fifth time in six years…congratulations Boston.  I hope this will help to mend the wounds of what may soon prove to be a dismal football campaign.  But that’s a different story for a different day.

And who thinks that the retirement of Johnny Pesky’s number is well-deserved for such an integral part of the organization for over half a century?  I certainly do.  Congrats Johnny!

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