U-G-L-Y, you don't need no alibi

Aside from the fact that I was at a conference all day yesterday, I'm not sure what I would have said following the 11-0 loss to the Devil Rays in the last home game of the season. That was just horrible. Josh Beckett sucked just enough that his ERA for the season snuck back over 5- I think he's at 5.01. Nice first year in the AL, kid. This is probably another in a long line of things I've jinxed for the Sox. I noted a couple of weeks ago that I'd like to see 17 wins for Schilling (nope) and a sub 5 ERA for Beckett (nope).

Pitchers are a funny breed, though. There's the old expression "there's no such thing as a pitching prospect" (or TNSTAAPP, for those of you acronym junkies (AJs)) which would explain why the Sox would deal Anibal Sanchez (he of the no-hitter), Cla Merideth (he of the 0.9 ERA) and keep Craig Hansen (he of the...oh man did they hit that hard!). As rough as the Josh Beckett season has been, he has made all of his starts and provided at least some stability in the rotation to justify his contract extension. The news from Queens today is not as good. Pedro Martinez is out of the Mets rotation for the entirety of the post-season. Seems Pedro strained his calf- the other calf from the one that had him on the DL for most of August and September. From the Red Sox perspective, I'm guessing this is precisely what they were concerned about when they balked at giving Pedro a four-year deal back after 2004. He was just fine last year, and the very beginning of this year. He just broke down after that. He's getting a little old for a pitcher, but when you look at his frame and the amount of velocity that he gets out of his little arm, you wonder how he's lasted as long as he has. He may be back, and as a Pedro fan, I hope he is. But 1999-2000 Pedro is never coming back, and you have to tip your cap to the Sox front office for realizing that and not paying for whatever shell of Pedro is left in 2007 and 2008.

So now, the end is near (to steal a line from Paul Anka by way of Old Blue Eyes). The Sox have three more games left against the Orioles, who get to play spoiler in the great race for second place in the AL East. I can't even imagine who the Sox will be putting in their starting lineup. Murphy, Pedroia, Cora, Kapler, Pena, Pena, and a little dash of Papi. I know that it's probably hopeless at this point, but if Papi hits another one, and gets to 55 home runs and 140 RBI, you've got to thing the MVP voters have to think long and hard about putting his name at the top of that ballot. I see this as a Jeter/Papi/Justin Morneau race right now.

In the NL, the MVP is going to be won or lost this weekend. Heading in to the last couple of games, Ryan Howard has been pulling away from Albert Pujols- fueled largely by Howard's big early September and the complete collapse of the Cardinals. If the Cardinals lose the division, Pujols can kiss the MVP good-bye. The thing to watch, though, is if and how the Astros overtake them. My guess would be that if Lance Berkman can win at least one of this weekend's games with his bat and the Astros can win the division, Lance might be your darkhorse MVP. This is, of course, provided that the Dodgers hang on and beat the Phillies for the wild card.

So many variables. One weekend to decide it all. One prediction I can guarantee, though: come Tuesday, I'm going to have to go into barrel-scraping mode to come up with Sox topics. I'll talk about the post-season somewhat, but I'm hoping the Sox provide enough off-season drama to keep my blog afloat.