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That 86 series was something else. I had yet to move to Georgia. I was in college, in a fraternity which seemed to be overrun with people from Mass who were diehard Red Sox fans. As a matter of fact, I was a mere pledge at the time.

I remember being hazed BADLY by them, them drunk off their asses and simultaneously getting me hammered as I catered to them (all in good fun).

Then single. Single. Single. Wild pitch. And a slow roller.

That playoff year was the best I can remember. I remember Mike Scott being unhittable. I remember Nolan Ryan pitching a one-hitter (and finding out afterwards it was on a broken ankle) but Gooden holding him off and the Mets winning in 10. I remember a comeback just as wild as game 6 sparked by my favorite player at the time, Len Dykstra.

And the AL wasn't any worse, with Dave Henderson trying to singlehandedly win it.

What a year that was. It was a prime example of why that game sucks me in. When it is right, there is nothing better.

And I remember the Sox looking like just maybe they would win game 7, jumping out to an early lead. But everyone knew it wouldn't last. I don't think there was a single fan in NY or Boston who thought that, even as Sid Fernandez came into the game trailing by a few runs, the Sox would win.

And when El Sid struck out the side, and the crowd erupted, it was inevitable. The die was cast.

My memory is fading on it. I believe Darryl hit a home run. I think Knight had another hit.

But I'll never forget Jesse Orosco, who is still pitching I think, throwing his mit to the moon after the last strikeout.

Damn, that was awesome. Even better than my Giants beating the Bills, I think. And NOTHING is better than my Giants winning.

Yeah, but I think the pitchers' lack of success in the playoffs has more to do with a reliance on the bats of Mark Lemke or Keith Lockhart and so forth and a perpetually weak hitting bench than being overworked. I haven't looked it up, but going off of memory I believe their pitching numbers outside of W-L have been pretty solid.

I think it's been the bullpen more than the rotation that peters out come the postseason - Glavine and Maddux have respectable numbers, and Smoltz in his starting years was Mr. Reliable. They've been beaten mostly by a lack of bullpen durability; their bench was actually pretty decent by and large. But they're proof that if you don't have the bullpen depth, you don't get to or win the dance. And I'm not all that certain they've got the bullpen depth behind Smoltz this time, either, as good as the team looks now.

Indeed was 1986 a time. I still think Jesse Orosco and not quite Ray Knight should have been the Series MVP in the end. And I still think the real goat horns belong to Red Sox manager John McNamara.

And I will tell you that if someone could have pounded some sense into Sid Fernandez about the poundage he couldn't stop carrying, he would have been a Hall of Famer: this guy was unhittable. I learned this only recently, but Sid Fernandez lifetime had an opponents' batting average of .215. 215. There are Hall of Famers whose batting average against isn't close to that (Warren Spahn and Whitey Ford are two, Walter Johnson's also is higher). Sid Fernandez should have been a Hall of Famer, instead of eating himself into baseball oblivion and carrying so much bulk that it put more strain than due on his throwing arm.