At approximately 12:06 a.m EST, the Boston Red Sox, once the most cursed franchise in all of sports, won their second world championship in four years, to become the 20th major league team to sweep a World Series, beating the Colardo Rockies at Coors Field, 4-3, behind the pitching of cancer survivor Jon Lester and the hitting of Mike Lowell, another cancer survivor, who was named the Series MVP. 
        So the ``Red Sox Nation’’ now rules the world, that is, until contract negotiations begin to heat up, and Boston must deal with the prospect of losing Curt Schilling (and his bloody sock), along with right-handed starter Matt Clement, Tim Wakefield,  relievers Eric Gagne , Mike Timlin, Julian Tavarez, and Wakefield's personal catcher, Doug Mirabelli
        Am I leaving anyone out?
        Oh yes, almost forgot, the contract of the Sox third baseman is also up.
        And with news breaking late in the game that Alex Rodriguez has decided to opt of his contract to explore free agency, Lowell’s stock just shot up by a few more million dollars. 
        With the Yankees previously letting it be known they have no intention of negotiating with A-Rod, should he choose free agency, the Yankees next course of action might be prying Lowell away from baseball’s new evil empire and suiting him up in pinstripes.
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         Before putting my notebook through the shredder, here are a few odds and ends about the 103rd World Series.

        1.) With the Rockies advancing to the World Series for the first time, the Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, remain the only teams never to have advanced to the Fall Classic. Of those four teams, The Rangers (which includes their years in Washington), have gone the longest: 47 years without advancing to a World Series.

      2.) In claiming their 7th world championship, the Red Sox (2004, 2007), now join the New York Yankees, as the only two major league clubs to have swept a World Series in successive appearances. The Bombers accomplished this three times, the most recent was in 1998-1999.
        3.) Jacoby Ellsbery became only the third rookie to have four hits (Game 3) in a World Series game, joining Fred Lindstrom of the New York Giants (Game 5, 1924); and Joe Garagiola of the Cardinals (Game 4, 1946).
        4.) The last time the Rockies dropped four straight games came on June 29th
        5.) In sweeps of the Phillies and Diamondbacks, Colorado starters produced a 2.43 ERA. Against the Red Sox, it increased dramatically to 10.81 through 3 games, with Jeff Francis, Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Fogg all failing to work at least five innings
        6.) Everyone marveled at the how the Rockies advanced to the World Series with such a modest payroll. The downside of their success story, however, was that Kazuo Matsui. Jeremy Affeldt and Josh Fogg, who had successful post-seasons, will likely be looking for teams with deeper wallets during the offseason, possibly more than the Rockies can afford. 
        7.) Daisuke Matsuzaka, who turned in his best performance of the post-season in Game 6, also showed some flare with the bat.  Dice-K had two RBI’s, when he slapped a single into left in the 3rd inning, scoring Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek, to become the first Boston pitcher to drive in more than one run since Babe Ruth in 1918, and the first pitcher since Chad Ogea in Game 6 of the 1997 series
        8.) Matsuzaka’s four appearances during the post-season set a team record for a rookie pitcher.
        Another Dice record: The Japanese pitcher’s hit was the first by a Red Sox pitcher in World Series play since Bill Lee’s single in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series.
        9.) Jacob Ellsbury in Game 3 joined Matt Williams of the Arizona Diamondback as the only two players to double twice in the same inning.
        10.) With the Rockies on board with having hosted a World Series, other ballparks older than the Coors Field never to have hosted a World Series, include: the Ballpark in Arlington, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and RFK Stadium.
        11.) Had Coco Crisp not had such a horrid post-season, 5-for-31 (.161), including going 0-for-12 in Games 3-5, fans may not have benefited from feasting their eyes on Ellsbury's talents, who didn’t make a post-season appearance until game 6 of the ALCS.
        12.)The Boston Herald was reporting that Red Sox fanatic Ben Affleck checked into a hotel in Europe using the name David Oritz.
        13.) Jonathan ``Riverdance'' Papelbon, who was used in relief in multiple innings only four times during the regular season (in 59 appearances) made his seventh multiple inning appearance in Game 4.  Papelbon has now pitched 10 plus scoreless innings, and 13 overall in the postseason, dating to 2005, joining Joe Niekro (20 innings), Dennis Cook (16 1/3), Duster Mails (15 2/3) and Chad Bradford (15 1/3), as the only other relievers who have logged more innings.
    14.) The Red Sox and Rockies used 12 pitchers (six each), in Game 3, to set a World Series record for a nine-inning game.  11 pitchers in a single game was recorded six other times, the most recent being Game 1 of the 2004 World Series.
    15.) With the Sox clinching their seventh World Series, all are hoping the streets of Boston won’t spark a wave of violence as it did in 2004, when Victoria Snelgrove, 21, was killed on Oct. 21, 2004, while celebrating the Sox win over the New York Yankees. The Emerson College journalism student was struck by a pepper pellet discharged by police as a mob gathered around Fenway Park. The death of Snelgrove led to stricter rules , including the banning of pepper spray, turning patrons away when a bar has reached its capacity, and prohibiting cameras from being used in bars 
    16.) The term ``Red Sox Nation’’ has been used over the past week with such frequency that it might be worth noting the term was coined by Nathan Cobb of the Boston Globe on  Oct. 20, 1986 in a headline titled’ Baseball border war: In Milford, Conn., geography brings Sox and Mets fans cheek to jowl’’
    17.) Another Sox tradition: Neil Diamond’s ``Sweet Caroline’’ sung at Sox home games, first became a permanent fixture five years ago, when Megan Kaiser, Fenway’s music programmer began playing it.
        -Bill Lucey
         billlucey@bellsouth.net