My, now, that was quick! After finding Game One to be nearly interminable, suddenly the entire series is over. Yikes. A couple of the games were close, but the Rockies were never really in it. In basketball, opposing coaches will sometimes try to “freeze” a shooter before a critical free-throw by calling a timeout. Or even two. Essentially, the Rockies froze themselves by sweeping the National League playoffs, while the Red Sox needed seven games to take the ALCS.

Baseball’s an everyday game. More than any other sport — though fans of the Ottawa Senators felt that their long layoff hurt their Stanley Cup chances last year — baseball is an everyday game and a subtle one. Timing and touch are critical. For the most part, you can’t rely on energy and hustle to overcome accumulated playing rust, and as the Colorados showed, eight days is an eternity. Them Sox sher can hit, though, can’t they?