E-Mail This Article to a Friend Red Sox leftovers, and the Patriots’ streak hits a Pitt stop BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Five days later, and the majority of older Red Sox fans still hasn’t completely figured out just what happened in St. Louis last Wednesday. For kids, high-schoolers, and even college kids, the Sox’ world championship was another reason to celebrate being a New England sports fan, but for those who have truly suffered through their baseball team’s dubious history over the past few decades, it was a cataclysmic event that just won’t sink in. I’ve heard people express the same feelings over and over again. One would think that by nearly a week later, fans would have come to terms with what the world title means to them and to the local sports landscape. But they just haven’t.

And I’m not sure when and if they will, frankly — maybe when the championship video/DVD comes out, and people can gather to enjoy that comprehensive build-up of emotions, see the twists and turns of the wild-card chase and the playoff encounters, and then exult in a rejuvenating release of emotion. But right now, for a lot of folks, the highlight reels, the headlines, and even the parade have yet to make a significant dent in the armor of their emotions.

Maybe that’s been the problem all along: that long-time Red Sox fans had, consciously or not, donned that protective gear this fall, so as not to get their hopes and hearts blasted again. In recent years, the Sox have convinced their fans that they are a top-flight team, but it’s always been the closing of the deal that’s been the problem. Whether it was late-inning collapses, inopportune errors and blunders, or simply the concept of game seven — winner-take-all — something out of the ordinary has always seemed to sink the late-season dagger into the collective heart of Red Sox Nation.

This post-season there seemed to be few excuses. No key player was on the injured list; nor had any been knocked out of action in the weeks before, thereby weakening the team at its worst possible moment. Actually, the opposite was true: Trot Nixon, for example, had missed over 100 games at the start of the season, but his return for good in August sparked the team, and he rarely showed that his strained quadriceps or his balky back were hindering him in any way. Injured guys who had spent some time on the sidelines — Bill Mueller, Keith Foulke, Manny Ramirez, and Pokey Reese come to mind — were hale, hearty, and loaded for bear. There were red flags: Pedro Martinez had implausibly not missed a start all year, and Curt Schilling also looked like a potential victim for an ill-timed injury launched by the baseball gods. Both rose to the occasion, as did a reborn Derek Lowe, helping to make the 101-win Yankees (in the late stages of the ALCS) and the 105-win Cardinals (in the World Series) look remarkably mortal. In the process, they immortalized themselves in the eyes of local fans.

It wasn’t like ’46, when the Sox lacked a healthy Ted Williams, or ’67, when Tony C’s eye was blackened, or ’75, when Jim Rice nursed a broken wrist, or ’86, when Al Nipper subbed for a hobbling Tom Seaver. It was 2004, and everybody who had contributed to the late run was on hand (excluding perhaps Scott Williamson, whose contributions were negligible this season despite his late-season flourish in ’03). The roster was so deep that even key components like Kevin Youkilis, Ramiro Mendoza, Lenny DiNardo, Terry Adams, and David McCarty were at one point or another left off the post-season roster.

But like the Patriots in 2001-’02, the Red Sox seemed to get all the breaks — for a change. There were a couple of times when it looked like the curse would rear its ugly mug and stick it to the Sox, but those scares never came to fruition. How many opportunities in games four, five, and six did the Yankees have to close out the Sox — yet couldn’t despite their ferocious offense? For six straight innings in game four, the Yanks were shut out when even one single run could have punched their ticket to their second straight Fall Classic. The next night it was eight straight innings of the Yankee sluggers being blanked by the likes of Mike Myers, Bronson Arroyo, Alan Embree, and Tim Wakefield. Just one typical Yankee-esque break their way and the Pinstripers would host the Redbirds and perhaps win title number 27 (and against the Cards’ pitchers, imagine what the NY line-up could have mustered up).

But no. Not this year. I have a difficult time remembering any point from ALCS game four to World Series game four where the opponent got a significant break and/or capitalized on a Boston transgression. Add to that the apparent superior scouting that allowed Boston’s pitching staff to neutralize the Cardinals’ offense — which had led the NL with a .278 season-long average — and hold it to just three runs over the course of the final three games of the World Series, and you’ve got a four-game sweep. And not just a sweep; almost a laugher of one. With no disrespect to the Cardinals, the fact is that they never had a lead throughout the Fall Classic. After tying game one at nine in the late innings, they never seemed to be in it or even to pose a meaningful threat the rest of the way. And don’t forget that a lot of folks had St. Louis winning because of its strong defense and fundamentals, yet the team’s inability to execute the latter — especially on the base paths — ultimately cost the Cards any hope of making a series of it.

What resulted was a quick and thorough thrashing of the NL’s (and, according to some, baseball’s) best team. Sox fans didn’t even get a chance to dig their body armor out of the closet before the Redbirds were history. Sox fans never had to bolster their resolve and prepare themselves for the worst, because for once, the worst never happened. It obviously came close during the late stages of game four against the Yanks, but those who had come to expect the worst were improbably disappointed. The worst never came. In its place came eight straight pulsating wins, and all was right in the Boston baseball world for the first time in generations

Yep, heartbreak took a holiday — or at least took the shuttle back to Chicago — and Boston is indeed the hub of hardball until someone manages to snatch the hardware away in late October a year from now. It represented, as the background music of NECN’s Sox montage in recent days attested, "The End of the World As We Know It."

A long time coming, a long time to celebrate. If only we could figure out how.

***

So the New England Patriots lost a football game. It was obviously going to happen eventually, and this was an opportune time for the Pittsburgh Steelers to pin the first defeat on the local 11 in 399 days. It certainly helped the Steelers that Tom Brady committed three turnovers, Kevin Faulk fumbled on the Pats’ opening possession of the second half (when momentum had turned New England’s way), the anchor of the offense (Corey Dillon) was inactive for the game, and four cornerbacks were also unavailable due to injury.

Oh, and don’t forget, Pittsburgh was coming off its bye week.

But the NFL-record 21-game win streak is history, and Patriots fans will again have to remember what it is like to console each other after a loss, rather than bask in the euphoria of yet another ho-hum victory.

Local fans can take great pride in their team nonetheless, and take solace in the fact that this kind of unbeaten streak is unheard-of in the salary-capped world of professional football. Not only that, but an impressive list of vanquished opponents piled up during the course of the remarkable run: the Jets (twice), the Titans (twice), the Dolphins (three times), the Colts (also three), the Cowboys, the Giants, the Seahawks, and the Broncos at Denver — not to mention the Panthers in the Super Bowl.

Since it’s been over a year since the Patriots actually lost a game, Patriots Nation was becoming just a wee bit spoiled, forgetting that "bad games" are part of any team’s season-long output, and that Bill Belichick is in reality not God. Nor is Brady, and even the golden boy can occasionally submit a stinker or two.

It’s even more remarkable to think that New England was even in the game after losing CB Ty Law early in the game, playing without Dillon, gaining but five yards on the ground, surrendering four sacks and four turnovers, being blown out in a time of possession (43 minutes to 17), and playing in a most hostile environment where the fans, players, and local media considered the contest the Steelers’ Super Bowl.

Ask any Patriots player if he dreads meeting the Steelers down the road — perhaps in January — and he’ll probably welcome the proposition. Pittsburgh indeed played well, but a lot of factors in Sunday’s contest went its way, and the streak was bound to end sometime.

It really was, despite our region’s recent round of success on the sports stage.

So now we’ve got a 6-1 football team with the pressure of the streak lifted, we’ve got a world-championship baseball team, and even a pro soccer team (the Revolution) bouncing back from a season-long residence in the divisional cellar to reach the MLS semis. Ridiculous. Furthermore, the Celtics open their season on Wednesday, and in case you’ve forgotten, they also have a bit of a history with championships (though admittedly not lately).

The Patriots lost. Big deal. Otherwise, we are truly blessed, and you’d best not forget this simple fact anytime soon: for New England fans, this point in time likely represents the pinnacle of your sporting life. Savor it.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com