I was torn last night with wanting to see Dice-K earn the win, so I could post a picture of the lovely Yoko, and wanting to the Rockies win to stop an almost certain sweep by the Red Sox now, thus ensuring this will be the last time we gaze at lovely Yoko's  . . . eyes, yeah that's it, this year.  Too bad.  The Rockies made a valiant effort in the bottom of the 7th to tie the score, but fell short.  Just as I made a valiant effort to woo a woman wearing a demure school-girl costume at the Halloween party I was at last night, but prematurely . . . er, fell short.  If you'll kindly excuse me, I'm going to spend some time alone with my favorite gravure idol. -KD  

Even though the Rockies won, like, 200 straight games to get in the playoffs, then swept through their first two playoff series with seven straight wins, the World Series is basically over.  Only a bunch of times in history has a team rebounded from a 2-0 deficit, which the Rockies now face after losing last night in Fenway 2-1.  And certainly the Red Sox — a team with a long and storied history of playoff success — could never falter after opening up such an insurmountable lead.

Anyway, you can read all about Game 2 here.  Curt Schilling got the win with 5 and 1/3 innings pitched, so you can probably expect to see the word "gritty" located somewhere near his career playoff record and ERA. Other heroes were Mike Lowell (scored first run, drove in the other) and Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, who closed down the Rox for the rest of the game with stellar performances out of the bullpen.

Finally, the most important news you can imagine: Jacoby Ellsbury stole a base in the fourth inning, so we all get a free taco from Taco Bell.  Details to follow!  OMG I can't wait!!!  It's almost as good as someone handing me 83 cents in loose change! 

Well, that wasn't pretty.  The Red Sox did everything right last night, and the Rockies looked rusty as hell in a 13-1 blowout.  Josh Beckett went seven strong with nine K's, and pretty much everybody in Boston's lineup hit a line-drive double, singled, and walked throughout the course of the game. Colorado starter Jeff Francis lasted only four innings, but at least he got out of the game before the floodgates opened in the fifth.  That's when the Sox put together seven runs — all with two outs — on a parade of line drives off of Franklin Morales.  Morales got the hook, and Ryan Speier came to the rescue… by issuing three bases-loaded walks.  And that's when I turned the TV off.

Anyway, in lieu of a still from Deliverance, this post is accompanied with video of Joe Buck dropping "Jub-Jub" on Chris Myers, courtesy Home Run Derby.  Myers joins an animated iguana as the only being ot get that moniker, while Conan O'Brien's charity of choice will soon be $1000 richer.  If there's such a thing as a "rich" charity.

Not that it's surprising at this point, but the Rockies won yet again last night to sweep the Diamondbacks and earn their first-ever ticket to the World Series.  As you surely know, the Rox have now won 21 of their last 22, and sometime over the next week before the World Series begins, you can expect God to change that one loss to a win just because it's easier to say they've won 22 straight.

Game details: All the damage was done with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.  Rookie Seth Smith placed a dying bloop double just inside the left field line to score two, then an error by first baseman Conor Jackson kept the inning alive for Kaz Matsui to get an RBI single.  The next time I looked up, series MVP Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer to make it 6-1, and Coors Field was going apeshit.  I'm not really sure why Arizona bothered playing another five innings.

Oh yeah, and the Indians beat the Red Sox 4-2 last night, too.  Dice-K got the loss, so Rocky Fan Jesus got image priority for the baseball round-up.  Nevertheless, if you need a Yoko picture to complete your morning, here ya go.  NOTE: Rocky Fan Jesus does not approve of that photo.

Because there simply aren't enough rebuses on sports blogs, With Leather brings you the above image in honor of the NLCS's Game 3 hero.  Game 4 is tonight at delicious frost-brewed Coors Field, and I really don't see the point of the Diamondbacks even showing up.  Even if they win, they still have to face God's appointed team for three more games… and Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson are not walking through that door.

Elsewhere in baseball playoff news, Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the start against Jake Westbrook in Game 3 of the ALCS, the first game in Cleveland since Midgefest '07 did in Joba Chamberlain.  You can catch all the Dane Cook-hyped excitement on TBS, the only station that gives you the critical information of how far someone is leading off of first base.

There is, after all, only one October.  Unless you count October Gonzalez or have one of those defective calendars (lousy Smarch weather!).

The Colorado Rockies won their 19th game out of 20 last night, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the NLCS 3-2.  It appeared that the Mountains had finally lost their momentum when the Serpents tied the game in the bottom of the 9th, but D-Backs closer Jose Valverde walked in the winning run in the top of the 11th, thus informing us all that the geological process of flat subduction cannot be stopped by a split-finger fastball. 19 out of 20 – wow!  Do you realize that the last time the Rockies lost 2 games in a row a gallon of gasoline cost $2.89?  And milk didn't even come in gallons back then, you had to buy it by the gill or the firkin.  Sliced bread?!? Ha, don't make me laugh.

In ALCS action, Boston pounded C.C. Sabathia and the Cleveland Indians 10-3.  Serves that condescending hurler right.  Who does he think he is, a Madison Avenue vice president?  If the Red Sox can win this series, they can finally avenge their loss in the 1948 one-game playoff that decided the AL pennant.  The can also avenge their idea to dress up like Native Americans.  It's called the Boston Tea Party people – look it up! -KD