A week ago today, the Yankees and Red Sox played their 71st and final game of the last three magical years, and when it was over, the Sox were drinking champagne while Yankee Alex Rodriguez predicted another Sox-Yankees meeting in the ALCS.
''I think it's inevitable," said A-Rod. ''We know that to get where we want to go, we need to go through the Red Sox. And I think the Red Sox know that for them to go where they want to go, they need to go through us."
The headline in the next day's New York Post read, ''Be seeing you real soon."
Not exactly. The Red Sox and Yankees are no longer in a league of their own. There will be no ''Rocky III" featuring the ancient rivals from the Northeast corridor. The Red Sox were wiped out by the White Sox in three games -- outscored, 24-9, in a three-game Division Series sweep. Meanwhile, the Yankees were rained out yesterday in New York and face elimination if they lose one more game to the Los Angeles Angels.
Let the Yankees worry about their own problems with their $200 million payroll. What's going to happen to the Red Sox? What can fans expect to see when they return to Fenway next April?
For starters, you can say goodbye to the abomination that was the 600 Club or the 406 Club or the Fortunate 500 Club or whatever they were calling it at the end. One of the last great blunders of the old regime (Wade Boggs claimed it kept his warning-track fly balls from going into the bullpen), the brutal baseball aquarium will be demolished this week and ultimately replaced with something more in concert with the old-time old lines of the 1912 ballpark. No doubt the new area also will be the precinct of kings and lottery winners. At least it will have fresh air and spectators will be able to hear the game.
That may not be the only change upstairs. Can you even imagine the Red Sox without Theo Epstein as general manager? Panic not, gentle fans. Theo probably will be back. But his contract is up and he's asking for a giant pile of dough, more control, and less interference. The Theo talks might take a while. The good news is his parents probably won't let him leave, but there's tension at the top on Yawkey Way and a new deal for the boy wonder could get messy before it gets done.
As for Terry Francona, despite the never-ending talk-show rips and the second-guessing that naturally comes with the job, it's hard to quarrel with 95 wins when you lose two aces and your closer. The Sox might annoy him with another lowball offer, but look for Francona to be back in the dugout in 2006 (remember, these predictions come from the same guy who told you in June that the AL East would be a runaway for the Red Sox).
