Mudville joy on hold

The 10-3 blowout victory in Game 1 of the ALCS was nice, but it means little now to the Red Sox in the face of last night's 13-6 drubbing at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. By self-destructing in the 11th inning of Game 2, Boston gave away the home-field advantage. Now it's a best-of-five series with the next three games in Cleveland.

This is reminiscent of the 1985 NBA Finals, when the Celtics embarrassed the Lakers, 148-114, in Game 1 at the Garden. There was, of course, talk of how Boston would breeze through that series -- maybe even sweep it. Los Angeles came back and won Game 2, which happened to be the only NBA playoff game I've ever been to, and the Lakers went on to take the title in six games.

The Sox still appear to have the better team -- perhaps the best in baseball. They certainly have the hottest one-two offensive punch in David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. The game, however, is pitching, and we will see whether Daisuke Matsuzaka -- Boston's Game 3 starter -- is worth the $100 million that it took to get him.