Do or die

It's do or die for the Rockies now. On a night when rookies ruled, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia sparked the Red Sox from the top of the order, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and Boston beat Colorado 10-5 on Saturday for a 3-0 Series lead.

Ellsbury became the first rookie in 61 years with four hits in a Series game, getting three of Boston's seven doubles. Pedroia had three hits, including a bunt single that helped spark a six-run third against Josh Fogg, who allowed 12 of 19 batters to reach. Even Dice-K got a hit that scored two runs. Honestly, who saw that coming?

Colorado didn't go down without a fight. Down 6-0 in the third and seemingly out, they came back with two runs in the sixth. The Rockies then closed to 6-5 when Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer in the seventh on Hideki Okajima's first pitch. But the Rockies' chance to get back into the World Series vanished into Coors Field's thin air. Ellsbury lofted an RBI double down the right-field line off Brian Fuentes in the eighth that just eluded Brad Hawpe's attempt at a sliding, backhand catch, and Pedroia followed with a two-run double to right that made it 9-5. Jason Varitek added a sacrifice fly in the ninth of a game that took 4 hours, 19 minutes -- the longest nine-inning game in Series history.

Tonight Jon Lester starts for the Red Sox against Aaron Cook in a matchup of pitchers who made it back to the majors after major medical problems. Lester overcame lymphoma, while Cook came back from a blood clot.

So much for the recap, borrowed, reorganized and edited from SI. Manny was out, although I still have a problem with that call. The home plate umpire was not in a position to make the call, and it was pure luck that he got it right. Also, how about we settle on what the strike zone is, m'kay? Why is it three or four inches wider if you are a Colorado pitcher?

At the start of the game, having picked a few winners in the Breeder's Cup earlier in the day, I said we should guess at the final score for this game. PopPop went with 5-2, Red Sox. I said 8-5, Red Sox. Sooooo close!

Finally, I have two words for Joe Buck and Tim McCarver -- SHUT UP. Seriously, these guys suck major league ass. I have said right along that Fox would be far better off, and might gain some sports cred, if they'd get the local broadcast teams to sit in and call the local games. One thing is for sure, these two jamokes have to go.