And All The Banners Waving

Twin peaks: Sox are champs:

DENVER -- A scintillating seven-game winning streak that began in Cleveland with the season on the brink of elimination ended Sunday night with the Red Sox mobbing each other in the thin air of Coors Field of all places, culminating in a World Series championship that didn't take even close to 86 years this time around.

By sweeping the Rockies with a 4-3 victory in Game 4, the Red Sox are champions of Major League Baseball for the second time in four seasons, once again doing it by giving their National League opponent the broom treatment. It was the seventh -- there goes that number again -- time the Red Sox have won the World Series.

Congrats to the Red Sox. They clearly were the better team. Their relatively easy sweep also shows just how much of an aberration last year's Series was. The American League--like the AFC and the Western Conferences in the NHL and NBA--has a disproportionate edge in talent and is much stronger top to bottom than the National League.

Thanks to the Rockies for embarking on their unlikely postseason run. It was a fun ride while it lasted.

UPDATE-- Tim from Colorado e-mails:

Congrats to the Red Sox. I will now have to avoid ESPN's Sportscenter for the next week or so because they are such homers for the Boston and New York teams. For the next week to ten days, we will now be over-exposed to the drama of whether or not A-Rod will go to the Red Sox.

To borrow a bit from football coach John McKay, the Rockies didn't pitch well but they made up for it by not hitting. As much as they won't admit it, the eight day layoff was too long and it took the edge off the Rockies bats. I'm not sure what the excuse is for the Rockies pitching; it completely disappeared after doing so well down the stretch and through the NLCS. With the exception of Aaron Cook's performance last night, no Rockies starter went longer than 4 innings in the World Series.

However, we are not as disappointed as some may think. The Rockies are a young team, they made an unprecedented run to get into the playoffs, and this experience will help them next season. Remember the name Ian Stewart; he is a solid player coming up through the Rockies farm system and he will probably be teaming up with Troy Tulowitzki at second base next year.

Pitchers and catchers report in four short months.