Jerry Remy	56 years old WESTON, MA
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I wrote most of this before the game last night so that  IF the game ran late, I would have it ready early today. Good call, even  IF I have to say so myself.

First relax. 

IF you thought the Angels were going to go away easily you were sadly mistaken.  However, my money is still on the Red Sox.

Rightly or wrongly, for the entire season most baseball experts crowned the Angels as the best team on the planet.  One notable exception was Yankees GM, Brian Cashman, who said the Red Sox were the team to beat.  Although he may have choked on those words, lets hope that they prove to be prophetic.

Now the biggest  IF’s.

What  IF, for one presumptuous moment, we imagine the ball bounces our way vs. the Angels etc. etc. and we meet the Dodgers in the World Series. Obviously both clubs still have a long way to go, but each team is closer than they were a week ago, especially the Dodgers.

IF this were to happen, think of all the story lines.

· Torre vs. Francona again

· J.D. Drew vs. his old team

· Derek Lowe vs. his old team

· Nomar vs. his old team

Oh yes, I almost forget:

· Manny vs. the fans

· Manny vs. his ex-teammates

· Manny vs. Red Sox management

· Manny vs. Jason Bay

· Manny vs. Jack McCormick

· Manny vs. the parking lot attendants

· Manny vs. all things logical

Remember the reception Johnny Damon got when he returned to Boston for the first time. It wasn’t pretty. On the other hand, Pedro Martinez received a warm welcome.

IF Manny should ever return to Boston the reception he receives will be anything but neutral. Fans’ emotions regarding Manny run too strong in both directions. Regardless, Manny has always been blessed with the ability to “mentally insulate” himself from all that goes on around him. This would serve him well IF he makes it back to Boston.

Johnny Damon was so concerned with the reaction of the fans he took out a full-page ad in the Boston Globe to try to appease the Boston faithful. It didn’t work. Pedro was noticeably uneasy during his return and was visibly taken back with emotion when the fans greeted him so warmly. He lost the game.

Manny will just be Manny.

I know there are a lot of IF’s here but hey …what IF?

By the way, for the first two games of this series we got to bed around 3:30 AM. Last night’s game was supposed to be a relatively early night. WRONG!