Champagne Showers Never Get Old

(Photo from Boston.com)

A GUEST POST BY AMY

I have to confess, I've been an extremely calm Red Sox fan this year.

Part of it is accepting that they are just not going to win every year and we've been remarkably lucky, and part of it is is rooting for another team, one that hasn't made the postseason in 26 years. I've been able to put Red Sox losses in perspective because Terry Francona is not Ned Yost and thankfully Craig Counsell stays far, far away from the Red Sox -- the team is unquestionably good, basically. Sure, there will be ups and downs. Nothing is a given and this moment should never be taken for granted. There's been way too much heartbreak over the years for that.

Even in my happiness, I didn't anticipate getting all emotional over this one tonight, since it was pretty inevitable as long as the Red Sox didn't lose all the games between now and Sunday and the Yankees didn't win all their games in that same frame. And then there's the whole having to root for the Cubs for the next couple days, which is just gross, and certain epic wild card collapses... You know how sometimes when you're reading a book and the main character is doing something catastrophically stupid and you really want to flip ahead and see if it turns out alright? That's sort of where I'm at with baseball at the moment.

But when the relief corps busted out of the locker room clutching bottles of champagne and rushed onto the field with one goal in mind -- dousing The Bullpen Cop -- dear reader of Kristen's, I cried. And then there was little Justin Masterson just trying to poke his head in the frame of the camera and laughing like a teenager. Papelbon doling out bases to the crowd. Jason Bay playing the role of Orlando Cabrera. Tek being the grown up and doing the shaking-hands-and-kissing-

babies tour of Fenway.

I kept getting frantic instant messages from a friend throughout this game, convinced the Red Sox would blow it and I was worried not being concerned made me a bad fan. But maybe relaxing and enjoying the games and this era of good Red Sox baseball is better than getting so worked up. I'll admit that I wore full-out Brewers gear to the last game of their series at Fenway. I was discussing being a fan of both teams with someone in my row and I explained at that moment, I was rooting for the Brewers because they were in last place and needed it more.

"But the Red Sox are in second place," the guy countered.

And they still are at this moment. But they're going back to the postseason and that's a pretty amazing thing. I'd make a cheesy "good times never seemed so good" statement here, but this is schmaltzy enough already. So I'll just say enjoy this one, y'all. And also, drunk Mike Lowell is awesome.