Red Sox Nation Lives Another Day - Divine Intervention?

You don't need to me to tell you how the season ended up, but it sure was fun - and stressful - watching things unfold this weekend. Doesn't get much better than this, except if you're an Indians fan. My heart goes out to the Tribe - can't believe they made the ChiSox sweat it out, but the southsiders came to play this weekend and settled business.

Well, my heart lies with the other Sox, and it was fun watching them mop up today. No doubt, the schedule makers ensure the Sox and Yankees play an odd number of times each year - 19 - so there's no chance of an overall dead heat. So, in the end, the Yanks get the division title only by virtue of beating the Sox one time more than the Sox beat them over the season. Too bad they weren't counting runs scored - Sox have that one covered by a wide margin.

Whatever - we're in the same spot as last year, but the teams generally have weaker pitching this time around. Yankees were lucky to get by Minnie last year - their pitching was pretty good - and they'll be lucky to get by LAA this time. I'm a homer, but I still think the Red will beat the White, but they'll need 5 to do it.

So, where's the divine intervention? Ok, just a little fun here. You don't have to be a Jewish Red Sox fan to make the connection, but it doesn't hurt. Especially with the Jewish New Year - Rosh Hashanah - at our doorstep right now.

I was part of the Pulver VoIP Mission to Israel this summer, and it was my first visit there. When visiting Old Jerusalem, I couldn't help but be struck by the resemblance of the Wailing Wall to the Green Monster in Fenway Park. Is it just me?

Well, just to make things interesting, the two structures do have some similarities. Some basic research tells me that the Green Monster is roughly 37 feet high and 240 feet long. The Wailing Wall is definitely taller - about 54 feet. However, as I have learned, roughly 18 feet of this is above the level of the Temple Mount, which is buried far below. In fact, the Wall is much taller than 54 feet if you went right down to the very base of the original structure. So, one could argue that that two are almost identical in height - a bit of a stretch, but fun to speculate.

Ok, the analyst in me can't resist. Let's look at this another way. With the new seats above the Green Monster, one could argue that the two are now actually almost the same in height.

Putting that aside, the Wailing Wall is higher than the Monster, but not as long - about 190 feet. On that basis, the two structures actually have very similar square footage - if you just take the height times the width. Ok, enough - I'm reading too much into this, I know!

However, am just trying to add some color to the argument. I have no idea who the architect or builder was for Fenway Park - but this sure makes me wonder if he/she had something biblical in mind. Nahhhhh....

As a coda, here's some real wishful thinking - maybe this quasi-karma will somehow lead to a miraculous recovery for Gabe Kapler (one of two Jewish BoSox - Kevin Youklis is the other as far as I can tell), and really make this a happy, healthy new year for Theo Epstein! As the Nation says... you gotta believe.