World Series Game 3 Observations:

***Get the bubbly on ice. Dust off the champagne glasses and run them through the dishwasher. There’s going to be a celebration tonight at Coors Field, and a certain Rocky Mountain beer is not invited.

So much for the Mile High factor, losing Kevin Youkilis’ bat, and any other prayer the Rockies were hoping got answered. No matter where they’re played or under what conditions, baseball games are still won by pitching and timely hitting. And no objective analysis of this series (not that I’m totally objective) could come to any other conclusion than the Red Sox are a far superior team to Colorado in those categories. When you’re handing the ball to Josh Fogg with your season basically on the line, you’re not in good shape.

***Meet Jacoby Ellsbury, your center fielder and leadoff hitter for the next decade. They say speed kills, but what they really mean is speed that gets on base kills. This kid gets it, and is in for a fine career. Hard to believe he was playing at LeLacheur Park just two short years ago.

***It’s nice to see the much maligned players coming up big when it counts. J.D. Drew already was granted his forgiveness, and now we can also ease up on Julio Lugo and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Lugo has hit well in the World Series and with a big game tonight could legitimately stake a claim to series MVP because of his big defensive plays in Game 3. Dice-K also came up huge, just as I believed he would if he could just settle down and pound the strike zone. His stuff is far too good for such mediocre results. I’m very happy for him after reading how dejected he looked after the Game 3 loss in Cleveland. I only wish Eric Gagne could get to experience one of those moments.

***Speaking of Gagne, I’ve said it before…I’ll say it again. I don’t care how poorly the Canadian import is pitching, there still isn’t a circumstance known to mankind where I’d rather see Javier Lopez trotting out of the bullpen before the goggled one. Seriously Tito, Gagne at least gets an out here or there and tosses 1-2-3 innings in blowouts. When was the last time Lopez DIDN’T give up runs? Thankfully, it doesn’t matter any more.

***If you believe in karma, then you just know cancer survivor Jon Lester is going to toss six solid innings tonight and become the winning pitcher the night the Red Sox clinched their second World Series in 4-years.

***And finally, a pet peeve of mine. When they do record the final out, a part of me is going to cringe when the announcers refer to the Red Sox as World Champions. You will never see me type those words or speak them about any USA sports league’s winner. I don’t even refer to the Super Bowl Champions as World Champions despite us being the only country that plays the damn sport. As we’ve found out recently in basketball and at the World Baseball Classic, the term “World Champions” should be reserved for teams that win international tournaments open to ALL comers.

So please, raise a glass with me later on tonight (or early tomorrow morning) and toast the Boston Red Sox, 2007 World Series Champions.