Three straight Magical nights has Red Sox fever going strong

Its late March 2013, and my sports excitement is literally at an all time low. I was still thinking about a disastrous ending to the Packers season, a somewhat disappointing Badgers season, and disastrous seasons for both the Lightning and Magic were about to come to merciful ends. And baseball was right around the corner, with the Red Sox coming off their worst season in 47 years, there was little to no optimism. Every expert around had the Red Sox finishing in last place this year. All I wanted was to have one sports team to be excited about, because it seemed like it had been so long since Ive had that "fever" for one of my teams, but I did not see the Red Sox providing it to me this year.

Then the season started and the team took off. Not only were they winning, but often doing so in hearstopping exciting fashion. A scrappy resilient bunch, with a never say die attitude, often winning games they had not much business winning. They played strong all the way to September 1st, where they entered the month in first place.

Ah yes, September, just the mention of the month sends shivers up Red Sox fans spines. The last 3 Septembers have been nothing short of horrendous for Boston. In 2010, tied for a wild card spot on September 1, the Sox fizzled and went 13-15 in the month, finishing 5 games back. Of course there's 2011, the most epic collapse in baseball history. The year the Red Sox entered September with a NINE game lead over the Rays, and went 7-20 in September, losing a playoff spot the last day of the year. Then last year, already out of the playoff race, the Sox looked lifeless all month long, finishing the year with a 4-23 record over the final 27 games.

So even though the Sox entered September this year in first, everyone was skeptical if they could hang on through the final month. Wonder no more, these last 3 nights have proven this team isnt losing their hold on first place, this is a different team, with every intention of winning the division.

Its hard to recall for me three games in a row that were as exciting and amazing as these last three, especially so late in the year.

It started Tuesday, with Boston taking on the best pitcher in the league, Max Scherzer with a 19-1 record on the year, nealry unbeatable. Thanks to a huge two run single by Will Middlebrooks, and a masterfully pitched game by Jon Lester, the Sox handed Scherzer just his second loss of the year in a 2-1 game.

Then Wednesday night, the Sox put on a show mashing a team record 8 home runs, and scoring 20 runs overall, their most runs scored in a game in 10 years. The offense looked relentless and it was fun to watch every second of it.

Then last night, against the hated Yankees, probably the most exciting, heart stopping Red Sox game in years. Boston opened up a 7-2 lead through seven innings and looked like they would coast to an easy win. The pitching imploded however, allowing 6 runs to the Yankees in the eighth, all of a sudden losing the lead 8-7. The Sox teams of the last three years would have folded up like a tent and took the loss without a fight after that. But in the top of the ninth, with two outs and nobody on, Mike Napoli laced a single to keep the game alive. Then a steal of second and a base hit by Stephen Drew tied the game 8-8. Down to their last strike twice, Boston pulled out another comeback. In the top of 10th, The Red Sox took the lead 9-8 off a Victorino single, and Uehara closed out a 9-8 sox win, the most exciting win in years.

With just 20 games left, Boston now has a 6.5 game lead in the division. I have complete faith they will hang on, and at a time where I couldn't get excited about any of my sports teams, these Sox gave me that fever back, and hopefully that fever carries all the way to the World Series.