They'd booed Varitek plenty too, watched in frustration as the captain kept stranding runners, popping out and striking out and looking as if he were playing Old-Timers Games. It is remarkable the short memory of Sox fans, who adopted Big Papi when he was nothing more than a Twins castoff, who have always revered Varitek for his old-school manner and his throwback ways.

"He wears the 'C' on that jersey for a lot of different reasons," Josh Beckett said. "We were all pulling for the guy. It was huge for him to do that."

We can avoid the waiting period and start calling these Red Sox what they are, regardless of how Game 7 shakes out tonight. We can laud them for the kind of stubborn, resilient edge the great Yankees teams of recent vintage owned. In truth, it wasn't until the Yankees finally lost a Game 7 to the Diamondbacks in 2001, effectively ending their dynasty, that we could fully appreciate what they'd accomplished.

No need to wait for tonight, no need to see the Sox lose gallantly or win gloriously. What we've seen, already, is more than enough. So much about this team is so very different than it was in 2004, and the only true links left are Ortiz and Varitek, and the way they've moved across this ALCS it sometimes looks like they actually go all the way back to 1918 with the Red Sox.

Yet there was Papi on Thursday, reaching back to 2004 and hitting one over the night. There was Varitek, who hit four homers and drove in 10 runs and hit over .300 in those epic ALCS collisions with the Yankees in 2003 and 2004, channeling that Varitek.

And there were the Red Sox. Still breathing. Still standing. Still refusing to hand over the Commissioner's Trophy. Still the champs, for at least one more night.

New York Yankees News News » Varitek's blast from the past bad news for Rays
Varitek's blast from the past bad news for Rays
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