Just think about the spirit around here about a week ago. The Bruins had dropped their first two at home to the Canadiens. The Sox were winless on the road. The Celts had beat the Knicks in two games at home by a combined five points. No doubt a full-fledged panic mode was setting in around the Greater Boston area.
Now? I'm not sure which team to be more optimistic about. The Celtics absolutely demolished the Knicks in their two games at Madison Square, and despite this, Knicks fans still gave their team a standing ovation in the waning seconds of Game 4. That's the difference between Boston and New York fans. Any Boston team getting swept out of the first round would get booed mercilessly off the court/rink/field. I guess that's what happens when your basketball team hasn't won a playoff game since 2001. That's right. 2001. You take just making the playoffs as a win.
Maybe the Bruins? I don't think I've ever witnessed a more dramatic turnaround than what we're seeing with them. If you told me the Bruins would have a 3-2 series lead, I would be on board with that. But that it would only be 3-2 after the Bruins drop the first two at home only to go sweep in Montreal? And with David Krejci and Milan Lucic combining for one goal, one assist, and a -3 rating thus far? I don't know how this shift happened, but I'll take it. Claude was coaching for his job these past three games, and it's encouraging to see he didn't just roll over. You've got to give him credit for sticking by Mike Ryder. Just about everyone and their brother was calling for Ryder to take a seat on the 9th floor and bring down Tyler Seguin after Game 2, but boy did patience pay off. His "JD Drew moment" is a large part of why Bruins fans are looking into May and beyond.
Or is it the Red Sox? We all know about that hideous 2-10 start. Since then? 8-1. Now that's more like it. I can't say I'm surprised by the surge; this team was expected to pull off runs like that. But all that 100-win talk was looking damn foolish, especially with the way the entire rotation had been looking. Since I called for Pedro Martinez to take Dice's spot in the rotation? He's 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00 through 15 innings pitched. He's walked just four batters over the stretch, while striking out 12. Josh Beckett has a 1.17 ERA over his last three starts. Heck even John Lackey hurled 8 shutout innings today. Has Carl Crawford finally awoken? He went deep for the first time in a Boston uniform today.
Obviously if there's one thing we've learned with the Bruins through the years it's to not count your chickens before they hatch (see: 2010 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals), but it's impossible to not feel at least a little bit confident right now. As for the Celts? They'll be taking their talents to South Beach once the Heat (presumably) finish off the 76ers. Safe to say LeBron won't be quitting this time around.
Lastly today, thank you everyone for sticking with the Experience through 100 posts. That's right, we just hit the century mark today. Didn't think this upstart school project would make it so far but I'll tell you, I have no plans of ending it anytime soon. This is almost as fun as watching these Boston teams right about now. So go cue up the Sweet Caroline. Good times never seemed so good.
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