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null  Tom Singer The Red Sox celebrate after Game 7 of the ALCS. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

• You just know that somewhere on this planet, at about 11:30 Saturday night, a bunch of stressed-out people losing their grip on reality began a four-day group-therapy retreat at some sanitarium. Upon exiting Wednesday night and being told that the Boston Red Sox had won the ALCS, they turned right around and walked back in. ...

• Joe Torre, shortly before Game 7: "Our purpose is to win the World Series. Not to keep the Red Sox from winning the World Series."

So the Yankees can still split. They aren't going to win the World Series, but may have taken enough emotion out of the Red Sox to ensure they won't, either. It worked the other way a year ago, when the Yankees used up so much adrenaline against Boston, they had an empty tank against Florida.

"This type of thing drains you. It really does," Torre said a few days ago. "Last year, winning Game 7 the way we did ... then we had a World Series game to play in two days. It was like going to the beach." ...

• And not so fast with all those "Curse" eulogies. Boston's historical burden applies to winning a World Series, not a pennant -- which they had already done four previous times since 1918.

However, it's worth noting that this is the very first time the Red Sox had to go through Yankee Stadium to reach the World Series. In each of their post-1918 championship seasons -- 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986 -- the Yankees dynasty was on a break. Boston finished an average of 12 1/2 games ahead of New York in those seasons.

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So, even if no burial yet, maybe at least Curse last rites are appropriate. ...

• Just remember: Next time you call someone a "bunch of idiots," you are flattering them. ...

• Boston taking a seven-game ALCS without Manny Ramirez driving in a run is like the E Street Band winning a Grammy with Bruce Springsteen's microphone turned off. ...

• You may have already heard that the Red Sox would be no World Series match for the St. Louis Cardinals, MLB's biggest regular-season winner with 105. Dunno about that. Can't see the Cards even taking the NLCS to a Game 7 without an RBI from Albert Pujols. ...

• America became infatuated with the Red Sox during the ALCS. Now the nation will fall heart-over-heels in love with this roguish band of crazies who creep out hairdressers and pitchers alike.

In this era of over-analysis when every move has to have a hundred rationales and each consequence must have dozens of reasons, it's refreshing to have a team blissfully oblivious to most everything spinning around them.

Or as Terry Francona says, "1918? Sometimes these guys don't even know how many outs there are in this inning." ...

• One more ALCS record: 29 hours and 17 minutes of total playing time. Time sure flies when you're having fun. ...

• Ever give some serious thought to why baseball teams in an 0-3 hole so rarely even make it to a Game 6 (twice out of 25 previous scenarios), while it is relatively common in other sports?

Simple: Baseball is the only sport with a central character, the starting pitcher. Typically, your No. 1 starter draws Games 1-4-7. So after you use your ace to avoid the sweep, you're down to secondary starters and on the way out.

That's right. Curt Schilling's aggravated ankle tendon injury turned into the ultimate blessing-in-disguise. It delayed his second start until Game 6, when the Red Sox had all the momentum to finish off their unprecedented comeback. ...

• Dial-surfing on the I-95: Tuesday morning, the host of a Providence sports talk show introduced a bit on Boston's "mane" man by inadvertantly referring to him as "Johnny Demon."

You've gotta love a cat who looks like he should be lead guitarist on one of those '80s "hair" bands, not leading off for the AL champions. ...

• Wait. Maybe The Curse is officially over and done with. The Red Sox were the first visitors to win both Games 6 and 7 at Yankee Stadium since the 1926 World Series, by the St. Louis Cardinals.

And here is the paranormal link: Ruben Sierra's game-ending grounder to second Wednesday night retraced the path of 1926's final incredible out.

Why incredible? On Oct. 10, 1926, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Babe Ruth drew a walk off Grover Cleveland Alexander. Minutes later, Ruth tried to steal second but was thrown out by catcher Bob O'Farrell, with second baseman Rogers Hornsby applying the tag.

The Cardinals won the game, and the World Series, by a 3-2 score. Can you imagine George Steinbrenner's reaction if a World Series ended with a caught-stealing by the tying run? ...

• The updated 2003-2004 tally: Boston 27, New York 25. ...

• Think that's close? The ALCS' first 35 innings -- through the eighth inning of Game 4 -- belonged to the Yankees. After that, the last 36 innings belonged to the Red Sox. Good thing they can decide these things with bats and balls; not even Solomon could make a call.

Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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