ALCS Blogdome: Eric Gagne Is In Ur Bullpen ...

A look at what the Boston Red Sox Internets are saying following their 11-6 loss in extra innings to the Cleveland Indians in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series ...

• Epic Fail. Maybe someday, when all this is over, we'll sit down with (or maybe without) Terry Francona and we'll all have a good laugh out of all of this. Because when it became obvious that Curt Schilling didn't have it (and he was OK, but clearly didn't have his A game, or even the B+ game he's been getting by with), maybe a different manager would have gone to Jon Lester, or Julian Tavarez (whoops! he's inactive) to go a few innings. Instead of having to dip into Okajima and Timlin too early. Which leaves not much in the bullpen except Eric Gagne. Which, from a traffic-control perspective, is a pretty good way to empty out Fenway early. [ Bostonist]

• Spiders 13, Sox 6 (11). I figured the teams would split the first two games, and they did, though this route is a bit tougher to take. Still, I cannot fault Francona's bullpen management at all. Cleveland's trio of Jensen Lewis, Rafael Betancourt and Mastny shut down the Red Sox when it counted, allowing only one baserunner in the 6th through 10th innings. [ The Joy of Sox]

•The Gagne/Lopez Comedy Hour. It was a outrageously bad ending for a game that, until the eleventh, marked the welcome return of Heart Attack Theatre — both teams trading the lead with dramatic hits and home runs until hitting that 6-6 deadlock. With a heady mix of alcohol and caffeine pumping through my veins, I found myself pacing and punching and swearing and kicking at walls in a manner typically reserved for October games against the Yankees. And it felt good. But when Tito pulled the trigger and brought out The Bot in the ninth with the score tied, he was playing for us to win it in the bottom of that inning or, at worst, the tenth. Once that didn't happen, the wheels came off the wagon, and rather f@#king quickly. [ Surviving Grady]

• Classic Playoff Game. Strange game. Storylines you can't make up seem to happen. Is the series over? Not by a long shot. We're now 1-1 and heading to Cleveland for three games. Bad karma? The team that has won Game 2 in seven of the last eight LCS has advanced to the World Series. The one team that lost Game 2 and advanced? You guessed it: the 2004 Boston Red Sox. [ Hit and Run]

Bonus: Manny Ramirez caught digging for gold. [ beRecruited SportsWrap]