The lists have been made long ago. Now, it’s time to check them for the second time (after all, the song says “he’s checking them twice.”) With all due respect to Santa Edes of Red Sox Hot Stove fame, here is a list of gift ideas to give the hard-to-please person on Santa’s list.

Bill Belichik. A win for old friend Eric Mangini. Coach Bill certainly didn’t ask for a Jets win when he first made the list, but he needs one now. This puts the Patriots coach in an uncomfortable position. At least he can ask for a loss that would KO old friend Bill Parcell's Dolphins from the playoffs.

Scott Boras. Expansion teams for Major League Baseball. The agent keeps talking about “other offers” for his clients that may or may not be there. The answer? More teams to throw more money in his direction. That way, players like Jason Varitek might be able to get real contract offers and enter the New Year as members of real teams.

Patrice Bergeron. A nice, soft pillow to sleep on this week. Just as the Bruins center was feeling fully on top of his game, he has suffered another concussion. In the violent sport of hockey head injuries can happen anytime. Let’s hope this is a very temporary setback for a young man who worked so hard to get back to where he is now.

Jon Lester. A nice vacation. In 2008, Lester threw 237 innings between the regular and post-seasons. That’s 50% more innings than he’s ever thrown in a season. He’ll need every bit of rest and relaxation he can find this off-season if he’s going to be the workhorse the Sox need him to be in 2009.

Glen Davis. A driver. Preferably one from New England who can maneuver him through a Boston winter.

Kevin Youkilis. A little love. He led the Sox in homers and RBI and was overshadowed by The Little Second Baseman Who Could in 2008. Dustin Pedroia got an MVP award and a contract extension. Youkilis got bumped back to third base. Here’s hoping he and the Sox can agree to a contract that will keep YOOOOUUUUK in town for a long time to come.

Milan Lucic. An “Old Time Hockey” t-shirt. A first-place, first-half has brought fans back to the Bruins; Lucic keeps them coming back with his throwback game. The most popular fighter in black and gold since PJ Stock… but Lucic can use those hands to score, too.

Terry Francona. Another starting pitcher. For all the talk of landing Teixeira, the Sox could use another arm with about 170 innings in it. There are still some good ones out there (Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Ben Sheets) and the Sox might be able to get one at a bargain as this slow-developing free agent season creeps along.

Jeff Jagodzinski. One more win. Seems the BC Eagles always come up one win shy of that Big Bowl Game, and it happened again this season with a loss in the ACC Championship.

Brett Favre. One more win. Seems the former Packer always comes up short in the games he most needs to win. Pats fans are hoping that trend can end on Sunday.

Just like that, the toughest division in baseball got even tougher.

Baseball experts can scratch their heads at the contract CC Sabathia signed to play for the Yankees – a seven-year, $161 million deal that gives the pitcher the right to walk away after three years if he’s unhappy – but the Steinbrenners did exactly what they needed to do to get back in the race. Pitching was a problem for the pinstriped boys last season; it won’t be a problem now.

And don’t think for a second that Yankees GM Brian Cashman is done spending Hal and Hank’s money. The Yanks are deep in talks about bringing A.J. Burnett or Derek Lowe to town. Add either one of those arms to the mix and you might just have the best rotation in the game calling the New Yankee Stadium home.

How about a rotation of Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, Burnett or Lowe, Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes? Or, bring Andy Pettitte back and put Joba back in the bullpen. Or sign Burnett and Lowe.

Bottom line is this: thanks to the Yankee’s new Taj Mahal, there is no end to what the team can spend on players. And they needed to overspend to land the one thing the Yankees have been missing: a true ace.

“We talked about it all year,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona told me during our Red Sox Hot Stove special yesterday. “Going into a new stadium, after not making the playoffs for the first time in awhile, they were not going to sit back and take that. This is the first step.”

Francona was quick to point out that the Red Sox feel good about their roster, and that the team we see assembled in December is rarely the team we see break camp in April. The team is reportedly going hard after Mark Teixeira and will probably add an arm to their staff before it’s all said and done.

But a division that was once a two-horse race is getting tougher by the day. In case you’ve forgotten, the Tampa Bay Rays are the defending American League champs. The Yankees are reloading. And Toronto’s Roy Halladay still might be the best pitcher in the division.

For now, you can throw Sabathia into the mix of great arms the Sox will have to face during their 72 games against divisional opponents next season.

“We’re probably going to face him [Sabathia] five or six times next year,” said Francona. “It’s kind of like Halladay and guys like [Scott] Kazmir and things like that. He’s one of the elite pitchers in the game. What he did down the stretch last year, looking at it from afar, was really awesome to watch. Pitching every three days and carrying that team [the Brewers] on his back … obviously, I hope he doesn’t do that for the Yankees.”

That’s exactly what the Yankees are hoping he’ll do in 2009. Which is why they were willing to roll the dice in Vegas and put all their chips on the table.

For many people, Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. It doesn’t have the hype or buildup of Christmas, and is a day spent with family and friends feasting on great food and football. Pigskin might be the order of the day, but we’re taking a moment right now to list the things Red Sox Nation should be thankful for.

Despite losing out in Game 7 of the ALCS, there is truly no better time to be a Red Sox fan. Here’s our starting nine reasons why:

1. Theo Epstein. In 2005, "In Theo We Trust" was the mantra that kept Sox fans at bay as the GM began to dismantle a landmark group of players. By 2007, he had built another championship team. Now, he is once again retooling a contender, and based on his track record, there is no reason not to trust he will make the right decisions again this offseason.

2. Terry Francona. Last winter, he got a big-money contract extension. For a long time, armchair managers in New England thought he was too laid-back, but there is no better man for this team at this time. His biggest strength is his ability to keep a calm clubhouse amidst the pressure cooker of a Boston baseball season. It has allowed his team to become the most successful franchise in the game this decade.

3. The right side of the infield. MVP Dustin Pedroia is 25. Third-place finisher Kevin Youkilis is 29. The duo provides pop at the plate and slick glove work in the field. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better -- and more productive -- combination on the right side of any major league infield.

4. David Ortiz. Were 23 homers and 89 RBIs a disappointment? Sure. Remember, though, that Big Papi missed a month and a half with a wrist injury, and wasn’t 100 percent all year. If he’s back healthy in 2009, he still gives the Sox the heart-of-the-lineup big bopper most teams covet.

5. Jon Lester. Admit it, you were willing to package him in a deal to get Johan Santana last winter. Probably willing to throw in Justin Masterson and Jed Lowrie, too. Sixteen wins, 210 innings pitched, and a no-hitter later, you probably wouldn’t trade him straight-up for Santana.

6. Jonathan Papelbon. The Red Sox' bullpen is the most scrutinized group of athletes in sports. Ramon Ramirez is the latest reliever thrown into the late-innings mix as Epstein continues to look for that perfect combination. On the back end of it all is Mr. Cinco Ocho, the bedrock upon which you can build a group of relievers.

7. Jason Bay. He’s no Manny Ramirez. He’ll probably never be a regular cleanup hitter for the Sox. But he’s under the control for relatively short money next year and is coming off a season in which he hit a combined 31 homers and 101 RBIs. He’s comfortable in Boston and should have a very strong 2009 season.

8. Josh Beckett. Another superstar who battled injuries in 2008, Beckett is the ace every rotation needs. He’ll be back with a chip on his shoulder next season … bad news for opposing hitters, good news for us.

9. The new Yankee Stadium. There will be money to burn in the Bronx, and a new lineup of All-Stars wearing pinstripes. After missing out on the playoffs, the Steinbrenner boys will be going to the whip early and often to get New York going. The rivalry will be back, and that will be great for all of baseball.

The silly season begins Friday. That’s when the general managers of Major League Baseball teams can finally make offers to free agents. There are plenty of big names available, and there are plenty of teams willing to spend absurd amounts of money to bring one or more of the top names to town for the 2009 season.

Red Sox fans want Theo Epstein to open up the team’s wallet and spend another $100 million or so to beef up the lineup, the rotation and the bullpen for next year. The wish list begins with Mark Teixeira, and rolls through the likes of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Derek Lowe. Why not throw Francisco Rodriguez into the bullpen mix, and bring Manny Ramirez back for the heck of it.

Why not? It’s not our money.

Last week, when Epstein called his team "selective shoppers," he gave us the first indication that this will not be a break-the-bank shopping season on Yawkey Way. The Red Sox will be looking to improve -- they always are -- but they won’t recklessly tie up hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term contracts that could hamstring the team for years.

Fans don’t always want to hear it, but slow and steady wins the race. That mentality has won two World Series for the Sox in the last five years, and brought them a game away from going back to the Fall Classic this year.

So, while they may be talking about Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira in the Bronx (where they haven’t won a World Series since 2000 and missed the playoffs completely this season), here are a few names to ponder on the eve of free agency:

1. Brad Penny: The Dodgers bought out his $9.25 million contract option for next season, and the right-hander filed for free agency a day later. He has been banged up, with three trips to the DL (shoulder problems) during a 6-9, 6.27 ERA season, but he is still only a year removed from consecutive 16-win All-Star seasons. There will be plenty of interest in Penny, who started his career with John Henry's Florida Marlins, but the Sox might be a perfect fit for a 30-year-old looking to get his career back on track.

2. Ben Sheets: He threw 198 innings this season, his highest total since 2004, but late-season elbow issues make him look fragile once again. Before the elbow flare-up, Sheets would’ve been in line for top free-agent money. Now, he’ll have to wait behind his teammate Sabathia, as well as Burnett and Lowe, before he finds the market for his services. Like Penny, he would fit in well with the Sox. The question on both is whether a pitching-starved team like Texas or Baltimore will overpay and run the risk of tying up long-term money on an injury risk.

3. Rocco Baldelli: The Rhode Islander is only 27 years old, but the rare blood disorder he has battled makes him a risk. He is still learning how to deal with how the disorder saps him of his strength, but in a platoon and fill-in role, he could be very effective. If he’s willing to accept that role, he could be perfect as a fourth outfielder, and would allow the Sox to use Coco Crisp in a deal to bring a young catcher to town.

4. Nick Punto: He’s coming off a year in which he hit .284 for the Twins, and he is a pretty good defensive middle infielder. If Alex Cora leaves for free agency, the Sox will need someone to fill in that "super utility" role, and Punto could give them some defensive help up the middle.

5. Nomar Garciaparra: OK, so the chances of Nomah returning to Boston are only slightly lower than Manny being the team's Opening Day starter in left field. That said, why not bring him back as a utility infielder? Since he was shipped off to Chicago on July 31, 2004, Nomar has played first base, shortstop and third base. He also has become a medical nightmare, and reserve players can't help you if they're on the DL. 

There you go. Five names that won't keep you glued to the "free agent tracker" in the wee hours of the morning, but five names that could fill a role with the Sox in 2009. Not the list of the biggest names, but a realistic list for a team selectively shopping to improve on a 2008 season that came up three runs short.

Bud Selig may be onto something here.

Inadvertently, the commissioner of Major League Baseball gave baseball fans across the nation something they have been longing for: an intense, edge-of-your-seat World Series game that was over before "The Tonight Show."

In fact, the Philadelphia Phillies were popping the champagne at around 10 p.m. on Thursday night, celebrating their first World Series title since 1980 at an hour that some kids could actually stay up and enjoy.

The tension began mere moments after Barack Obama’s infomercial ended. There were no long, drawn-out opening ceremonies, just a sell-out crowd in Philly waving towels and ready for the bottom of the sixth.

With 46 hours to think about the conclusion of this game, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel made all the right moves. He started Game 5 (part two) by pinch hitting Geoff Jenkins for pitcher Cole Hamels, correctly assuming Hamels would have a rough time getting loose again after nearly two days.

One out later, Jason Werth dropped a bloop fly off the glove of Akinori Iwarmura, and the Phils led by a run.

The Rays tied the game up for the second time in three days when Rocco Baldelli hit a solo homer in the seventh. A few minutes later, Pedro Feliz drove in the series-winning run with a base hit up the middle. Brad Lidge ended it all when he struck out Eric Hinske.

It was thrilling, it was exciting, it was fast-paced. In fact, it was just plain fast. No one complained about the pace of this game.

Think about how shorter playoff games could’ve changed history. The Red Sox would’ve beaten the Mets long before Mookie Wilson’s grounder to first base in 1986. Pedro Martinez would’ve pitched a four-inning complete game to knock off the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Obviously, baseball is not considering four-inning World Series games. Still, it’s hard not to like the idea of October baseball games ending at a reasonable hour. On Monday, it was well after 11 p.m. ET when Game 5 was suspended with the score tied 2-2. And it was only the sixth inning. It took more than three hours to play two-thirds of a game.

Maybe the answer is splitting the games in half. Look at how much people talked about Game 5 during the 46-hour sixth-inning stretch. Why not play half a game each night during the series? Play five innings one night, and pick it up in the sixth the next. Teams should be able to complete each half-game in about three hours, putting almost all of the action in prime time. Even young kids could watch more than the first inning of a game, getting to watch the sixth or even the seventh on the second night.

This, of course, would stretch the World Series well into November. That might seem like a problem, but MLB has already scheduled next year’s Fall Classic to be the latest in baseball history. The current schedule calls for the Series to begin on Oct. 28, 2009. If it goes the distance, Game 7 wouldn’t be until Nov. 5. Why not stretch it out another week, schedule 14 half-games, and make each night something special?

Selig has been taking a lot of heat this week for the way baseball handled the weather issues that plagued this game the past three nights. Folks in Philadelphia thought executives were waiting for the Rays to tie it up, so the grounds crew finally could put the tarp over the muddy field. In the end, no one in Pennsylvania is complaining now that the Phils are world champs.

Outside of Philadelphia and the Tampa Bay area, the ratings for this series lagged. Before the sprint to the finish, the national ratings were down some 20 percent from the lowest-rated World Series ever.

I would bet people were tuning in for the clincher. How can you not be interested in a game that was tied in the seventh at 9 p.m.?

All in all, the split game might not have been a bad thing. As for those earmuff baseball caps, well, we’ll save that discussion for another day.

Yes, we’ve been here before -- twice in the past four years, to be exact. The Red Sox take the field for Game 5 of the American League Championship Series down three games to one.

That’s great, but as anyone on Wall Street will tell you these days, past performance is no guarantee of future success.

A history of ALCS comebacks isn’t enough to launch the Red Sox into the World Series next week. What this team needs is a map to follow into the Fall Classic, a blueprint to guide them as they attempt to build another remarkable comeback.
 
Here it is:
 
The Red Sox face Scott Kazmir. Forget everything else; going up against the once-dominant lefty is Boston’s biggest reason to have hope going into this game. Kazmir has given up 14 earned runs in his last 7 1/3 innings against the Sox, and has averaged 37.5 pitches in the first inning this postseason.
 
Joe Maddon surprised a lot of people by moving Kazmir up a game to start. The Rays manager said a lot of factors went into the decision, but you’d better believe the biggest factor of all was that his bullpen is rested. He would be thrilled to get five decent innings from Kazmir, even more thrilled to have the lead after those five innings.
 
“We set up Kaz in front of a day off,” Maddon said Wednesday. “And again, listen, this young man is a tremendous talent. I'm going to say it again, at any moment he can just catch fire. The arm is fine. I've seen flashes recently. And I'd like to see him get off quickly. That would be great. And if he does and he gets the first couple innings under his belt in good order, this guy can pitch deep into the game.”
 
For Kazmir, going deep into a game would be six innings. He’s only done that once in the last five starts, and hasn’t lasted longer in a game since July 21.
 
If the Sox can take care of business against Kazmir, they head back to the Trop for Game 6 on Saturday. Here, it’ll be Josh Beckett’s turn for redemption. Beckett hasn’t been himself this postseason, and while he says he is physically healthy, the evidence hints otherwise. Would you be shocked if you found out Beckett was undergoing some type of surgery after the season ended? Of course not.
 
That said, pitching with the season on the line is different from pitching Game 2 of a series with a 1-0 lead. Beckett will somehow have to rear back and find his old gunslinger self if he gets the ball. It says here he’ll find enough to give the Sox a chance to win, even if it means using up everything he has left.
 
That would bring us to Game 7 on Sunday night. I know the Rays are a young team playing with confidence. As Jerry Remy keeps pointing out on our show, they have it, whatever it is. But in a seventh game,  I’ll take the veteran team, the team with 17 players remaining from last year’s Game 7 ALCS win. I'll take them over the Rays who have already gone further than anyone expected.

So, there. A blueprint for the Sox to follow, and a little recipe to help you get through these final nervous hours before the series resumes.
 
Postseason reminder: Mike O’Malley, actor and die-hard Red Sox fan, checked in from the West Coast where he’s shooting the new NBC series "My Own Worst Enemy" -- he plays Christian Slater’s co-worker Tom Grady (as well as Raymond Carter, his fellow secret agent.) Last year, O’Malley wrote “A Mid-Week Sermon for the Faithful,” while covering the Red Sox-Indians series for Yahoo! Sports.  He reminded us of the words that worked last year:
 
"Summon your very own devotion to your very own Red Sox for one more day. Be not a wounded animal, alone in a corner willing your final breath to come sooner rather than later. Be a believer. Have we been beaten pretty good the last three games? No doubt. Are the Indians hard to hate? Not anymore. Start hating them and their towel-waving antics. Hate their drum, their logo, their unknown stars who will soon leave to play for the Mets or Yankees, and hate them good. Let the broadcasters and national media blush with praise and desire for these oh-so-very-likeable Indians. Your job, friends, is to hate. Believe and hate. Heck, that's what our great country was built on! Do you not believe in the idea of America? Belief and hate – two powerful things to get you through Game 5."
 
Substitute Rays for Indians and you’re all set. For Mike’s complete sermon from 2007, check out the link.

Forget what the House of Representatives decides to do. Here in New England, we know it’s going to be a sluggish economy in the coming days. Productivity will be down, sales will be sluggish, and offices will be operating at less than full efficiency.

This, of course, has nothing to do with the mortgage crisis. This is what happens when the Red Sox play late-night playoff baseball on the West Coast.

Did you make it to the end of last night’s game? Did you take an early evening nap or brew a late-night pot of coffee to hang in there 'til the final out?

Or did you heed Dustin Pedroia’s advice from Rally Monday, opting to “get a few cocktails in you and root for the Sox"?

If you did stay up, the Red Sox rewarded you with a 4-1 win, extending their postseason winning streak over the Angels to 10 games. In fact, the last time the team from Disneyland beat the Sox in a postseason game, they were still called the California Angels.

Jason Bay made his postseason debut a memorable one with a two-run homer in the sixth inning off John Lackey, essentially the only mistake Lackey made on the night. Defense held the lead in the eighth inning, as Jacoby Ellsbury started the inning with a diving catch off a Mark Texeira line drive. Then, after Vladimir Guerrero got a base hit, he made the mistake of trying to go from first to third on a Torii Hunter flare to right. Kevin Youkilis grabbed it off a bounce, and gunned Guerrero down at third.

You might not have gotten a ton of sleep, but once you shut it down you probably slept soundly.

West Coast baseball is always tough on "The Nation." Unlike most East Coast cities, folks around here hang in there and stay with it ‘til the end. When those 10 p.m. starts are in October, the sleeplessness and the agita are even more pronounced. 

In the case of a tight game, many are so worked up they can’t even go to sleep when the game is over, which is why Jerry Remy and I were chatting away in the wee hours of the night after Game 1.

Last night (well, this morning) was the first time the Sox played a late-night game in the postseason since Oct. 6, 2004. In that game, Pedro Martinez threw 116 pitches and beat Bartolo Colon in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Anaheim Angels (yes, that’s what they were called back then, even if they were playing in Orange County.) The Sox piled on four runs in the ninth to blow it open and take a commanding 2-0 lead. They wound up sweeping the Angels on David Ortiz’s walk-off homer at Fenway Park two days later.

The postseason visit to California wasn’t quite as enjoyable for the 2003 Sox. Boston was beaten in a late-night Game 1 when Ramon Hernandez dropped a two-out, bases-loaded bunt off Derek Lowe in the bottom of the 12th to give the Oakland A's a 5-4 win. It was also about 2:30 a.m. back in Boston when it finally ended. About 14 hours later, the two teams were back on the field, and Barry Zito dominated Boston with seven strong innings. He struck out nine as the Sox lost 5-1, facing a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 deficit in the best-of-three series.

That’s when "Cowboy Up" became the battle cry of "The Nation" -- and the Sox reeled off the next three wins in a row to set up an unforgettable ALCS with the Yankees. Just not as unforgettable as the ALCS a year later.

Will this be another unforgettable October? You’d better use this day of rest to get ready for another all-nighter Friday.

How ‘bout those Rays? Have you had enough of Joe Maddon’s “plucky” team? You’re not alone. The Red Sox are more than happy to move on from Tropicana Field after losing two of three games there. The Sox also lost two of three to the Rays at Fenway Park last week.

In each series, the Sox won the first game of the three-game set and seemed ready to stay in the passing lane and move right past the young Rays. It didn’t happen. Now, the Sox find themselves two games behind Tampa Bay with 10 games left in the season.

What’s worse is the Rays hold the tiebreaker over the Sox. In the case of two teams tied for first, with the loser getting the wild card, the team winning the regular-season head-to-head series is the division champ. That’s the Rays, who have won 10 of the 18 meetings with the Sox this season. That means the Sox now have to make up three games on the Rays over the next 10 days.
 
It’s essentially what happened in 2005, when the Sox and Yankees each finished the season with 95 wins. The Yankees won the regular season series and were awarded the AL East title. The Sox were the wild card, shipped off to Chicago, and were swept in three games by the eventual World Champion White Sox.

What’s the difference between first place and the wild card? The Angels. The team that finishes as runner up in the East will be heading to Disneyland for the first week of October, facing an Anaheim team that currently holds the best record in all of baseball.

For the Red Sox, that’s not an ideal scenario. Boston lost eight of nine against the Angels this year, and have a losing record on the road overall. Playing the first two games of a five-game series on the west coast is a daunting task.

There are bigger challenges facing the Sox right now, most notably having to deal with the injury to Mike Lowell. Last year’s World Series MVP looked to be in serious pain Tuesday night, and while it’s admirable that he’s trying to battle through it, it’s hard to imagine Lowell being effective dealing with a hip that’s so bothersome.
 
The Red Sox are reportedly consulting two different specialists concerning Lowell’s hip. It’s an indication of just how worried they are.

Last night, the Sox moved Kevin Youkilis over to third, with Sean Casey at first. They have shown remarkable depth all season long, but with Lowell joining J.D. Drew on the sidelines this lineup is not as potent as it once was.

The Sox may have missed out on their chance to take over the division lead, and by no means is passing the Rays out of the question. That said, the priority here is to make the playoffs, as the wild card or division winner. They need to get as healthy as possible, line up their pitching, and get ready for what will be a tough first-round battle. The road through Anaheim won’t be easy, but at this point it’s all about getting there. Losing two of three to the Rays just made it a little bit tougher.

Now, to your questions:

Seeing how much better Manny is doing now that he was traded, what would it take for MLB to decide he was dogging it?
-- Stacy, Windsor Locks, Conn.

I’m not sure MLB would ever step in, but I don’t think there’s any question Manny dogged it and got himself out of Boston – and out of the two remaining team option years.  The fact that he is healthy and hitting better than ever only makes his actions in Boston that much more reprehensible.
 
How do you get chosen to be a bat boy or a ball girl on the field?
-- Skip Cleary 

The real bat and ball boys and girls are professionals.  The team does occasionally pick out honorary batboys and batgirls – you’d have to check out redsox.com or call the team to get more information.