FanHouse Bill Buckner

For better or worse, this is Jim Rice's moment in the sun. The former Red Sox outfielder was elected to the Hall of Fame in his final try last week, and now everyone wants to hear what he has to say about anything and everything, no matter how misguided it is.

Enter intrepid Newsday reporter David Lennon, who asked Rice about failing to win a World Series during his playing career and got an answer that seems both faulty and unbecoming of a guy about to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

On the precipice of their first World Series title in 28 years, the Phillies deserve a world of credit for the way they have executed in October. They have played to their strengths all month long, and as it turns out, those strengths are enough to win a title.

They have a dominant ace in Cole Hamels who may very well close the Fall Classic out Monday night. He's 4-0 in October and he gives the opposing pitcher very little room for error. The rest of their rotation has flown under the radar in part because of Hamels' excellence and in part because of a ballpark that inflates ERAs, but it's proven to be very capable, too, behind the southpaw ace.

They have a lights-out bullpen that finishes with Brad Lidge, but also features top-notch flame-thrower Ryan Madson as the bridge to Lidge and a number of useful situational guys like Scott Eyre and Chad Durbin.

And they have a power-laden offense that has much more balance than the Rays -- one that is capable of putting crooked numbers up on the board as it did in Game 4, but also capable of staying in the game even when it struggles with runners in scoring position because of the home run ball.

If Monday is a coronation, it will have been well earned indeed.

Yesterday I wrote that the Boston Herald's John Tomase's apology didn't resonate with Patriots fans, and even though the paper has disabled comments for Tomase's online columns, readers are using any comments sections as an opportunity to rip the poor guy.

I half-jokingly suggested Tomase might be less likely to have a mental breakdown if he switched beats, and Hashmarks' Matt Mosley makes a good case for the change:

If I'm the Herald, I would instruct Tomase to take a month off to clear his head. The man has suddenly become a household name for all the wrong reasons. Asking him to continue covering the team in this current environment borders on cruelty. I'm sure Tomase thinks that he can restore his reputation by doing a solid job on the beat, but that's not going to happen. Patriots fans know that their Super Bowl titles will always be tainted from a national perspective, and they need someone to blame for that -- other than Bill Belichick.

It's that last sentence that will be the most problematic for Tomase going forward. I mean, look what the region did to Bill Buckner, and they actually liked the guy before Game 6 in '86. On the upside, hopefully the Patriots will win a few more Super Bowls, and in 22 years or so, maybe the team will have Tomase take part in the ceremonial coin toss.

Or, as Mosley suggests, the Herald can take Tomase off the Pats beat and let everybody get on with their lives.

Following in the footsteps of Moises Alou finally letting Steve Bartman off the hook, the Red Sox have decided to embrace a former goat of their own by inviting Bill Buckner to throw out the first pitch today, which is all the more symbolic considering the Red Sox received their 2007 World Series rings before the game.

Bucker, of course, has been vilified over the years for letting Mookie Wilson's dribbler to first base bounce between his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, but he's finally ready to turn the other cheek. Buckner was met with a standing ovation. From Jack Curry on Bats:

"It was hard to do for me," said Buckner, whose eyes were red and who had to stop and compose himself during an emotional news conference.

When the Red Sox invited Buckner about six weeks ago, he initially thought he would decline the invitation. But Buckner said he prayed about it and decided it was time for him to return to Boston. The Red Sox have won two championships since 2004, which lessens some of the sting of what happened in 1986.

"I really had to forgive, not the fans of Boston, per se, but I'd have to say in my heart I had to forgive the media for what they put my family through," Buckner said. Later, he asked, "Where do you the draw the line? Is it O.K. to disrupt someone's life over a baseball game?"

This is good to see. As Curry points out, it's long past time for fans to forgive and forget -- two titles in four years far outweighs one near miss over two decades ago. Furthermore, it's nice to see Buckner's honest reaction to how difficult it was for him to return. Fans and the media turn individual players into scapegoats all the time without much thought (I'd be hypocritical if I didn't admit I did it, as well) but the reality is that players aren't just punchlines.