In between Foo Fighters shows and Neil Young appearances, the folks from Salesforce.com threw together a pretty good conference, if I do say so myself. Good content, good attendance, and enough substance to their announcements to set me back weeks, coverage-wise.

But here we are, weeks later: I guess it’s time for the Q&A. So without further delay, a few questions and answers concerning the recent Salesforce.com conference.

Q: Before we begin, anything to disclose? A: Salesforce.com is not a RedMonk client, but they comped T&E for the show.

Q: How was the attendance at the show? Rumor has it conference attendance is down across the board, and that conference venues are scrambling a bit as a result? A: I’m not sure what the actual attendance was - I heard figures from 7K to 10K bandied about - but the show was well populated, economic end times or no.

At 11:40 last night, Patrick - the bartender at Byrnes - flipped from TBS to the Weather Channel, ending the 2008 Red Sox season in the process. There would be no comeback, not this time, not this year. Now it’s time for golf, or if your’re Mikey Lowell, hip surgery.

The story of Game 7, as far as I’m concerned, is not terribly complicated: Lester pitched a very good game, while Garza pitched a great one. Yes, Lester no hit them for the first three, but Garza might as well have been throwing BBs. The onetime head case pitched inside to left and right hand batters, he threw hard, and he was locating two different breaking balls. Frankly, it was something to behold. If you weren’t a Sox fan, that is.

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ALCS 2008 logo - Fenway Park, originally uploaded by misconmike.

Two teams enter, one team leaves. Baseball is rarely that simple, but the series of events that led us here is as rare as they come.

Questions abound, as usual. There are lots of questions to be asked about Lester, for example, beginning with the sudden loss of velocity in the second inning of his last start. But I feel good about him, and I feel good about our team, because I believe.

There is a difference, a crucial one, between believing and knowing, but I believe nonetheless. And after the past two games, don’t you too?

Two teams enter, one team leaves. Let’s be that team. Talk to you tomorrow.

Line Drive to Right Field…(credit: Boston Globe)

And here we are again, you and I. Against all odds, we lived to fight another day. Which comes today.

I won’t lie and tell you I believed down seven with seven outs to play. But I will tell you that I didn’t leave, that I didn’t quit, and that I didn’t give up. Like Gammons’ fan who slapped his hand bleeding, I pounded, screamed and prayed. To what, to whom doesn’t really matter now - the fact is that we’re still alive, and we’ve got a game to play.

sogrady checked in @ Stamford Amtrak Station

sogrady checked in @ Sheraton Stamford Hotel

sogrady checked in @ Byrnes Irish Pub