Before the Boston Red Sox World Series victories of 2004 and 2007, another trip to the World Series by the Bronx Bombers would have been cause for much consternation among Red Sox fans, but not this year. In 2009, you have to give the New York Yankees begrudging respect, even if they again, as a colleague pointed out last week, assembled the best team money could buy.

But the fact that they'll start the quest for their 27th World Series title tonight (7:30 p.m. on FOX, Channels 25 and 64) against the Philadelphia Phillies should not be a reason for sour grapes among Sox fans. Sure, the Sox split with the Yanks over the season, going 9-9 after an 8-0 start. But all but one Boston win came before the Yanks established themselves as the dominant American League team in 2009, overtaking the Sox in the Eastern Division right after the All-Star break, and never looking back. The Sox did well to rebound, winning 95 games to claim the fourth playoff spot in the AL, but as their dismal showing against the Angels showed, they were not a team to be reckoned with.

Sure, wads of cash bought the Bombers starting pitchers C.C. Sabbathia and A.J. Burnett as well as first baseman Mark Teixeira, who spurned the Sox to go for even bigger money in New York. Yet, we as Sox fans should give the Yanks - whom we saw frequently - their due. They will have their hands full playing the Phillies, whom the Sox also played, and it should be a good series that Sox fans can watch without getting emotionally attached. The Yanks should take it in six or seven, but so could the Phils. Enjoy watching the series, which won't end until Nov. 5 if it lasts all seven games.

A safe Halloween alternative

Halloween has never made it on my radar as a holiday. Even as a kid, I dreaded the day and refused to go out trick-or-treating when I was 5 or 6, and have had an aversion to the holiday to this day. Yes, the kids look cute in their costumes, and I deliver the "treats" rather than risk the malicious "tricks" that youths and adults masquerading as delinquents find funny. Nonetheless, I am impressed each year with the community Halloween events put on in our area. The Norton and Mansfield parades, held Sunday along with the North Attleboro party in the park, are prime examples of how communities try to find safe havens for kids on Halloween. Plainville did a party at the fire station on Saturday night, and most other communities will be holding events, including Attleboro, which again will hold its two traditional Halloween night parties for kids at the Bartek Recreation Center on Pine Street and the Knights of Columbus Hall on Route 123 in South Attleboro. And area YMCAs and libraries also pitch in. Residents should never take for granted such safe alternatives to trick-or-treating, which parents should think twice about letting their kids do too far from home in this day and age.

Rest in peace, 'Rocky'

The Sun Chronicle family lost a beloved retired employee with the passing Saturday of Mansfield's Rocco Molinari, known around here and by his friends and relatives as "Rocky." This "Rocky" didn't run up steps in Philadelphia while training for a boxing bout, but he epitomized "The Greatest Generation," which is rapidly disappearing. He served in the Army Air Force as a sergeant in the Signal Corps during World War II, earning the Good Conduct Medal and the American Theatre Campaign Ribbon before being discharged after the war. And he worked for a half-century at The Sun Chronicle as a typesetter back in the day - an era that is rapidly becoming forgotten - when newspapers were printed in real type.

Rocky retired a few years after I started here more than two decades ago, but he was always one of the people you looked forward to seeing because of his quick wit, easy smile and relaxing manner. Whenever he'd return during his "retirement" to fill in, it'd always be a pleasure greeting him warmly.

My condolences go out to his family on their loss.

LARRY KESSLER is a Sun Chronicle news editor who can be reached at lkessler@thesunchronicle.com. He'll be the only one without a mask on Halloween because he's scary enough without one.