You know it’s getting bad in Boston when the fans–what they used to call Royal Rooters in the 1910s, what they call Red Sox Nation today–are desperate to see Jeremy Hermeida in the lineup.
But that’s what it’s come to in Boston after the Sox were swept at home on Patriot Day by the rival Rays, losing thier 5th straight at home (their longest losing streak there–and their worst start over all–since the Clinton administration).
Now, the rational side of my baseball mind knows that its early in a long season; thinking lucidly I remember back to the early season ineptitude of the Yankees in 2009 and their dominance by the Sox and I know it’s too early to panic. But the emotional side of my baseball mind is gleeful about panic in Red Sox nation. These are the kind of Red Sox blog posts I like to read :
You’ve got to be f@$%ing kidding me, right?
No. Really. You’ve got to be. I’m having too bad of a f@$%ingweek for John Lackey to be pitching this shitty. I try my damndest not to swear on my blog, but GOD DAMNIT, you a$$%)#s need to pull your goddamn shit together!
Or there’s going to be arson!
Edit: And not for f@$%ingnothing, but Varitek’s GIDP’s… 0
Victor’s GIDP’s…. 6
And I don’t want to hear about limited sample size. 6 GIDP’s in two weeks of baseball is BEYOND inexcusable.
Hee, hee! Love it! Run prevention my ass–I’ve seen better pitching and defense from a middle school girls softball team. Quoth Denton at Surviving Grady:
There are no Boston Bash Brothers, no Weapons of Mass Destruction. In fact, there really isn’t either one of them left. Manny was sent away with a kick in the ass, and Ortiz has faded into an aging slugger almost overnight. So the front office comes up with a new mantra for the construction of this club: run prevention. With pitching and defense, who needs a big bat? Just like trying to hide the lack of a closer behind the “closer by committee” veil, the Sox are trying to hide the lack of offense behind the run prevention label. And it isn’t going well.
Cameron has already made one lowlight reel, and Scutaro at times looks like he’s trying to grab a lump of hot coal instead of a baseball. And does anybody want to talk about the catchers? The guys that can turn a single into a double with one errant throw? The bottom line is this: runs are not being prevented!
But John at the Lansdowne Lowdowne puts it more sucinctly in his headline: Built for Win Prevention.
So much for the genius of golden boy Theo Epstein (doesn’t he look at what wins these days: pitching plus POWER). Speaking of power, Big Papi better get back on the steroids, the donut replacement therapy program ain’t working out–and he ought to take JD Drew to the same doctor! The Red Sox 1-5 at home, that’s the kind of home field disadvantage that I adore.
In fairness I picked the Sox to win 100 games and eke out a win in the division this year, but I have no problem admitting I was wrong (at least I hope so). I feel fairly confident that Sox pitching will come along–though Sox fans going into the season were talking about Jon Lester as if he were Steve Carlton; Lester’s good, but Sox fans overrate him. But I think the team legitimately has a problem with run scoring. Yeah Victor Martinez and Kevin Youklis won’t hit .220. But even with them hitting .290 there are precious few three run homers waiting in the lower half of the Red Sox lineup, and the teams who win today, like the Yanks and Phillies, have pitching and power. That’s the modern formula, not run prevention.
Also, although the Rays man-handled the Sox this weekend, the Rays aren’t as good as they’ve looked so far (its an old saw in baseball but it’s true: a team as never as good as it looks at its best or as bad as it looks at its worst). They’re a great hitting team, and Garza and probably David Price are good starters, but the rest of the rotation is average and the bullpen is awful.
I’m still gearing up for a long season of gruelling head to head Yankee-Red Sox battles in the contest for the AL pennant. But if it’s a season of Yankee dominance, Rays resurgence, and Red Sox disintegration, I won’t be complaining.
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