Not too long ago, when they were full healthy, the Boston Red Sox had the best and most feared starting rotation in Major League Baseball. The combination of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield were dominant in the first half of the year, with Beckett and Wakefield getting the nod for the All-Star Game.
Lester was just as good, and offseason acquisition Brad Penny was a serviceable starter who could get through at least six innings and give the team a chance to win. If that wasn’t enough, John Smoltz was getting back into form, and Clay Buchholz was always an option. Boston had a plethora of pitching, and fans prematurely had the Sox in the World Series. The ramblings of “How are you going to beat them in a playoff series with this rotation?” were plentiful.
Typical Red Sox fans. If we’ve learned anything from the first half of this decade, it’s that the Sox jump out to big leads in the AL East only to succumb to the Yankees in August and September. I attended the fifth and final game of the “Boston Massacre” in August 2006. The teams were 1.5 games apart at the start, and the Yankees led by 6.5 when they left.
The point is, the Yankees were, and are, too good not to make a run, and injuries were bound to strike down the geriatric Red Sox. Wakefield is nursing an injury, and Daisuke Matsuzaka won’t be back until September. Penny hasn’t been nearly as good as he was earlier in the year, and the Smoltz experience is reaching the end of the line. When push comes to shove, you can't make chicken salad out of ... well, you know how it goes.
If Boston wins two games in this series (Beckett tonight and Lester on Sunday), it’ll be a moral victory. And that's all we can really hope for.
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2 comments:
I LOVE IT when the Sox lose...No, I'm not a yankee fan. In fact I USED to be a diehard Sox fan but the whole "Red Sox Nation" thing has turned me against them. I can't stand the bandwagon pinkhat crowd, the CONSTANT mention of "red sox Nation" on the broadcasts, Jerry Remy hawking his wares, "Sox Appeal"...bimbos like Hedi Whatney doing "sideline" reports...I HATE what the Red sox have become....I hope they lose everygame....they make me sick
You echoed maybe every sentiment I have about the Boston Red Sox and their fans. With the exception of I hope they lose to the Yankees. I loathe the Yankees and everything about them.
That old saying that "My favorite team is the one that beats the Yankees," is one of the best.
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