....So you're telling me there's a chance?!?!
Well, not really. The Red Sox' chances of advancing in the postseason after falling down 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays are about as good as Lloyd's chances of landing Mary in Dumb & Dumber. We all know that the Red Sox have been here before - but my question to you is this:
Doesn't it feel different this time around?
At the height of my cocky fanhood*, I remember feeling like the Red Sox couldn't be beat - down 3-1 to the Indians during last years ALCS, I remember telling my dad on the phone that everything would be alright. Does anyone feel like that this time around? OK, so maybe it was naive of me to think that the Sox would be able to come back from down 3-1 to the Indians last year, especially with 2007's best 1-2 pitching duo of Cash Cow Sabathia and Fausto Carmona.
But they had been there before, right?
Yes, and it was even worse then. I'm not going to re-hash the well-documented details of the 2004 ALCS, but suffice it to say that the Sox' comeback from being down 3-0 is probably the single greatest experience a fan could ever ask for and was a ballsy effort by a bunch of 'idiots,' a free spirit that seems to be missing from this year's team.
I'm not trying to say that there are character issues with the Sox. In fact, it's quite the opposite. During the last few games fellow BS contributor Lucky Day and I have been commenting on a small, but telling aspect of the Red Sox that doesn't have anything to do with the play on-field:
Their Swagger is gone.
Obviously losing will do that to you, but you could argue that this has been happening for quite some time now. To help illustrate an aspect of my point, I am now going to be extremely blunt: we have too many preppy, New England-ready white boys on our team. Now I'm not trying to make this a race issue, even though I just did, but come on, there is something going on there. Just like there is something going on with Omar Minaya and Los Mets. I obviously don't have any problem with the Mets hiring loads of Hispanic players, but
look at their roster - it's not a coincidence.
It makes sense, though. If you're a Red Sox fan, you've most likely noticed this in some capacity. Your uncle, your father, your brother, your room mate - one of your fellow Red Sox fans hates Manny and loves Jason Bay**. Maybe you do. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, so more power to you. But what's with all the subconscious favoritism? Don't tell me it's not there - it's the same reason that Brian Scalabrine gets cheered at the Garden. Trust me, it's not his stats.
As fans, we can only understand so much about a player. Our perceptions of them are determined by how they perform on the field, what they say in postgame interviews, what we read on the blogosphere, and what the omnipotent ESPN tells us. Therefore, it's easy to get caught up in appearances. And I don't have to tell you about the demographic breakdown of New England.
Race aside, in 2004 they had hair. And beards. This year, the whole team shaved off their beards and donated them to the area surrounding Kevin Youkilis' Goatee. And they have necklaces. Lots of them. With titanium or some shit. Woo-hoo!
As a franchise, the Rays have been to less postseason games then me and my Dad. So of course the Red Sox were going to wipe the floor with them. But the Rays have those god-awful Ray-hawks. And kids getting suspended from schools for wearing Ray-hawks. Even their manager Joe Maddon has a Ray-hawk. Both teams have character. But the Rays have a
team character. They have the Swagger the Red Sox had in 2004. And the Red Sox, have, well.....
If anyone has confidence that the Sox will climb out of this 3-1 hole, please let me know. I'll be the first to get a Red-hawk if they do come back. But unlike 2004 and 2007, it certainly doesn't look or feel like they are poised for a comeback.
There is one glimmer of hope for Red Sox fans to hold on to. Conventional wisdom says you have to try to end the series as soon as possible if you're up 3-1, but it almost seems as if the Rays are trying to conserve for Game 6. Instead of going for the jugular tomorrow night with Big Game James Shields, the Rays have decided to put Scott Kazmir back up on the hill for game 5 despite his sub-par game 2 performance. If Daisuke Matsusaka can give the Sox another strong start, it'll be 3-2 heading back to Tampa Bay.
So you're telling me there's a chance?!?!
*R.I.P., my cocky fanhood July 31, 2007 - September 7th, 2008: I gave birth to you like a child on the day KG was traded to the Celtics from the Timberwolves. No parent should have to bury a child. You died abruptly during the first quarter of the first game of the 2008 New England Patriots' regular season. You will forever be missed.**Must-read for all Red Sox fans: "Manny Being Manipulated" by Bill Simmons. Kudos to Ted for making me privy to that article.
Ooooooooooooooooh WEEEEEEEE! Sager, you have outdone yourself. Just in case it wasn't obvious that the pumpkin-pie toned jacket/tie combo didn't get the point across that this was your special Halloween suit, you threw on a white pocket square complete with a blinging pumpkin attched to it. How do professional athletes take you seriously when you try to interview them? No, really, how does TNT/TBS continue to let you wear this shit? It's worse than when TBS made us all sit through 20 minutes of the Steve Harvey show at the beginning of game 6 of the ALCS this year due to some bullshit power outage. (By the way, the comedian's name is Steve Harvey, it's called the Steve Harvey show, and yet Steve Harvey's character in the show is called Steve Hightower. Huh???)
- Purple suit
Posts
