Monday, August 21, 2006

I give up...

Quick Thoughts while awaiting the beginning of football season...

So, here's the thing. Back when the season started, I said that this year could go one of two ways for the Red Sox. "Either they’re a powerhouse team and roll to the top of the A.L. East, or they’re a lot worse than people imagine, and fall to third in the division." At the time, I decided that the first scenario seemed more likely. Sure, Schilling, Wakefield, Wells & Timlin were all staring at the wrong side of 38+ years old. And yes, the kids like Lester, Papelbon, Hansen and DelCarmen were completely unproven. But we still had the best 3-4 lineup combo in the majors, we still had a bonafide ace and an up and coming ace for the future, and the defense behind them was as good as it's ever been.

Well, it's the middle of August. There are less than 40 games to go in the season. And a loss today will drop the Red Sox (once seven games up in the division) down to 6.5 games out of first place with only four games head to head with the Yankees left in the year.

In other words, a loss today, and it's O-V-E-R. Done. Fin. A loss today, and it's officially Patriots' season. I'll come back next week with predictions and thoughts on the preseason Super Bowl lines, because the baseball season will effectively be toast.

Sure, I'll keep watching. I'm a Red Sox fan - it's what I do. But will I have any expectations at all about the rest of the 2006 season? Nope. If they go on a 25 game winning streak to end the year and back into the playoffs, I'll cheer. I'll watch. Hell, - I might even pony up the dough for playoff tickets. But I'll do so with absolutely no expectations at all.

And there's the problem. After 2004, every Red Sox fan's expectations were actually raised. Terms like "Back-to-back" and "dynasty" were actually thrown around as though there were any chance in hell that the Red Sox would recapture the magic that got them through the playoff run in 2004. Christ, even I predicted a back-to-back championship in my 2005 MLB Preview. I was still so elated over '04 that I neglected to account for the fact that the pitching has never been the same since Pedro walked off the mound in Game 3 of the World Series, or since Keith Foulke grabbed the one-hopper from Renteria back up through the box.

So, like I said - I'll watch the game today. I fully expect David Wells to cough up a couple of gopher balls. I expect Tito to go to the bullpen and bring in Julian Tavarez in the wrong situation. If we're lucky, we might even get to watch Mike Timlin calcify on the mound again. And when it's all said and done, the Red Sox will be pushed off the back pages.

After all, it's football season.

Ah - remember the good ol' days?

Other thoughts...

n The Mets are in trouble if Tom Glavine is done. With Petey already nursing various injuries (which is just his way of resting up for the postseason), Steve Traschel is now the #1 starter. New York is lucky that they have such an obscene lead in the division - 14 games as of this moment. But if Glavine can't throw in the playoffs, a 1-2 of Pedro & Traschel might get them through an NLDS matchup with the likes of San Diego or Cincinnati, but they will have their lunch handed to them by the Dodgers or even the Cardinals.

n I've gotta tell you this... I was at the Sox/Yanks debacle on Saturday. My buddy Tim managed to score centerfield seats with StubHub, so I sat in straightaway centerfield watching Josh Beckett implode with 9 walks in 5.2 innings. But even I, the eternal optimist, managed to find a silver lining during the course of that game. See the "Quotes of the Week" for more... The best part of the game was during the 6th inning, when the people in my section pleaded with the bullpen guys to let one of us come in and throw an inning. Hell, we couldn't have been any worse...

n The only thing worse than watching the Red Sox collapse is going to be my trip to New Jersey for the annual Labor Day blowout / Fantasy Football draft. With 1/2 of the people in attendance Yankees fans, and the other half Mets fans, I'm going to have to listen to haughty New Yorkers / New Jersians for four straight days. And you know what's the worst part about that? I won't have any type of tangible comeback. I'm just going to have to stand there and take it. So load up your best shots guys, I've got nothing.

n I'm hugely impressed by the Reds' ability to hang around in the NL Central. OF course, it's the National League, so it doesn't really matter. But with zero pitching (let's face it - as much as I'd like him here as my #4, Bronson Arroyo is not a #1 starter...), the Reds have managed to stay within 3 games of the Cardinals for most of this year. They just need one little mini-run to catch up and make September very, very interesting.

n I can't believe I'm about to type this, but Derek Jeter is the AL MVP right now. David Ortiz, as heroic as he's been, has fallen off after carrying the team for two solid months. And with Manny Ramirez heating up and stealing votes, right now the ballot looks like this: 1) Jeter 2) Ortiz 3) Ramirez 4) Mauer 5) Dye. God I feel dirty...

n Stat of the weekend. Just heard it on the radio - in the first 4 games of this series, Red Sox pitchers have thrown 814 pitches. 814!?! 203.5 pitches a game? And we wonder why the bullpen is burned out?

That's it. I'm finished. Two things before I sign off.

First - random programming note. I'm going to type up a short fantasy football preview this week and next, but I'm not posting it until after I hold my fantasy football drafts. I don't want to give away my formula for success just yet...

And of course, the Quote(s) of the Week:

First, from my eternal sense of optimism. During Saturday's game, in the 6th inning, Red Sox pitchers had walked in two straight runs with the bases loaded before Jorge Posada's bases-clearing triple. Which prompted the following out of me:

"Well, at least we can't walk in any more runs..."

The sad part of it is, I was being completely serious.

And second, from my never ending quote well, my mother.

She read my last post (The End is Near), and when I spoke to her the next night, she felt compelled to correct a couple of historical inaccuracies in my statements...

"David, I was reading your last post... you know that Nostradamus never predicted that the Red Sox would get swept by the Royals, right?"

And she was 100% serious. I think she was actually worried that I might have gotten my facts wrong, rather than realizing it was a complete joke. Wow.

Lata.

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