I’m feeling, in many respects, as if I’m back at the Brass Monkey in D.C., staring in dull horror at the television as the Yankees slaughtered Bronson Arroyo and the rest of the Sox during that lowest point of the ALCS. You know the game. I can spare us all the details.
At that point, there was no thought that the Sox would bounce back to pull off the miracle upset, let alone that they’d go on to win the World Series. That night, it was all about embarrassment and wonder over how far one’s faith and love of a team could be tested. It was a night that found you happy to be in a bar – one miles upon miles away from Boston – with an easy walk over to alcohol.
The lead is down to a game and a half. Forget those idyllic days of the 14 game lead, even the comfortable early summer cushion. A game and a half. It looks like we’ll probably make it to the playoffs – that seems to be the working theory in the organization – but the division is most likely about to slip away. Again.
It doesn’t feel as if anyone actually on the team cares. Maybe Youkilis. Tek. But that’s about it.
The injuries are beginning to pile up – much like last year, only later in the season to still give us somewhat of a fighting chance. There’s the possibility that I’ll look back on this cynicism and laugh down the road, if the Red Sox manage to fulfill the promise they showed earlier in the season and take home another trophy.
But it doesn’t feel that way tonight, after a 6-1 loss in Toronto, during a game that I couldn’t bear to watch after the Sox gave up the lead. We don’t bounce back anymore – not often enough to invest the energy and the hope.
It’s never all easy to be a Red Sox fan. There is no relaxing season for us. The team has to test us, tease us, make us show them just how much we care. And that’s one of the things I’ve always loved about the organization – that sense of drama and intrigue from a group of scrappy guys who always play the part of the underdog.
The love is there – if anything, it’s stronger than ever for me. But these guys aren’t the underdogs anymore. They can’t be, given the fact that they’ve led in the standings all season long. Unfortunately, they seem to know this. They’re not playing right now with the passion and fire that I’ve always loved. They’re watching the division creep away from them, without a spark to make them realize that they should want that title as much as their fans want it.
We can’t go out there and play for it, much as we all would kill to be able to.
What’s it take to make them realize that they need to bring it home for all of us who can’t don that uniform and trot onto the field?
Great blog. It was well written but I have one point I would like to disagree with you about.
one- Varitek and Youkilis have quit on this team as much if not more then everyone else. Tek especially has been a joke the last few months. He has left so many men on bases I don’t think I can count that high. The only player I can honestly say has not quit is David Ortiz. As bad as he has been recently he is out there playing on one leg and he refuses to sit. He is out there giving his all while Manny can’t even bother to show up with a phantom injury. I also might have added Mike Lowell to this list if he didn’t come out and admit he wants to be a Yankee next year. IMO I don’t trust him anymore. He cares more about his next pay check then winning.
Here is the big problem I see. So many people think that baseball players want to win for their fans. That is total BS. They could care less about us fans. While I believe David Ortiz when he says the reason he wanted to win in 2004 was because he saw Red Sox fans crying and he didn’t want us to go through that again IMO the rest of this team has just quit.
I am at the point where if we don’t win the division I don’t want us to beat the Angels in the first round. We don’t deserve to win.
Other teams have been down and picked themselves back up when it mattered. Most recently the Indians and before that the Yankees and before that the Angels. When these teams needed to beat their rivals every single one of them stepped up and did it. Not the Red Sox. We just quit.
FDA, hello! Great to see you here! Always love your take on things.
I’ll respectfully disagree with you on the Tek/Youk issue of things, but I’ll get to that in a second because I wanted to note that I definitely agree with you on Ortiz. He’s had a rough season, putting it mildly – what with the injuries and the fact that everyone’s pitching him so carefully these days so as to prevent ’05 offensive figures. I meant to include him and completely should have. Come to think of it, I’ll also add Lowell.
The lack of fire from Tek and Youk, I believe, comes from the other end of the spectrum than most of the guys. I think that Tek’s years behind the plate are starting to get to him and I think he’s overthinking the bat swing. I can’t fathom a day when Tek would quit on the team – call it instinct. Hell, call it blind hope. But I think he’s juggling a whole lot – trying to help with the pitchers, trying to dissect his swing – and it’s backfiring. As for Youk, I think the guy gets too fired up when he’s messing up, and he’s probably freaking out over the fact that he always starts out hot and then suffers his slump as the season progresses. No one ever gets more upset over striking out and letting the team down than that guy. That said, he should take a step back away from the plate so his body makes it to the post-season, but hey.
Regarding the fan situation – do I think they do want to win it for the fans? I might be an optimist, but yeah, I think that the Sox players that make it in this town do want to win it for the fans. That’s why so many folks come and go through this city and are incapable of sticking through it. It’s not entirely why, of course – there’s ego, incentives, salary – but I don’t think anyone can successfully play in Boston and not factor in the fact that they have the pressure/hopes of all the Boston ballcaps on them (even the pink hats). You have great ballplayers that do well in other cities and struggle when they try to join the Sox. Likewise, you have passingly decent ballplayers that kick butt when they join other clubs. It’s not just a transition to the NL or the seasonal climate. The fans play a role and part of how you do here is how well you click with the crowds or don’t.
We’ve slumped a few times over the course of the season. I’m hoping that this is a temporary slump, same as the others, and that they wake up from whatever slumber they’re in. I’m just preparing myself for the situation in which they don’t…
I can take a slump. I can take losing to good teams. What I can’t take is two hits against the Toronto Blue Jays.
We will have to agree to disagree on Tek and Youkilis but I see your points on everything else.
To me it just seems like this entire team doesn’t care and personally that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.
I was at the Friday nights Yankee game where we blew a 7-2 lead and to hear Jonathon Papelbon say he mentally was not prepared to pitch that game grates on my very last nerve. How can you not mentally be ready to pitch in that situation? IMO that is quitting.
Lately it seems like more then just a slump.
Anyway great blog as always:)
I am firmly in V’s camp when it comes to the Tek and Youk discussion. They (and pretty much our entire bullpen) just look worn out. It’s a statistical fact that most catchers falter down the stretch because the position is just so taxing. Makes you wish they hadn’t banned the little get-up-and-go pills that were so prevelant in MLB through the years.
I think the real problem with this team is that they have relied on a bullpen that has been carried all season by two young guys, Papelbon and Okajima, who haven’t pitched this late into a season before, and like Dice-K have hit a wall. The Japanese season is shorter than that of MLB and Pap was shut down for the end of last year and has never had to pitch for so long. Furthermore, unlike a starter, bullpen guys can’t afford to be sluggish or slow. They are expected to put out the fire every single time. It was this concern that led the Sox to go out and get Gagne, but he seems unable to turn the clock back to Dodger Blue Days. The fact is we can’t score many runs with our currenlty depleted line-up and the bullpen is running on fumes
However, I strongly disagree with FDA. I don’t think they’ve given up, I just don’t know if they have enough left in the tank to put up much of a fight here in September and in October.