That’s nice. But really . . . what’s next? I mean, what else can happen to the 2010 Red Sox? A plague of locusts? BP sponsoring Oil Can Boyd Night? Mel Gibson tossing out a first pitch?
I hate to be negative (really), but when do we come out and admit the obvious?
This just isn’t going to be the Red Sox’year.
Or to put it in Roger Angell palindrome parlance: Not So Boston.
The fandom can only take so much. It started last winter with Theo talking about building a bridge to nowhere. Then came the awful April. Then it was one bone-cracking episode after another. At the start of last night’s game — the first since the All-Start break — the Sox had 11 players on the disabled list. And that wasn’t counting Adrian Beltre, who could not play because of a strained hamstring suffered last Sunday (a whole other story, but why was Beltre batting in the All-Star Game when he can’t play for the Sox on the bookend dates, Sunday and Thursday?)
So what happened in the first game after the break? Tim Wakefield gave up six consecutive hits and six runs before getting the second out of the first inning.
This one was over before it really got started. The first pitch was at 7:10 and 11 minutes later it was 6-0. Wakefield retired only six batters and the Sox trailed, 7-0, after three.
In an effort to stop the bleeding tonight, the Sox will throw 22-year-old Felix Doubront against the first-place Rangers. Tomorrow it’ll be John Lackey lugging his 4.78 ERA to the Fenway mound.
Keeping things on a positive note, I remind you that after this weekend, the Sox won’t be home again until July 29. They’ll play 10 games in 10 days on the West Coast. The Yankees and Rays, meanwhile, will be fattening up on assorted Orioles, Royals, and Indians. At this hour, the Sox trail the Yankees by six games in the loss column, the Rays by four.
Root for the Yankees to sweep the Rays this weekend. Catching New York is starting to look highly unlikely. The Yanks and Rays have both won eight of 10 and now the Yankees have the extra incentive of Winning One For George.
