We are spoiled in this century. The Red Sox have made it to the postseason in six of the last seven seasons. There has been good ownership and good baseball.
This year is different. The 2010 Red Sox are on pace to be eliminated in the next couple of days (try not to get carried away by these easy weekend wins in New York), a full week before the conclusion of the regular season. It has been almost a month since the Sox played a game of any consequence, and these late season, back-to-back weekends with the Yankees are barely registering on the local sports radar.
While the Sox prepare to play the Yankees in the Bronx tonight, the Patriots are playing the Buffalo Bills in Foxborough, the region is agog in anticipation of Shaquille O’Neal joining the Celtics, and the Bruins are rejuvenated by the arrival of rookie sensation Tyler Seguin.
The Sox have done a nice job, given their injuries, but watching Josh Reddick, Ryan Kalish, and Lars Anderson is simply not the same as arguing about whether Terry Francona should start Josh Beckett or Jon Lester in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Angels.
Still, baseball matters. Even in the dead zone, on the brink of Elimination Day. And in this spirit, we examine a few hardball topics while waiting for kickoff against the Bills.
■If George Steinbrenner were alive and well, I don’t think Joe Girardi would be allowed to tank this weekend’s series against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
■Anybody else offended by David Ortiz’s remarks late Wednesday? The delusional slugger is probably going to get renewed for $12.5 million for 2011, which speaks to his impressive return from the dead.
Unfortunately, Big Papi’s amazing past deeds, and hard-earned reservoir of goodwill (he is a terrific ambassador for baseball and the Sox) don’t excuse his outrageous and tone-deaf conclusion that he took a pay cut when he “settled’’ for a four-year, $52 million extension back in 2006.
