August 30, 2010, the day you can mark as the end of the Boston Red Sox season. Don’t worry about the fact that the calendar reads that they have 31 games left — it’s over.
After holding leads in the sixth inning or later in all three games with the then Wild Card leading Tampa Bay Rays and managing just one win, the Sox have shown what they are made of.
They are a team with a poor bullpen, inconsistent starting pitching and position players who, if the entire team were healthy, would never have seen game time this season.
As much as we all want to “Believe” and “Cowboy Up,” it’s time to face reality. Never mind “there’s a lot of baseball left.” If the teams ahead of you keep winning, it doesn’t matter what you do, and the Yankees and Rays aren’t loosing and continue to flip-flop A.L. East and Wild Card spots.
Going into their three-game set with the American League’s worst team (Baltimore), the Sox were a distant seven games behind both New York and Tampa. That’s a lot of ground to make up and if they’re relying on guys like Ryan Kalish (.231), Bill Hall (.238) and Mike Lowell (.234) to come through in the clutch, well, don’t.
Managers around baseball, the A.L. East in particular, have said that the Sox lineup is still a threat to opposing teams. Scanning down the lineup and reading the names of David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Victor Martinez might sound threatening but consider this: Those three “sluggers” are hitting a combined .270 while earning a combined $34.7 million this season.
Understandably, the Sox have endured injuries at every position — more than any other team in the league, by far — three catchers, three outfielders, two first basemen, two second basemen and so on.
Done for the season are Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Cameron. Jacoby Ellsbury (.192) remains something of a mystery — the “Where’s Waldo” of the clubhouse.
In complete acts of desperation, the Sox have exhumed the bodies of Kevin Cash, Alan Embree, Carlos Delgado, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Scott Schoenweis and have parted ways with once highly-touted Ramon Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida.
Come to think of it, the season may have been over a month ago, when Theo, Terry and Larry failed to acquire a single arm to bolster an unreliable bullpen or a single bat to fill the spot of Jason Varitek, Youk, Pedroia, Cameron, Ellsbury, Lowell or any other A-listers who were battling injuries. If the ownership gave up a month ago, it seems like it’s time for the rest of us to call it a season too.
But I’ll be watching the Sox this weekend at Fenway... the White Sox, that is. Manny Ramirez will be in town with his new team and I, for one, will be cheering him on.
About Me
- Adam Weng
- As a birthday present, my mother paid for me to go to Boston Bartenders' School more than 20 years ago. It was probably the most useful gift I've ever received. Whether I was teaching middle school or writing sports full time, I've always bartended on the side (we all know teaching and writing don't pay shit). Since then I've tended bar in bistros, taverns and cantinas and have quite a collection of stories, recipes and "tips."
1 comment:
I like your story very much. You are a good writer and should continue to write on some level. I only have one and one-half bones to pick with you. You called Baltimore the worst team in the AL. They have the worst record but are currently not the worst team. In August they were 17-11 compared with Boston's 15-13. The half bone is the word "losing" which is spelled with one "o". One other interesting point. If the Rays only win half or their remaining games the Red Sox will need to go 23-7 to beat them for a wild card spot. not likely...B.
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