Just two championships in the last eight seasons and 90 win seasons in eight of the last night = failure. Red Sox fans are becoming what they have loathed for so long…YANKEES FANS!
The fact that it was Crawford dropping that ball last night provided the perfect parallel to all that is wrong with this team. John Henry and the baseball ops team, including digital darling Carmine, are so hell-bent on stats and mathematical formulas that they’re increasingly ignoring what is was that made them champions in 2004 and ‘07.
Call it a cliché of heart or character, whatever, but this team didn’t have it. I’m not talking about the need for a constant rah-rah guy, but the absence of someone aside from Dustin Pedroia with an edge was staggering. Adrian Gonzalez had an MVP-type year, but after last night’s disaster in Baltimore, he clearly proved that he doesn’t get it….
Maybe it’s just a semblance of grit that’s lacking. Kevin Millar had it. Bill Mueller had it. Curt Schilling, Johnny Damon, and Tim Wakefield all had it. Who aside from Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis has it here? It’s a team filled with unwarranted egos fueled in many ways by the manager. Heck, as his team was preparing for its biggest game of the season, Wakefield was talking about how he’d want to come back in 2012. “I think the fans deserve an opportunity to watch me chase that record.”
No, the fans deserved to not have to watch this team act like a bunch of unworthy choke-artists. The fans deserve to not be the target of a constant sell. The fans deserve to not be lied to about sellout streaks and “legalized” scalping.
The Red Sox deserve this. They whimpered and whined their way through pivotal points of the 2011 season, and now have the ultimate comeuppance. Failure.
Complete and utter failure.
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1. Golbez Posted: September 29, 2011 at 04:50 PM (#3945140)1. What is this anti-stats obsession by the old media? It's rather tiring, and is lazy.
2. Crawford is/was likely valued more by the 'non-stats' crowd than the stats crowd. He's flashy, speedy, and steals bases!
3. How many games did the Sox piss away by trying to get Wakefield his 200th win? Not like the Sox had other options, it seems, but Wakefield was obviously a liability.
4. How does this Red Sox team lack 'grit'? Ellsbury, Scutaro, Pedroia, to name a few, are those who give a lot of effort when they play. Apart from Crawford's total lack of energy, I didn't see the Sox cruising. Gonzalez, Ortiz, and Youkilis certainly weren't just loafing around all year.
This Red Sox season has been the most enjoyable non-championship season I've ever been through. Last night, I didn't watch a pitch of baseball, because I didn't have to. I knew what was going to happen. And that's fine.
I went to bed around 10:45 with a remarkable feeling of peace, and calm.
Thank you, Red Sox, for a great season.
Oh, and Eric Wilbur is worthless, don't waste your time on him.
Anyone who didn't enjoy that should seek therapy.
2000 was the worst for me. 1977 made me cry, but I was 9 at the time. I was numbed by the previous year, but 78 sucked and 86 was bad. But the 2000 team almost led me to become an apostate. THey had a bunch of bungholes like Carl Everett, Dante Bichette, and Izzy Alcantara. Too, they had to resseruct Steve Ontiveros to make a late season start, '01 was bad, too and I might be combining the worst aspects of that team and the 2000 team in my head.
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