Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Games 75 & 76 - Red Sox
Trying Hard to Follow Mom's Advice

Yankees 11, Red Sox 3
Yankees 4, Red Sox 2
Record: 42-34

As you surely recall, Mom always said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I'd been hiding behind that old saw for the better part of today, until chided by Whitney about my blogslackitude. Because I've got a whole lot of nothing good to say about this so-called team of mine.

Frankly, and I am not exaggerating for the purpose of literary punch, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a better team than the Boston Red Sox on July 1, 2004. And that, gentle reader, fucking sucks.

The Sox are offensively inconsistent, defensively offensive (literally the worst fielding team in the majors), and short on effective pitching - at least for a team with championship aspirations. And worse, they are maddeningly underachieving with massive talent. I've been on this soapbox quite a bit recently (mainly because it makes me taller), but this team keeps telling the world that they're too good to keep playing this bad, as if all they have to do is show up and their talent will eventually win out. Pardon me if my 34 years of Red Sox fandom make me a bit paranoid about the reality of that belief.

Sometimes being a Red Sox fan feel fabulously noble - the long-suffering underdog tilting against windmills, losing painfully but with dignity. Other times, like right now, I feel like the worst kind of sucker, a loser who keeps believing in something even though it's absolutely hopeless, sending Oral Roberts my $50 each week in search of my never-to-come miracle.

Forgive me, but I'm not even going to address the last two games, except to say that the Yankees are exposing the Sox for what they are (or at least appear to be): a talented but flawed team with very little heart. And I'm real, real close to placing the blame squarely on the milquetoast manager, because I can't for the life of me figure out why this team isn't playing better.