The Pietasters

Game 57 – Red Sox

A’s 2, Red Sox 0
Record: 37-20

The Curse of the Mediocre Lefthander strikes again, as Lenny DiNardo (incidentally, one of the 25) shut the Sox down for 6 innings despite having no control and admittedly marginal stuff. This was the letdown game I expected to happen on Monday. The fact that I felt compelled to check the score at 5:30 this morning after my daughter woke me didn’t help my mental state.

We’re now officially in the midst of the season’s first slump, and even though the Sox still lead the division by 9 games, the worry lines are beginning to crease my brow. Not because there’s any particular consistent underperformance, but because 5 losses in 6 games simply sow the seeds of doubt. And in a field as fertile as that of the Sox fan’s worst imagination, those seeds find purchase and begin to take root.

I wish I could be more like Matt Damon, whose what-me-worry? appearance on Letterman’s show Monday night was hysterically funny even as it made me cringe just slightly in hopes that it wouldn’t come back to haunt us all. Until I figure out how to embed a YouTube machine here, check out The Joy of Sox for a look at the clip.

The A’s trot out another middling lefty tonight, as Joe Kennedy takes on Timmy Wake. It’d certainly be a good time for the Sox’ longest-tenured player to snap out of his recent stomach-curdling funk.

Here's a psychological experiment for my colleague. It sure looks to me like the Mets are unbeatable in the NL East, barring some bizarre and untimely injuries. I know you can't really say that, because of the Non-Arrogance Pact all fans of any team other than the Yankees signed several years back. And I have to remain blithely ambivalent about the Sox' chances for that and manifold other obvious reasons. What's your relatively unbiased spidey sense say about the Sox?