GO SOX!!!!!

Originally written on 10/3/04

So, here we are, the end of another regular season. This has to be the greatest and kookiest Sox season I’ve ever experienced.

We end it with 98 wins. That’s good for 3rd best record behind St Louis and “those bastards just south of here”. It’s 3 more than last year and the most we’ve had since “78” when we had 99 but needed 100 (we’re not gonna talk about that anymore though).

We started in the off season with one of the biggest trades that was never made. I didn’t want to lose Nomar but we were bringing in one of the best players to ever play the game so I was willing to make the tradeoff. Then it doesn’t happen, oh well, we get to keep Nomar, I can live with that.

We sign Schilling, we sign Foulke, A-Rod goes to the enemy, Nomar goes down, Nixon goes down, let’s get this damn season started already.

It starts off great, we have the best record in the league and we can’t seem to lose to the Yankees. Reese is filling in admirably for Nomar, a few guys are manning right for Nixon, and Bellhorn just keeps getting on base (at least when he’s not striking out). Manny, Ortizzle, Varitek, and Jesus (uh, I mean Damon) are awesome. The pitching is solid, lead by Schill and Pedro. Foulke comes as advertised and the rest of the pen falls into place.

Then, mediocrity hits. We play 500 ball for almost 3 months and suddenly we can’t seem to beat the Yankees. Mueller goes down, Lowe can’t seem to do anything, the pen is tired, Pedro is suddenly human, the defense is terrible. Nomar is back but it doesn’t seem to be helping. Nixon is back and gone again, probably for the season. Francona seems to be having “Little” moments.
This can’t be happening, this team is too good for this. What the hell is going on here?

July 24th, Fenway Park. Tek puts his glove in the face of the guy who was supposed to be playing for us. Mueller puts on the finishing touch by hammering a Rivera pitch into the Sox bullpen for what was the greatest regular season home run that I can recall in all my time as a Sox fan. Things are starting to come together, but are not quite there yet.

One week later, one of the saddest days in Sox history. We trade away one of our greatest and most beloved players. It had to be done. Things were just not working the way they should have. He didn’t want to be here and he wasn’t helping the team.

Suddenly it all starts coming together. There’s no doubt that “the Nomar effect” played a part, but it can’t be the main reason for the turnaround, can it? Although no one would admit it, Nomar was dragging down the club house. The guys they got for him came in right away and improved the defense. Great defense instantly improves the starters which helps the bullpen and everyone just gets better, everyone but Derek Lowe anyway. These guys finally started playing the way they were supposed to be playing all along. We go from being completely out of the AL East race and trying to fight our way back into the Wild Card, to getting out ahead in the Wild Card and actually getting within 2 ½ games of the Yankees.

We slowed down a little but still played well enough to clinch the Wild Card early enough to set up our playoff rotation. Schilling is showing us that he is the big money pitcher we were hoping for, Pedro is okay but not exactly where we would like him to be (the guy wants a ring too badly to keep pitching like that though), Arroyo is solid, Wake seems to be coming around, Lowe still sucks.

The pen is tired but resting up for the playoffs, they’ll be ready when we need them. Manny and Big Papi set records for teammates. Bellhorn set the wrong kind of record but is still getting the job done. Jesus is having the best year of his career. Nixon comes back and starts wailing the crap out of the ball to win his spot back. Mueller and Cabrera are solid. Millar is hitting the ball again. Tek is ready to drag us all to the finish line kicking and screaming. The bench is deep. The team is ready. The manager still scares me a little, but hey, when was the last time we had a manager that didn’t scare me? That’s part of it. It comes with the territory of being a member of “The Nation”.

Tonight we’re off to Anaheim to open against the Halos on Tuesday. Much better than having to go to the baggy dome and face the Twins and the AL Cy Young winner (BTW, anyone who doesn’t put down Santana first on their ballot doesn’t deserve a vote).

I’m very happy we don’t have to face him twice in a best of 5. The Yankees have their hands full even without having to deal with domefield advantage. Good luck to them. And I don’t mean that literally.

I know you’ve all heard it before but I like our chances. I honestly believe we have the best chance to get to the WS and win it. Every team in this thing has their strengths and weaknesses, even St Louis. They’ve been starting to show some cracks in their armor. Cracks that I’ve been expecting to surface and finally have.

As always it will come down to pitching, pitching, pitching, solid defense, and a little timely hitting. Whoever does all that the best will win. There’s absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be us.

GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!