Wait Til Last Year

Thanks to mom for the title of this one. I don't know if anyone else said it, but I heard her come up with it first. And now on to the entry.

I’m not ready to write this yet. I knew this team had problems and expecting them to win the World Series again was expecting a whole helluva lot (probably too much), but I also wasn’t expecting them to go out in three. But that’s what happens when you get outplayed in every aspect of the game.

First I need to give credit where credit is due. The Chicago White Sox came into this thing ready to play and ready to win, and that’s exactly what they did. They beat us on the mound, they beat us at the plate, and they beat us in the field.

They got solid starting pitching in all 3 games, they got timely hits when they needed them, most notably Paul Konerko and Tadahito Iguchi, and they were flawless in the field, including a few spectacular plays. And then there was the bullpen. We did not score one run off their bullpen in the entire series. Bobby Jenks was dominating in his 3 innings over 2 games, and tonight in his 3 innings of work, El Duque looked like the El Duque of old in the playoffs with the Yankees.

I admit I did not give this team enough credit. All year long I talked about how their starting pitching was pitching over it’s head and would come down to earth soon, how they took advantage of a weak schedule to win 99 games, and recently how they looked tired and were in for a September/October swoon. I was wrong.

This team is good. In fact, they’re better than good. They have a lot of talent, they do everything well, and they play the game the right way. And it all starts with the fiery manager. I was always an Ozzie fan when he played, and I’m even more of an Ozzie fan now as manager. His critics think he talks too much and gets himself into trouble, but I think it’s just part of his personality and he gets his players to play for him.

At this point, after what I just witnessed, I think they are going to go on to the World Series and they have a good chance of winning it. I hope they do and I’m rooting for them now. The last time they won it was 1917. That means they are now on their 88th year, which is 2 more years than we waited. Their fans certainly deserve it.

So, congratulations to the White Sox, you guys certainly took it to us. Now go finish the job.

As for the Red Sox, that’s another story for another time. There’s a lot to get into there, and a lot of time over the winter to get into it. For now I’ll just say this, it wasn’t our year from day one. We never had the team on the field that we intended to have, yet despite that we still managed to win 95 games and get to the playoffs.

These guys played hard all year and in many instances played hurt. They gave us another fun and exciting season and as a sports fan, that’s really all you can ask for from your team. I’ll talk about individuals at a later date.

As far as the future goes, there are a lot of decisions to be made. Who do we keep? Is Johnny worth the money? Do we trade Manny? Do we bring back Mueller and maybe move Youk to first, or do we let Mueller go and put Youk at third?

There is an entire bullpen to remake, which will hopefully begin with a healthy Foulke. There are some holes in the rotation to fill, which will hopefully begin with a healthy Schilling.

Should Papelbon start or relieve? At first I thought he should start, but after watching what he did in the bullpen over the last month, now I’m not so sure. A lot of it will depend on what happens with Foulke. He could be a closer, but maybe we leave him in the set up role for a couple of years, where he would be a dominant force to get to Foulke. And then there’s Hansen.

No matter what, one thing is certain. This team has a lot of good young arms, and a few good young position players, in the system that will be coming up over the next couple of years to help out. We also have money to spend and a GM who knows how to spend it.

The future of this team is bright and we should be watching a good team take the field every year for a long time.

But for now, the 2005 Boston Red Sox season has come to a close. It didn’t end the way we dreamed it would, and it certainly didn’t end the way we wanted it to. But end it did, and some other team will be the 2005 World Champions.

I’m okay with that. I don’t feel frustrated about it like I have in years past, and I no longer feel the need to yell out, “wait til next year!” Next year will come soon enough, and when it does we’ll be right there looking to get our title back.