The Long Hot Summer
As the early weeks of September descend around us and baseball enters the home stretch, I come back to the blogsphere here on MLB with both heavy heart and spark of optimism. It has been a frustrating summer for the Sox and we all know the song and dance routine by now. Decimated by injuries, haunted by poor relief pitching, unlucky in love and devoid of identity, the 2010 Red Sox will be a study in lost potential. Playing in baseball’s best division has not helped obviously ( they do own the ALs 4th best record and could win 90 games) as we all knew the Yanks and Rays would be tough to beat. Since June 21 when the Sox were 43-28 and a mere .5 game out of first place, the team has gone 35-34. The series in Colorado (written about so eloquently by Rockpile Ranter and myself and mysteriously one of my last entries prior to know? am I a curse? oh please! the agony!) seemed to be the beginning of the slide into mediocrity. Oh the injuries you might yell. I felt every stinking foul ball off the foot that I saw. Has there ever been more of this by one team in a season? I sear I saw hobbling Sox players game after game shanking them off the insteps. Get Dave Magadan on the phone. Too many foul balls is a sign of some kind of hitting malfunction, right? I also watched the countless games handed away in the 7th and 8th and 9th by the bullpen. The .500 ballplayed against the leagues doormats (Mariners, orioles, Indians, Royals) has not helped either. Let’s face it. The questions posed at season’s beginning are the ones that proved unanswered and the most critical to the success of the this team – outfield, relief pitching, esp. We are now playing our AAA team and have been for most of the year and Igotta say, I like what I see. There is tons of potential here in MacDonald, Kalish, Nava, Anderson, Reddick et al. The Sox will never be the team to go fire sale and save $$ and field a team like this. The fans would not allow it and the AL East would tilt on it’s side in a power shift. The thought is interesting however. Very interesting.
While I am not quite ready to throw in the towel on 2010 (mostly because our starting pitching has the ability to keep us in this thing til the end), I cannot help but look to 2011 and imagine what will transpire in the offseason. Ortiz? Gone? Beltre? Staying? Lowell? Retiring? The youth? Trade bait? Free Agents? Who’s coming? The outfield? A big Q?
It has been a long hot summer and the way MLB is these days, it won’t end anytime soon.
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SoxRocker 