Go Cardinals

Go Cardinals?
No way, but all the same…. Is it me or does winning feel funny?
We aren’t the team to win…. It feels like I’ve been taught subconsciously that we are supposed to lose. It’s a given; life, death, taxes, Red Sox choking… it’s the ultimate struggle of mankind… the Red Sox working to greatness…. I love this team win or lose… and now people think I’m a bandwagon fan because I’m rooting for them in the year they win.
The bandwagon fans tick me off. I cant believe the number of brand new fans and brand new hats I see…They can’t even name our starting line up or even more than 2 pitchers. All the good is starting to get aggravating.
If/When we win people who don’t even care will celebrate and some part of me feels it isn’t fair. I’ve poured blood, sweat, tears, joy, sadness, my life into this team….and now people who don’t care will pretend to celebrate as much as me? And as soon as we have a “bad” year they will jump ship. I don’t know about you… but for some reason its TICKING me off. Don’t get me wrong… I want this World Series win more than anything…. But some part of me regrets all this attention and fake joy among people.

Its like everything I hate about the Yankees is turning true about us.

I personally like being the loser with the sox jersey and cubs hat.

Yet I know deep down I love the sox and as JJ said: The diehards know who they are, and it will taste sweeter for us, so I say **** off to all the bandwagoners

All the same for your joy and my joy I want this win more than I want air.

Game 6 ALCS

I may have tendonitis in my right hand, but after Wednesday’s game in the Bronx, it sure seemed his tendonitis was no issue. The tendonitis turned to clutch big-out tendencies. No one could have asked more of Schilling- pitching 7 full innings giving up only one run.

Schilling is not the only one to be commended; the dirt dog hitters are; the guys we normally don’t think of. The Red Sox lit it up gaining clutch 2-out hits, and hitting a “controversial” homer by none other than Mark “K-Horn” (Bellhorn).

But that was not nearly as controversial as the 8th inning. Forget A-rod, more like A-fraud, or even better; A-cheat. I believe all my frustrations are summed up in that play; A-rod cheating like a junior high ballplayer, and then being called safe before he hit the bag,

Yet, for the first time, it seems, in history, the umpires got it right.

4-2 going into the ninth inning and all hopes rested on the Boston pen, which, as we know, is not always the most reliable thing. A bit unnerving with the Yankees’s 61 come from behind wins this year. 2 on, 2 out, 3-2 count after going through the same thing with one on and walking Sierra, watching Clark swing and miss was sweeter than my first kiss.

It was a game of a lifetime. The impossible had happened, the 4-2 win had brought the Red Sox to a tie series 3-3 after being down 3-0.

I have no words for the joy I feel. After three depressing games, the 2004 Boston Red Sox were back: back and better than ever.

The Red Sox had nothing to lose, and they didn’t lose nothing (or anything for that matter). The Yankees now feel the pressure; the Red Sox coming back, achieving the impossible; yet forcing the inevitable: Yankees vs. Red Sox ALCS Game 7.

I’m not going to brag, or say World Series here we come. I’m merely going to grin and be prouder than ever to wear my Sox cap and shirt, and come tomorrow 8 PM, you can bet I’ll be glued to my TV rooting harder than ever.

One is better than none

Maybe it’s 1918. Maybe it’s 1975, 1986, 1999, or 2003. Maybe it’s Ruth, Dent, Buckner, or Boone. Maybe it is any number of those Yankee-favorite-fast-facts. Maybe it is just the curse.

All the same, I know, along with a countless number of other Red Sox fans, Sunday morning I was wondering why? Why after all that regular season blood, sweat, and tears we were just going to lie down in front of the Yankees.

Watching Tuesday’s game angered me at the Boston management. Wednesday’s game threw me into worry and despair. And Saturday’s game made me feel helpless, as if I was watching my dog get run over or seeing someone get hurt through a glass window, unable to do anything about it.

Sunday morning and hurt overwhelmed me. Despair was a black cloud right above my head. Anger spewed from me like hot lava from a volcanic mountain erupting with the highest level of force.

This was not the 2004 Boston Red Sox I had come to know and love.
This was not the team I believed in.
They had given up on themselves.
Why should I not give up on them?

After games 2 and 3 I was quick to feel betrayed by the team I knew as I watched a team that seemed foreign give up and lose. If this team continued to play there was surely no hope besides “Go Cardinals” or “Go Astros.” It would have been better to be swept by the Angels; at least they could have salvaged a win.

Sunday’s game; down 3 games to none in the series, was a desperation attempt. Not many fans had the World Series in sight; they just merely wanted the Broom of New York back in the closet with out any sweeping action.

It was in those 9th and 12th innings I saw our team return. The joy of tying it and the sheer “crunkness” of Ortiz’s 12th inning walk-off-two-run-home to beat the yanks in 12 brought back hope.

Hope for this year? Naw, not really. Maybe next.

Feasibly we could beat the Yankees, in fact many experts have them going to 7 games now. But, objectively and honestly there is, in my mind, no way we can pull the World Series off. Sure its depressing, but after tiring out our pen, losing pitching, and losing sleep, it just is not very likely that the highest paid team is going to sit down and lose 3 straight - sending us; their hated enemies, to the World Series. Then on top of that beating the Astros or Cardinals? Maybe next year.

The thing is, next year is our hope; there will be a next year and if you, like me, felt more drawn into yesterday’s game, even when there was but a modicum of hope for this year left, you, like me are a die-hard. You may have said you had given up, but you, like me, know better. Die-hards never die or give in; they may get angry when they don’t see “their” team but a different one instead. But Sunday night through Monday morning the 2004 Boston Red Sox that had disappeared on Tuesday were back out in full force.

Joy in Sunday’s game, in part, is due to the fact that I got to see the real 2004 Boston Red Sox – playing their hearts out and even breaking Rivera “one Mo time.”

The hope remains; we still care, we still believe we will win it all someday, and someday soon. We will always be Sox fans. I don’t care if it is 2004, 2005, or 2018. I don’t care if it is another 86 years in what would be 2090. “We”, the Boston Red Sox, will still be here always posing a threat.

Scared of Balti-no-more and For The Love of the Game; Anaheim is a Field of Dreams!

October 7, 2004, Grantham, PA. With the Wild Card locked up, the Red Sox still went into Baltimore on Friday with something to prove – that they could beat Baltimore. Why Baltimore? Who knows! Baltimore always seems to be the one team that, no matter how poor their team is, plays the Red Sox harder than anyone else. In fact, if the Red Sox had held a winning record against Baltimore in 2003, they would have won the AL East. Boston went in on Friday to gain momentum and prove that they could take on Baltimore – as well as everyone else. Boston took the first three games, going into Sunday with the ability to play the bench and rest the starters. The Baltimore series did more than allowing the team to gain momentum. Starters were given the ability to rest, the rotation was set for Schilling on Tuesday and the dirt dogs showed their ability to “Skin to win” and “Cowboy up.”

The team traveled back to Boston for Rally Monday where The Dropkick Murphys played songs, including this year’s anthem “Tessie” to help the team “Reverse the Curse.” And, as always, Johnny Damon and the rest of the team promised to “go all the way this year.” Over 5,000 people showed up for this free event to support the team. In fact, support of the Red Sox is at an all time high, although team chemistry may not be. As Johnny Damon so aptly stated, "We are not the cowboys anymore. We are just the idiots this year... We got the long hair, we got the cornrows, we got just guys acting like idiots. And I think the fans out there like it." Kevin Millar was quick to respond to this as, "No way man. I just ordered another 1,000 "Hell's Comin' With Us... so Let's Cowboy Up... and Skin It to Win It... Yee Yaw!" t-shirts. Tell Damon to quit workin' my side of the street. I'm still gonna Cowboy Up! C'mon Boston, Cowboy Up! Please... I got a contract with these folks who have the dang Cowboy Up logo. I'm the slogan guy around here!"

Anyone who knows the Red Sox just smiles and laughs at this – after all this shows that the team chemistry is holding strong, as it has since the exile of Nomar to Chicago and full evolution of CabERROR to “the Cab to the playoffs.”

Come Tuesday and its Play-off time again. The thrill of victory experienced early for us Sox fans; or should I say the “Schill” of Victory. Schilling’s (which should have a W in it) victory put Pedro in a good situation on Tuesday. “A good situation? WHAT are you kidding me – this could make Pedro TICKED and only reaffirm to him that leaving Boston at the end of the year is the decision to be made”

Friends, enemies, and others – RELAX – hear me out. Pedro’s had a rough year and, not counting the Tampa Bay complete game, he hasn’t been the same Pedro. In fact I could go on and on about why this is good that Schilling started game one, but Pedro says it the best himself: "It actually took the pressure off (starting Game 2), watching Schilling go out there... I appreciate that."

After watching game two, I say we start Schilling ahead of Pedro for the rest of eternity – Pedro snapped his skid of 4-5 with a 3.80 era in the last 10 and turned into the normal “dependant Pete,” giving the Red Sox a much needed start. Contrary to the rest of this year, his velocity picked up towards the end of the game. Perhaps the biggest shock to all Red Sox fans was Francona NOT leaving him in for too long.

The series could not have started any better for the Boston Red Sox. Unlike last year where they were forced into winning three straight after losing the first two, the Sox have a chance at winning in 3 games and resting up to face either the Twins or Yankees. With Bronson Arroyo (5-1 in his last 10 starts with a 3.79 era) pitching on Friday things are looking up; the Red Sox could finish the series Friday or Saturday and get much needed rest time as the Yankees and Twins battle it out in, at the rate is going, seems to be the perpetual series, almost guaranteed to go five games.

The way things are going, this really could be the year to “Reverse the Curse” the way things are going for the Red Sox. So lets “Cowboy Up” as we “Skin to win,” so hand me my lucky hat, grow your hair long, put it in cornrows, or shave it if that’s what happens, wear your lucky socks, and only change your clothes if we lose. Do what it takes an “Just win baby.”