Careful What you Wish For
by Nick Fasulo
Back sometime in June, when the Red Sox were more than comfortably leading the American League east, when Terry Francona could manage his bullpen terribly with little backlash from the fans, a friend of mine was quoted as saying “this isn’t even fun, there’s no excitement, I kind of wish the Yankees would start winning some games.”
Oh how we should always be careful for what we wish for….
Currently, those Yankees sit only 2 ½ games behind the Sox, and if the past five games are any indication of how the Sox will finish the season limping into the playoffs, 2007 may be known for a season of blown opportunities.
Eric Gagne is fueling the conspiracy theory that he is wearing pinstripes under his jersey, as he’s given up more runs in a Red Sox uniform than he did his entire 2003 season. Eric, while Sox fans take solace in the fact that you apologize through the media for your terrible performance, its pails in comparison to the importance of not blowing leads. So while we respect you for that, we’d rather you just go out there and not single-handedly give the division away.
In fact, it might just be easier to take Gagne out of the equation altogether, but Terry Francona refuses to compromise. Maybe he feels Okajima and Papelbon’s best impression of Gagne on Friday night was a sign of things to come. If so, he’s terribly wrong. While the loss was crushing–especially on the heels of an exceptional pitching performance by Daisuke Matsuzaka–it simply was an aberration. Cinco Ocho is still your best option late in the game.
Yes the Sox are going to make the playoffs, and whether they take the east or settle for the Wild Card, it appears likely that another epic chapter of the greatest rivalry in sports will be written in late October. But how many “Wild Card Champion” shirts that never get worn do you really need?
Stumble it!
September 19th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
It really is Gagne single handedly blowing this lead. He has 3 blown saves and 1 blown 4-run lead which is actually too pathetic to call a blown save.
A magic number of 5 right now would be enough to not worry, but instead we’re still stuck at 9.
It pains me to think that sometime in the next week, I will be celebrating that we “clinched” the playoffs.