Red Sox Super Post

Sep 29, 2007

With the Red Sox clinching the AL East for the first time in 12 years, I can finally relax a little bit. That relaxation is going to last only a couple of days. The playoffs start on Wednesday of next week, so it will be nail-biting time again. For the next day or two, I’m going to focus on being that for once in 12 years the Red Sox aren’t going into October playing 2nd (or 3rd) fiddle to the Yankees.

Sep 22, 2007

I’m doing something a little different this week and splitting the links up in half. There will be some today and more tomorrow. The split of links themselves is random and not related to the Jekyll and Hype situation I’m going to discuss.

I’ve mentioned more than a few times that I’m a Red Sox fan. It’s been a wonderful summer where the Red Sox have lead the AL East approximately the whole season. I believe the lead over other teams peaked around 14.5 games. The last time the Yankees didn’t finish in first place in the AL East, I was giddy about Netscape 4.0 browser (i.e. 1997). It looked like the first time the Yankees wouldn’t be a playoff race since you could say, “What’s e-mail?” or “O.J. Simpson committed a crime?” and no one would look at you funny. Okay, the second one isn’t the best example given the latest events.

As I write this that huge 14.5 game lead is down to a small 2.5 game lead. The Red Sox can’t seem to manage a win. Everyone on the team is just running out of gas. My new favorite player, Jacoby Ellsbury, who I wrote about months ago, is back with the team and playing tremendous baseball. On the other side, the Yankees keep finding ways to win. Some days they’ll win 12-0, with the contest never in question. Other days they tease me with a win 2-1 by holding on in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded. I don’t have the exact stats, but the Yankee are approximately 70-3 since the All-Star break.

In the end, the division winner is just going to get home field advantage in the playoffs. It’s a bit of an advantage, but it’s not insurmountable as the Red Sox showed in 2004. Both teams are virtual locks for the playoffs at this point. However, it’s clear that the Red Sox don’t have momentum. In the playoffs, momentum means everything. It’s a sad, sad time for the Red Sox fan in me.

What does this all have to do with Jekyll and Hyde? The Red Sox season is flailing out of control, just like Hyde. [People from Boston can probably guess where I’m going with tomorrow’s post.]