Let's get one thing straight: Red Sox Nation has as much currency outside Route 128 as America's Team did outside the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. You can be sure the man on the street in Topeka could give a hoot what happens to the Sox unless he went to college in Beantown.
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Let the cooling off begin.
Everyone talked about how the layoff was going to affect Colorado and it didn't take long to prove all those pundits right as the first three batters went down on strikes in the first inning of the World Series opener last night. Hitting is so much about timing and the Rockies' was clearly off. Of course, a lot of major league hitters' timing was off this season when fireballer Josh Beckett was on the mound. If Beckett is normally money in the bank in the post-season he was paying interest well above the going rate against a rusty Colorado squad.
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Don Mattingly cooked his own managerial goose when first he had to deny reports he felt awkward succeeding Joe Torre and second he pronounced himself ready to guide the Yankees. Methinks he doth protest too much.
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Barry Bonds is at it again. Now he's complaining about everything Giants from the name of McCovey Cove to his having been "fired" after all of his accomplishments. Responding to a cream puff question yesterday as to whether or not he achieved all those records, Bonds replied: "I did, and then I got fired. Shame on me, huh?"
The Giants got what they wanted from Mr. Bonds, lots of fannies in the seats as he chased Hank Aaron's legitimate home run record. And he got what he wanted, a huge contract for a part time player and full time louse and cheater. Now, it's time for Barry to just go away but the guess here is some American League team is going to sign him as their DH. Shame on whichever team that will be, huh?
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MLB should hold tryouts for network announcers. They're all dreadful but Joe Buck takes the cake. His earnest drone is the best soporific I've found yet but truth be told, I usually turn off the sound immediately after pressing the numeric buttons that land me on his fair and balanced [sic] network in the first place. Equally annoying in an opposite, hyperactive way is ESPN's Chris Berman, who sprinkles every report with words like "legendary" and "historic" even while the story is unfolding. Berman never met a superlative he didn't embrace. Carl Ravich is so superior to Berman it's a shame they let the latter pull rank when the stakes get higher.
2 comments:
I have to disagree about that route 128 comment. Red Sox fans are friggin' everywhere. In Powell's Books in Portland, it was announced over the PA when the Red Sox had clinched the pennant. Would that have been the case if the Indians had won? Hell no. When I lived in Tucson, same thing. If you meet a baseball fan in a town without a major league team, they're either a Red Sox or a Cub fan.
'Rusty' is indeed the word for the Rockies last night. There is just no way they play that piss-poor of a game if they'd been playing regularly. It was embarrassing to watch. Beckett's good, but he was totally overmatching hitters with very good reputations. 97 mph fastballs after 8 days off is a little much to adjust to.
The Red Sox are possibly the most explosive offensive team I may have ever seen. They can blow a game open faster than it takes Bud Selig to flinch in public. They just can't seem to provide us fans with a bonafide nail-biter because they're too busy slamming the ball all over the damn place. Manny Ramirez in particular is one of the most unsightly specimens I've laid eyes on, but what a machine he's been this month.
You'll notice I added "...unless he went to college in Beantown." So, I admit many alumni from Boston-area colleges scattered about the country may be part of the RS Nation, but it isn't exactly like being a Democrat or Republican.
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