We have entered the quagmire, and it is not a fun place to be! It seems like only yesterday we were dancing on the graves of our oh-so-friendly rivals down the coast. The Sox were in first by a lot and even the Mets were in first place, leaving the Yankees being the saddest story in the Northeast. (I’m really sorry Mets fans, I don’t mean to bring you into this, but unfortunately you are in the quagmire as well, and I’m sorry)
I don’t have a ton to add to all the words that have been written so far, and this is a doozie of a time for a first post on this substack, but I do love the Red Sox, and my mind has been filling with thoughts lately, and so I wanted to start writing them, even if nobody reads them! So no pressure!
I tend to try to be on the side of optimism, but, right now, it’s hard. The Red Sox are somewhere between Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty right now, and it doesn’t seem like anything is getting better, in fact, it is getting much worse. Even our faithful Rule 5 golden boy, stolen from the clutches of the empire, Mr. Consistent, good guy in the bullpen coughed it up last night!
It used to feel like the Sox would somehow find a way every night. That last win against the Yankees in Fenway, backs against the wall, somehow once Renfroe doubled in the bottom of the 8th, you just knew they were going to win. Now every inning feels like certain sadness. And for several games, every inning almost, has meant that.
It’s so many things that, normally, it would just be bad luck, but it’s like an entire four months of the Red Sox being good was some sort of loan where all the good will has combined against them for the last while. From weak two strike contact finding grass when the Sox are not hitting,
to hard barreled contact 385+ foot flyouts to the triangle with the bases “drunk” or “mostly drunk”,
to “what is Whitlock or Vazquez thinking not throwing any changeups in the 7th”, to “why is Matt Barnes throwing changeups”, to can we pretty pretty please get a hit with someone on 3rd base.
or even a productive out to score said runners from 3rd when there are less than 2 outs.
Why Jonny?
Haven’t we all suffered enough?
It can always get worse. I, for one at least, hope that it does not get worse. (maybe two, since Cora also said he hopes not).
Here’s a gif of X hitting something he should not have hit, during the wave, and most importantly Jarren running really fast.