Dog Days Indeed

After two full weeks of avoiding having to write about the Red Sox, I’m sitting back down in front of this computer to hack away at my thoughts and ruminations about the season that has seemingly come to a crashing end over the weekend.

At the hands of the Yankees, nonetheless.

The Baseball Gods wouldn’t have had it any other way, though. Of course the Sox were going to sputter at the last minute. Of course our meager 3-game lead wasn’t going to hold up through August and September. Of course the Yankees would surge back into the race and eventually overtake the faltering Sox. You lay out that generic script for any Boston fan, and they’d have a hard time telling you which year it occurred, as it seems to happen continuously.

But an eerie calm overcame me as I watched Boston’s bullpen blow another lead in last night’s 8-5 loss, condemning the Sox to a nearly insurmountable 5.5-game deficit in the AL East, 4 games back in the Wild Card. Sure, I was upset, as any fan must be after losing 4 straight to our archrivals. But as in years past, when the Sox had the talent and ability to go far, I didn’t feel as if this team was failing to meet expectations or underachieving in any way.

For the first time in a while, I was cutting them some slack.

Sure, its infuriating to watch our bullpen blow lead after lead after lead, and have a young Ace in the rotation consistently serve up gopher balls. I forced myself to take a step back, however, and re-realize the big picture:

This team has been overachieving all season. Its just caught up to them now is all.

Think about it. The Sox started the year with a lot of new faces, including a completely new infield. Youkilis was even playing out of position. Our pitching staff had been overhauled, introducing a new face to the starting rotation (Beckett) and saying goodbye to an old friend (Arroyo). The bullpen shuffled new guys in and out in the offseason, retaining only a few of the veterans from years past.

No one really expected much from the Sox in the preseason. Lots of speculation about learning a new environment, new teammates and the such flew around. With the Yankees making some high-profile additions to their club, it was all but assumed they’d run away with the division.

But they didn’t. The Sox surprised everyone, even themselves, by playing some amazing baseball through the All Star break. They didn’t exceed expectations; they blew them out of the water.

Even in the face of daunting injuries to key players, the Sox kept on winning and fending off the Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Sox lost Coco Crisp only 6 games into the season. Nixon made his annual trip to the DL. Varitek sustained a rare injury recently.

Boston’s once formidable pitching staff was cleaned out by bumps and bruises as well. Wakefield busted a few ribs somehow. Wells’ knee finally gave out under the weight of his stomach. Clement’s bruised ego successfully ended his season, and probably career with the Sox.

This decimation of the ranks did little to slow the Sox down, however. Newcomer Wily Mo Pena filled in admirably for the injured Crisp and Nixon (before going down with an injury of his own), and a slew of minor-league call-ups plugged the gaps in the field and the pitching staff. When the dust settled, the Sox still sat atop the AL East by 3.5 games.

Then that damn bird showed up.

For some reason, that seemed to mark the beginning of the end for the Sox. Something about that black bird on second base seemed to spark a thought in the team’s head that maybe they shouldn’t be playing this well. Ever since the little aviator perched on the Fenway dirt, the Sox have been in a freefall.

Mainly, our pitching staff returned to earth. The minor-league fill-ins so successfully employed by Boston began to give up runs at an alarming rate. Even our ace closer, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young candidate Jonathan Papelbon began to blow saves left and right.

That’s what being thrown into the fire will do to young players, I suppose. Very few of the pitchers out of the bullpen have spent an entire season in the bigs, and it began to show all at once. Arms got tired. Concentration waned. Games lost.

So I guess I’m not surprised that the Sox have faltered so dramatically lately. They grit their teeth and sharpened their nails and fought through adversity the entire season, and finally reached the breaking point. They simply couldn’t hold on any longer.

And though its depressing to think the Sox will probably miss the playoffs completely, especially disheartening after leading the league for so much of the season, I’m able to step back and appreciate how much they actually accomplished this year, a year when no one realistically expected much from them.

I’m sure people will read this as a Sox’s fan loser attitude, trying to rationalize another letdown by my team. But its really not. I’m just looking at this horrible situation, a 5-game sweep on our home turf at the hands of the Yankees, in the best possible way. I’m not about to give up on the Sox; true fans of any team never 100% dismiss their team until the final out is recorded.

I’m simply preparing myself for a postseason without Boston, because the way they’ve been playing, it’s far more than a distinct possibility; it’s a near certainty. I’m recognizing their shortcomings, and keeping an eye on the news to make sure Theo and company take the necessary steps to ensure a similar fiasco doesn’t take place next season.

And even though I’m starting to turn my attention to the upcoming football season, I’ll always have one hopeful eye on my Red Sox. Always.