End of Season Blues
By Karlsie
The party's now over for both New York and Boston. I shouldn't be surprised that the same weaknesses that could be compensated for over a 160 game schedule are the very things that felled both giants like Jack and his axe hacking away at the beanstalk.
First to fall was Boston. The team that could get runners on and then leave them hanging like a clueless nerd trying to high-five the captain of the high school football team found out why that doesn't work in the short run. It might have, had our pitchers been able to keep their pitches out of the middle of plate - but the control just wasn't there either.
New York, who fell last and hardest, relied on money and better living through chemistry when they discovered that big guns don't fire with the wrong sized bullets. While Boston obsessed over would Johnny stay or go and was Manny being Manny enough - New York paid out the wazoo for Johnson and Mussina to be shown up by a couple of kids. In fact, if not for the rookie Cano, "who the hell is that?" Small and Giambi's sudden amazing bulk-up diet - New York would have been riding the pine pony a week earlier than they did.
As Barbara Streisand once warbled: so it's the memories we'll always treasure. Remember the bidding war over Pavano? By the way, what happened to Carl this year? I didn't see much of him - wasn't he hurt most of the season or something? Make sure you give a great big "hardy hello and how the hell are ya?" to Alan Embree for me. Has he sold his house here yet? I know that million dollar + properties in the western 'burbs of Boston aren't moving like they were a year ago and who knows where he'll be next year.
Of course we lost Wade Miller and Keith Foulke early on - so I guess that makes us somewhat even.
In the end, both teams ended up where they should: 25 men watching the post season from the stands. As much as I love the Sox, we didn't deserve this post season - not after relying so heavily on a couple of people instead of playing as a team the last month or so. We weren't in first place the bulk of the season because we were stellar; we were there because we were working together. But see, here's the difference between us and the Yankees: we are a team and when we forget that, we lose. See we don't always have the highest paid players or the best stats, but we know that it's about relying on each other. In the end, we relied on Big Papi - so our banishment from an extended summer should be worn like a scarlet "A" on our breasts next season lest we forget that again.
In the meantime, I'll catch some of the games in the post season. My kids are now antsy about using the DVR box to catch "My Name is Earl" and other shows to watch later. They'd like to watch them in real time so they can join the conversations at school. I can always catch last year's post season on DVD - but what's the point (beyond torturing my oldest boy)? Instead, I'll keep my eye on the official site to see what happens in the off-season and catch up on my reading before the boys of summer take to the field once again.
