Front Running Red Sox "Fans," you are all the stiffs of the week.
Everywhere I go in Boston I hear the following, "The Red Sox suck this year."
Since when is Boston full of a bunch of front running, show up in the fourth inning, pink hat wearing fans?
Sometimes I think reversing the curse did more harm than good for the Fenway faithful.
Before 2004 and 2007 - Fenway Park was real. The fans were for the most part knowledgeable about baseball or their hometown team at the very least. People brought their kids because their kids wanted to go see their favorite players play.
Now when I head to Fenway it is a crap shoot.
Sure, in the bleachers and less expensive seating areas you have mostly true fans. They show up on time, drink way too much and talk baseball with the other drunkards around them.
However, the closer you get to the Loge seating (and don't even getting me started on the skyboxes) you still find die hard fans, but more commonly you find these fair weather folk that I speak of. Half of them are doing business on their cell phone while their kid is playing on his/her Game Boy. They are at Fenway to be seen; to be the envy of those fans in the obstructed grandstand seats.
They pay ridiculous prices for the tickets, and if the sox are playing a team like the Orioles, they don't bother going at all.
They don't remember what Fenway looked like before the Green Monster seats and they never saw the Marlborough man billboard above the center field bleachers.
They might remember Fisk, Clemens, Mo Vaughn, Nomar, Pedro, Manny and Papi...
But they sure as hell don't remember Jodi Reed, Tom Brunansky, Brian Daubach, Mike Greenwell, Troy O'Leary and Oil Can Boyd.
They never stayed up on a school night and watched the ball go through Buckner's legs.
They think Aaron Boone is some sort of famous hunter or Civil War general.
They became fans in 2004 and not until the Sox evened up the series. They only saw Dave Roberts steal 2nd base on replays and highlight reels.
The problem now is that even some of the true Fenway Faithful are being influenced by these fake fans and becoming front runners themselves.
HERE IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL.
The sox will not make the playoffs this year. Their pitching has been less than outstanding.
But...
(say it with me) THE RED SOX DO NOT SUCK THIS YEAR.
They are either 1st or 2nd in the American League in the following categories: runs, doubles, home runs, RBIs, slugging and total bases. They are 4th in on-base percentage and 5th in hits.
And for such a "dismal" year of pitching, they are still 2nd in the AL in strikeouts.
AS OF TODAY, 9/6, THE RED SOX HAVE 76 WINS. THIS WOULD MAKE THEM...
-1st in AL West (Texas = 75 wins)
-1st in NL West (Tied with San Deigo = 76 wins)
-3 games back in NL East & NL Central
They would be pretty much guaranteed AT LEAST the wild card in the National League.
The 4th place team in the AL East - The Toronto Blue Jays - even has 71 wins!!!
(say it with me again) THE RED SOX DO NOT SUCK THIS YEAR.
Did I forget to mention injuries? Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that such a productive offensive year has been done without the likes of (for short and long periods of time) Pedroia, Youk, VMart, Varitek, Lowrie, Lowell, Ellsbury, Cameron etc.
So lets see... thats an MVP, consistent .300+ hitter, 40+ stolen base guy & 2007 World Series MVP that the Sox had on the DL this year - not to mention two members of their starting rotation...
On the pitching side of things, Beckett and Dice-K haven't been 100% this year. That is obvious.
Things could have been so much worse.
Any true Red Sox fan will look back on this year and say, "Wow a lot of guys really stepped up and played well. I can't believe we came as close as we did to making the playoffs. Hopefully we get healthy next year. And at the very least we now have a ton of options and proven prospects to use in trades or fill gaps in the future."
WILL THE REAL RED SOX FANS PLEASE STAND UP?
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