Hard to believe, but true:
On June 1st, 2012, the Boston Red Sox climbed out of last place in the American League East for the first time all season.
Unfortunately, the celebratory confetti barely had time to settle to the floor before they returned to the basement, where today they are tied with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Now, I’m no baseball pundit, but let’s see:
Boston’s former 3rd Base Coach, DeMarlo Hale (my personal pick for Red Sox Manager) is with the Baltimore Orioles, along with former Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette (who’s now the Orioles Executive Vice-President of Baseball Operations) – a team that could very well finish 3rd in the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays and the team-everybody-loves-to-hate NY Yankees.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays, managed by former Sox Pitching Coach John “This is not a crisis” Farrell, share the basement with the BoSox.
Add to this an injuries list that rivals their 2010 season (Carl Crawford? Daisuke Matsuzaka? Jacoby Ellsbury? Andrew Bailey? Who ARE these people?!?), a new manager who lost his only World Series appearance and stopped coaching for 10 years prior to joining the Sox, problematic pitching, and a bunch of players in their last year of contract, and the Sox finding first place this year will be tougher than finding the artwork stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Of course… if all their injured players return playing well, they sort out their starting rotation problems, and Bobby Valentine resorts to carrots instead of sticks to motivate his team, the 2012 Red Sox could provide a comeback of biblical proportions – and, all sins forgiven.
Thanks for reading! (and, Go Sox!)
