Red Sox: Baseball Team

I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty utterly defeated when Munchkin went back on the disabled list. It knocked all the enthusiasm out of me, and I feel like I've been going through the motions in watching the games since then. I want them to win, but I just don't feel like they will. Losing Youk was a huge blow. Losing CRW again was a little concerning. Losing Cameron, sadly, had no real impact on me since I didn't get to really see him play enough to make up my mind about him. It's August, and we have four players done for the year with injuries, but Munchkin hurt the most. He was the hope for so many people, played two games, and re-injured that foot.

Now I'm hovering right around pissed. What is the purpose of having an entire medical staff that cannot properly handle their responsibilities? Yes, I am looking for someone to blame, and it just seems a little appropriate that the blame fall on the medical staff that seems to be misdiagnosing players left and right these days. Remember a few years ago with Mikey's hip? How badly did they botch that? Heck, even at the beginning of the season, they didn't realize Ells had broken ribs for over a week. Both CRW and Munchkin were brought back too early from injuries. Isn't it the manager and the medical staff's responsibility to know the players well enough to know when they have to slow them down or force them to take a step back. Are they even evaluating them properly? Perhaps I'm just a tad bitter about losing all of these players, but I doubt I'm the only one scratching their head about the way the medical staff operates.

Either way, we've had a string of pretty good games. We also had a couple of bad ones mixed in there, but I'm chalking it up to a bad day for Lester and a bad season for Beckett. After all, it's an even-numbered year. I didn't really expect much from Josh. But recently, we've gotten good pitching out of Dice-K, Dahmer, and Lackey, and I can't really ask for much more, except offense... which we've actually gotten a pretty good dose of. Sure, winning series isn't as good as sweeping series, but it's far better than losing them. Lackey got us off to a good start against the Mariners, even if he does tend to be a little frustrating. Papelbon got a nice, easy save and looked good doing in, and the offense strung together hits, which I ALWAYS love to see. I look forward to a rebound outing from Josh, but if he fails, he fails. We'll move on. I'm trying so hard to stay positive. I don't think we're going to make the playoffs, but I can't just give up on hoping now. I'm going to keep hoping.

The thing that irks me right now is the situation with he-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken. You know who I'm talking about. He's currently a Tiger, and the Red Sox put in a waiver claim on him. I don't know if perhaps the waiver claim was an actual attempt at reacquiring that lying miscreant, or if the Sox are just blocking the Yanks and the Rays from possibly acquiring him. Doesn't matter, as he doesn't seem all that enthusiastic about the prospect of returning to Boston anyway. I hope he does turn down the trade. I don't want him back in a Red Sox uniform. Call me bitter and spiteful if you will, but he lied. He had no reason to lie, but he did, and for that, I can't forgive him.

Had he NOT lied and bolted to the Yankees, I would have been angry, but I would have been able to cheer for him again when he became a Tiger. Or if he had gone to any other team except for the Yankees, without saying anything, I would have been fine. The man specifically said that he didn't care how much money the Yankees were going to throw at him, he could never be a Yankee. Not okay in my book. Complain about Manny all you want, but Manny never promised not to go play in New York. As much as I complain about Papelbon, I won't be surprised if he ends up in pinstripes some day. If he does, sure, I'll boo the hell out of him when he comes back to Fenway, but as soon as he leaves New York, I can continue cheering for him. Never that other guy. I can't. He shouldn't be allowed to redeem himself.

I know the front office may have been a little bit crappy to him, but he didn't essentially slap the front office. It was the fans who were most affected by his departure. Sucking up to them after the fact is meaningless. Well, now he has the opportunity to block the trade, and I wholeheartedly hope he does it because there is just nothing within me that wants to cheer for that man again. Please don't come back.