Nightmare At Fenway Park

John Henry- Principal owner of the Red Sox and a class A Jackass.

Let's face it. If you are a baseball fan or know a baseball fan, you are at least slightly aware of the struggles facing the Red Sox. For those of you who have had a hard time following the circus in Beantown, here is a breakdown and commentary on what has taken place so far:

First and foremost, the Sox topped the record books this season for having the biggest collapse in the month of September, EVER.

On September 1st, the team awoke in first place in the AL East with the best record in the American League. They also had a commanding 9 game lead over the beleaguered Tampa Bay Rays in the wild card column. 28 days later (ironically the title of a zombie movie considering the team's starting pitching looked just like zombies) the Orioles just completed a ninth inning comeback off of star closer Johnathan Paplebon and the Yankees, having already clinched first place with a commanding lead, dropped a 12 inning game to the Rays. This combination effectively eliminated the Red Sox hope of a post season, and completed the worst (or greatest depending on your standpoint) collapse in September baseball.

Reeling from the disappointment and obviously looking for a scape goat, the organization blamed Terry Francona, the manager who helped bring an end to the 86 year drought in Boston. Francona decided to fall on the sword and go peacefully, acting as if his departure was a mutual decision although "unnamed sources" stated that ownership had voted him out a week prior to the end of the season.

As if things didn't look bleak enough for the Sox, the worst was yet to come. Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe publication wrote a scathing article pointing the finger at who was to blame for the epic collapse. Mr. Hohler spared no one. Hohler, siting "unnamed sources," revealed a number of veteran players who never took on the leadership roles they should have. However, the most glaring revelations were the drinking in the club house DURING games and a supposed drug problem. It was made public that Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey were "drinking beer, eating fried chicken and playing video games" in the clubhouse during the games instead of being out in the dug out and supporting their team. It was also noted that during the season, Francona was possibly abusing pain medication he was prescribed after knee surgery and may have also been distracted due to his marrital problems.

Next, in what can only be described as really bad timing, word broke that the superstar General Manager would be jumping ship in favor of the Chicago Cubs. Theo Epstein, who was partly responsible for pushing Francona out the door, decided he was also ready to leave. Epstein was majorly responsible for building the team that was able to thwart the "curse of the Bambino."

While all this news was swirling about in the baseball world, the "unnamed sources" spoke out once again. These sources admitted that the information about Francona that was given in the Hohler article was in fact leaked by ownership as a smear campaign at an attempt to make it difficult for Francona to find a job elsewhere.

All the controversy surrounding the team sparked David Ortiz to express his desire to not be "a part of the drama in Boston next season." Ortiz even hinted at a possible desire to go play for the Yankees, saying "they lost just like us...and no one is killing each other over there."

Finally most recently, John Henry came out of hiding. Henry is the principal owner of the Sox and he decided to go on the Sports Hub radio station in Boston to address some of the happenings. He said a lot of things including how he had nothing to do with a "smear campaign" against Francona and how he doesn't feel that any of his players quit on the team in September. He managed to say a lot of stupid statements in a span of just a few minutes but the words that were missing are the words that every Red Sox fan deserves to hear: "I'm sorry for this embarrassment and I will do everything in my power to right these wrongs."

Henry is an idiot that makes the owner of the Dodgers look good. He is a moron who has no clue how to stop the bleeding. Instead of trying to move on, he is simply making matters worse by ignoring glaring issues that now plague the Red Sox. The simple fact that he can sit there with a straight face and say that the players didn't quit in September is laughable. Maybe he was absent that month but if the players didn't quit then they wouldn't have finished an embarrassing third for the second straight year.

The Red Sox are in trouble and the two guys who deserve to have statues in front of Fenway are gone. The ship is sinking.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Fenway Park

$200 Million Failure

I know this is not what people want to hear but this is not entirely A-Rod's fault. Yes, the image of A-Rod striking out to end the season sums up his miserable season of minimal production. However, when you score 2 runs on 10 hits, you simply don't deserve to win that game. They didn't completely lay down but they failed to get that big hit, time and time again. Some (including myself) would consider that worse, but it is hard to get the big hit when your 4, 5 and 6 hitters are a drain rather than a spark.

Robinson Cano was our big threat and he was easily neutralized because he had zero protection. If you don't have to pitch to a big hitter, why would you? Our most consistent hitter was Jorge Posada who was batting 7th. Last night was likely his last game as a Yankee and it was the absolute definition of bittersweet. He went out producing but his last game was a first round exit.

Last night was also likely the last time Swisher will have donned the pinstripes. There are only so many times you can be completely useless in October and still return to the Yankees. This is likely the last straw.

Truth is, if the Yankees weren't contractually obligated to keep A-Rod, he'd be gone too. There is a common misconception when discussing the Yankee hitters. The notion that they live and die with Rodriguez's bat. People actually think that without A-Rod's bat in the lineup, the rest of our hitters don't produce. This couldn't be further from the truth. We saw this year, A-Rod got hurt and Nunez and Chavez but stepped in for him. During this stretch, the lineup was clicking beautifully. The issue is having a slumping A-Rod in the lineup. That is when his bat affects the hitters poorly. So am I saying that Girardi should have just sat A-Rod and put in Chavez? Maybe but it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. We would have been better off with losing A-Rod for the season but it didn't play out that way. Maybe it's time the Yankees have a sit down with Alex and make him the full time DH. His fielding was stellar this series but all his injuries seem to come while playing defense.

One thing is for sure, this season could have been so much more.

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Pivotal Game 5

As Yankee fans, we are almost lead to believe that the Division Series is meaningless. We are so focused on the World Series that the DS is merely step one.

However, the DS is very important. Its the start of the playoffs and it's when a team needs to get into a grove. The Yankees will be playing a "win or go home" game 5 against the Tigers tomorrow night in the Bronx. Listening to how loud the Detroit fans were the past 2 nights, I hope to see a great deal of intensity in the Bronx tomorrow.

We are Yankee fans and we should not be out done by anyone. Our fans are great but I want that building shaking from the 1st inning to the 9th.

LET'S GO YANKEES!

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