UNLUCKY ELEVEN

It was the 111th season for the Boston Red Sox, and it is the season to forget if you played on that team or rooted for it. It was one of the greatest collapses in baseball history!

If there is a team that could mirror the old jinx rabbit of the Brooklyn Dodgers, it is the Boston Red Sox. They opened the season as heavy favorites to go to the World Series, with the signing of Carl Crawford and the team being compared to the 1927 Yankees, they seemed to be living up to their reputation up to the month of August.

On September 3^rd, the Sox lead the Tampa Bay Rays by 9 games for the wild card, and were assured to win it with a 99.6% chance. That was all the Sox needed to hear, when they went on a tear with a losing record of 7-20! To compound matters and complete the collapse, they lost the last game of the season to the last place Baltimore Orioles, with a 3-2 lead with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9^th meanwhile in extra innings would take Tampa from a 7-0 deficit to rally to victory over the NY Yankees and qualifying for the playoffs!

MANAGER TERRY FRANCONA

It cost Terry Francona, the manager who had broken the curse of the Bambino and gotten Boston 2 World Series victories his job. It also exposed what is wrong with the players of today, too much money and not enough love for the game, as a chicken and beer clubhouse scandal broke. Francona was criticized for not controlling the team, discipline being non-existent.

Then the Boston Globe published this expose’ about the Sox: A General Manager who had a $161 Million dollar payroll, but could not piece together a playoff appearance. Ownership so out of touch with the players that they tried to bribe good behavior with yacht-rides and $300 headphones. A group of apathetic pitchers who spent more time in the clubhouse drinking beer, eating fried chicken, and playing video games than being leaders. And a manager too consumed with personal struggles (a son in Iraq and a divorce) to manage effectively. Oh, and he might be addicted to pain medication.

The roster seemed to be a Who’s Who of major leaguers with Adrian Gonzales, Jacoby Elisbury, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and J.D. Drew, and a pitching staff that included: Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield and Clay Buchholz.

That’s all I wrote, folks!