The Boston Liebermen

What the Sox need right now is a little joe-mentum. Like our esteemed junior senator here in the great state of Connecticut, the Sox need to plunge further into denial and keep going. Since 2000, Lieberman has run three major campaigns (let's leave aside his basically un-opposed run for the Senate in 2000). In 2000, he and Al Gore lost the presidential campaign to George W. In 2004, he finished a distant fifth in the New Hampshire primaries while he tried his own presidential run. Last night, here in 2006, he lost his own democratic primary to the Kansas City Royals of Connecticut politics- Ned Lamont.

The Sox could learn a little something from Joe. He's still going to run. Do you think the guy that Bill Clinton has been calling a "good, loyal democrat" will respect the will of the voters of his party, call his senatorial run a day and take some half-million dollar job as a lobbyist? Nope. He's gonna run as an independent, and I'll tell you what- I bet he wins in November. He says he'll caucus as a Democrat, but I don't know if I'd want him around if I was a Senate Democrat.

Ok, enough politics- what does this have to do with the Sox? Well, last night, they just got beaten in disappointing fashion by a crappy team for the third night in a row. I don't want to say that they simply cannot afford losses like this at a time like this with the standings like this, but...well, we can't do much more of it. I had planned to write what a golden opportunity this series was, given that we were playing the Royals and the White Sox are playing the Yankees. The team we trail in the East is playing the team we have tied for the Wild Card lead. All the Sox had to do was win, and good things happen for them.

I even foolishly tried to wrap my head around the complex issue of who to root against more in that series. If we're farther behind the Yankees, do we want them to lose to regain that ground, or do we want to put good distance between us and the White Sox, given that we've got more head-to-head games against New York to catch up? I asked my six-year-old daughter that question. She cleared it up for me- "Daddy," she said, "you should never cheer for the Yankees. They're the Red Sox enemies!" Well, of course she's right. Last night, the White Sox did end up beating the Yankees in extra innings, so the Red Sox still find themselves two back in the East and a game back in the Wild Card.

The part that the Red Sox forgot to take care of, was of course that bit about having to win a game and a series against the worst team in baseball. Of course, don't tell Jon Lester and Craig Hansen that- they're still under the impression that these guys are major league hitters. Actually, I'm a little tired of complaining about our pitching- maybe I'll complain about the hitting for a minute. I know that we're spoiled with Papi and Manny in the middle of our lineup. We take their greatness for granted. But shouldn't this be the job of the fans and not of the team? They showed a statistic on the screen last night about this- since the all-star break, Manny and Papi have been hitting around .340 with 16 or 17 homers. The rest of the team- the other seven lineup slots plus bench players- is hitting around .250 with 14 homers. And that counts those two insane homer shots hit by Wily Mo this week. That young fella has some pop in his bat. If he can just get a hold of them, damn. His future will be somewhere between Rob Deer and Willie McCovey. If he keeps improving, having the Dangerous Dominican Trio of him, Manny, and Papi in the order? I hate to say wait until next year, but a little patience on that kid could be really fun.

Meanwhile, what could possibly be the most encouraging news of the week was released yesterday. Francisco Liriano, the 12-3, 2.00 ERA rookie pitcher for the Twins, may be headed to the DL with muscle soreness in his throwing arm. The article talked about how the guy was almost in tears with disappointment, and you feel bad for the kid. I especially feel bad for my fantasy team, which, thanks to Liriano, was actually NOT in last place this year. For the Red Sox, however, this is good news. A team like the Twins is not going to be able to sustain that roster hit for long in a heated, three-team Wild Card race. They have two pitchers (plus Joe Nathan) and two hitters. A loss of Liriano will be very bad for the Twins, but I think the Sox will see some benefit. Actually Papelbon may be the biggest single beneficiary from this news. If he stays on his game, he may waltz to the Rookie of the Year award as well as possibly the Cy.

Again, though, to benefit from the largesse of Liriano's sore arm, the Sox have to do their part. They've actually got to win a game against these suckers. So far, though- not so much. Maybe they should take Joe's lead- ignore what the numbers say- that's just the scoreboard. Claim victory and keep going. God and the voters of Red Sox Nation know you're winners. Maybe there's still time to register as an independent team and win the big series against the St. Paul Saints or the Bridgeport Bluefish. Go Joe Go! Go Sox Go!