Disappointment Was My Closest Friend

Who could use the inspiring sounds of Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" right about now? Let's combine that with the scene in "Ghostbusters II" when they animate the Statue of Liberty and marshall the positive emotions of all New Yorkers to defeat the power of Vigo the Carpathian and help Bill Murray give Sigourney Weaver one last kiss before she totally hit the wall. Or if you're more of a traditional fan of cinematic uplift, how about listening to Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes as we watch Richard Gere sweep Debra Winger off her feet and carry her out of the factory? Either way, I could use a little inspiration, a little hope in this unpleasant emotional place our Red Sox have put me in today.

My first attempt at this blog entry crashed about 75% into it. I had some really good thoughts about yesterday's loss to the Devil Rays being an important crossroads game, and then the computer froze up. I tried again, and it locked again. It became, for me, a beautiful and painful metaphor for how the Red Sox tried four times yesterday to put the game away, and four separate, consecutive relief pitcher coughed it up. Delcarmen, Timlin, Papelbon, and Tavarez all combined to break the heart of Red Sox nation and ruin the otherwise positive strong start from Jason Johnson.

I know that the Red Sox have been banged up and their cast of characters keeps changing. Did anyone here think that we'd be trying to hang on the playoff hunt with a catcher named Corky? I've never been able to see much in the way of tangible evidence that "team leadership" meant that much, but when you combine the injuries to Varitek and Trot with a week and a half's worth of completely uninspiring, treading-water type of baseball, I'm beginning to wonder if there's a really important void in that clubhouse. I think that the Sox need to take this day off to think about this. What sort of a team are they going to be? What direction will this season take? You just cannot lose two of three to the Devil Rays (the post-trade-deadline Devil Rays) and expect the Yankees, Twins and White Sox to wait around for you. The Sox have really showed the inability to just step on the neck of their opponents and take charge.

I checked the postseason odds this morning. While we still lead both the White Sox and Twins, our chances of reaching the playoffs are at 50%. That feels just about right. It's fitting that the Sox are going to Kansas City. It's not St. Louis, but it's as close to a crossroads as you can find in the American League. These Sox are at that crossroads. Despite the positive fact that the Twins and White Sox are going to have to play each other another six to eight times this season, the Red Sox can't expect either of them to collapse and go away. The playoff chase starts tomorrow in Kansas City. I know it's still a six or seven week season. I know that one series in August doesn't carve anything in stone. I know my own tendency to panic and get too emotionally invested in the results of a single game. All the same, though, this just feels like a time the Sox need to figure out who they are.

So today, when the only appointment the Sox have is disappointment, hopefully someone will step up and right this ship. I think that the starting pitching is headed in the right direction. Coco Crisp has been hitting better lately and Javy Lopez is due to start hitting very soon. Things have got to start getting better. Or else they'll get worse, and I'll be left to my movies. At least with a movie you've seen twenty times, you can be somewhat assured of a happy ending.