Dear Red Sox,
Congratulations on a great season and an even better post-season. World Champions! Unbelievable, yet well deserved. You did it correctly.
Back in April I was merely hoping for a chance to feel proud of my team again. A playoff berth wasn't even on my radar; I just wanted to see my Sox care again so that I could care about them. After the year of My Bloody Valentine and the apathetic "mail-it-in" approach carried over from the end of the '11 season, I only wished again for the focus on playing baseball the way it should be played. It took some time to bring me back into the fold but I eventually recognized the dichotomy between this year and last. Was it Farrell whipping guys back into shape? Was it the youngsters injecting the passion of the game back into the rest of the clubhouse, reminding the bulk of the retained players what they were there for? Was it the replacement of the top-heavy contracts with scrappy players who cared more about the purity of the game than the number of zeroes on the dotted line? Was it getting rid of that shitheel Beckett and his clearly negative influence? Was it the April bombing which brought the city - and the team - together? I would submit all of the above.
These guys - to a player - all contributed in their own way. You can go down the roster and pick any guy on there - whether starter or occasional player - and easily recall a moment where they stepped up and helped the group make it to where we are tonight. We've had talented teams before (perhaps even more so than this one) who never made it nearly this far, but these guys bucked the odds and simply kept playing great baseball. Tonight we reap the benefits.
I could go on for paragraphs about individual players but a couple of them in particular need to be mentioned above the others. First, Shane Victorino brought a sense of defensive excitement back to this OF fan, something we haven't seen in many, many years at any of the three positions. His play was astonishing, navigating the toughest right field in the majors like he had always been there. Jon Lester finally became the ace I always knew he had buried in hm somewhere with a knockout playoff punch that will be talked about for years. (In fact, I thought he should have been the WS MVP, with all due respect to Papi and his sick performance.) Finally, John Lackey has proven through much of the season (and certainly in these playoffs, where he was legitimately outstanding) that I was wrong about him... to an extent, at least. Not to put too fine a point on it, he sucked like a sump pump for his first few years here and never earned his massive contract until now. Yet, he was brilliant this post-season and without him, we never would have won the whole thing. He was essential in putting us over the top, and I applaud his efforts and thank him forfinally bringing his game home. Kudos, man!
A great season, a great post-season, and a well-deserved World Series win. Way to go, gentlemen! Dear Red Sox indeed.
See you next year!
Congratulations on a great season and an even better post-season. World Champions! Unbelievable, yet well deserved. You did it correctly.
Back in April I was merely hoping for a chance to feel proud of my team again. A playoff berth wasn't even on my radar; I just wanted to see my Sox care again so that I could care about them. After the year of My Bloody Valentine and the apathetic "mail-it-in" approach carried over from the end of the '11 season, I only wished again for the focus on playing baseball the way it should be played. It took some time to bring me back into the fold but I eventually recognized the dichotomy between this year and last. Was it Farrell whipping guys back into shape? Was it the youngsters injecting the passion of the game back into the rest of the clubhouse, reminding the bulk of the retained players what they were there for? Was it the replacement of the top-heavy contracts with scrappy players who cared more about the purity of the game than the number of zeroes on the dotted line? Was it getting rid of that shitheel Beckett and his clearly negative influence? Was it the April bombing which brought the city - and the team - together? I would submit all of the above.
These guys - to a player - all contributed in their own way. You can go down the roster and pick any guy on there - whether starter or occasional player - and easily recall a moment where they stepped up and helped the group make it to where we are tonight. We've had talented teams before (perhaps even more so than this one) who never made it nearly this far, but these guys bucked the odds and simply kept playing great baseball. Tonight we reap the benefits.
I could go on for paragraphs about individual players but a couple of them in particular need to be mentioned above the others. First, Shane Victorino brought a sense of defensive excitement back to this OF fan, something we haven't seen in many, many years at any of the three positions. His play was astonishing, navigating the toughest right field in the majors like he had always been there. Jon Lester finally became the ace I always knew he had buried in hm somewhere with a knockout playoff punch that will be talked about for years. (In fact, I thought he should have been the WS MVP, with all due respect to Papi and his sick performance.) Finally, John Lackey has proven through much of the season (and certainly in these playoffs, where he was legitimately outstanding) that I was wrong about him... to an extent, at least. Not to put too fine a point on it, he sucked like a sump pump for his first few years here and never earned his massive contract until now. Yet, he was brilliant this post-season and without him, we never would have won the whole thing. He was essential in putting us over the top, and I applaud his efforts and thank him forfinally bringing his game home. Kudos, man!
A great season, a great post-season, and a well-deserved World Series win. Way to go, gentlemen! Dear Red Sox indeed.
See you next year!
PS Looking back at what I wrote, I neglected to mention many vital players: Uehara, Tazawa, Breslow, Napoli, Pedroia, Drew, Gomes, Nava, Ellsbury, Buchholz (and the rest of them)... they all deserve props. It really was a collective crew that coalesced to bring the thing home. They all deserve credit.
Next time I'm in Dallas, I'll spend the necessary five minutes and get your account straightened out.
1 comment:
Nice! I have to live though you guys because there's no way my team will do this during my lifetime.
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