Thunderstick: Not to go all Sportsguy on you but three weeks ago when I was in Vegas, I sat down at a blackjack table on the first night I was out there with $300, my bankroll for the night. And after kind of grinding for a bit, I caught one of those 20-25 hand runs where you win 18-20 hands including all your double downs and splits. After that run that lasted maybe 30 minutes, I was sitting up about $700. I pulled back my original $300 as well as $200 in winnings and put it in my pocket to fund a chunk of the gambling the next two nights I would be out there. The other $500, I played loose and fast with trying to really win big for the rest of the night knowing that even if I lost it I had had a good night on the tables and could go to bed happy.
Those 20-25 hand runs are the kinds of runs that get people hooked (and in some cases addicted) to gambling. They are the ones where you know you are getting good cards on most of the hands, but even if you don't, you know you are going to pull it out anyway. That's what I feel like watching the Sox right now. I sit down and I just know they are going to win most nights. A lot of those nights, it's like getting a 20 right off the bat and knowing that unless something freaky happens you are going to win that hand. Some of those nights (like the third game against Texas) they fall behind and are a run or two down in the late innings, but they pull it out--like having a 16 against a 10 and you are long odds to win, but you know when you hit you are going to get a 4 or a 5 and you do. And even when you have a setback and lose a couple hands, or you lose 2 of 3 to the Yanks, you know the next set of games or hands will give you that cash back and start winning again--which is what that Texas series for the Sox and the Yanks series against the Angels felt like this weekend. The Sox are in the midst of one of those streaks that just makes the rest of the season fun. They are now like I was when I was up $700. I put my original money away, plus some winnings and had fun knowing the only way I was going to bed upset that night was if I lost the winnings and then went into what I had put away and lost that as well. The Sox have an 11 game lead, 13.5 over NY. As long as something akin to me pulling out the money I put away and losing it doesn't happen (like a rash of injuries to key players or poor management decisions), the rest of this season should be a lot of fun.
It might be boring to a lot of people reading this, but for us Sox fans, there's nothing better than writing this and basically saying "yep, more of the same, not sure what to comment on this week." The Sox are just playing really, really, really well. And to make things even more fun, the Yanks are playing really, really, really bad. Even this week, the Yanks fans can take one last run at glory by basking in the hullaballoo of Clemens coming back and what that might mean. Do I think Clemens will make that big a difference? I think he'll help, but I think the Yanks are too far gone at this point. But if I was a Yankee fan, knowing how bad things have been so far, I'd take this week as an oasis to allow myself to think "maybe Clemens comes back and goes the rest of the season and has a 2.00 ERA and wins 95% of his games and this inspires the team and they step up and play better and make an incredible run to the playoffs". Why not--it's baseball, you have to cling to hope. But while the media is covering that and Yanks fans are thinking about it, we Sox fans see Beckett coming back (one of the leaders for the Cy Young when he got hurt a couple weeks ago) and we can now see Timlin's and Lester's return on the immediate horizon. So while the Yanks get Clemens, we'll get back one of the top 5 pitchers in the AL, a key late-inning reliever and a 5th starter. I'll take the latter group of players over Clemens (Also note that in the 22 days since Clemens said he was coming back to the Yanks not for the money, but because it was the most likely place for him to win another title, the Yanks have gone from 5.5 to 13.5 back. Bravo on the judgment Clemens--maybe you should have waited another couple weeks to decide).
Meanwhile the Sox roll on. Two more with Cleveland after a nice win last night (I really like that Cleveland team--there are tough outs up and down the lineup and the pen looks great--their starter wasn't great last night, but they have other that are). Three with NY with a chance to put the last stake in their hearts. Then 7 out west against Oakland and ‘Zona. Not the easiest schedule, but several more chances to send messages which the Sox have done almost every time out this year when given the opportunity. I'm really feeling like it'll be a fun rest of the season now!
dcat: You know, as much as I try just to enjoy this -- and trust me, I'm enjoying this immensely -- the Brave New World of Sox fandom after 2004 is still unsettling for me. I'll admit it -- in the back of my mind right now is the nightmare that was 1978. I was seven years old, and that season was the crucible in which my Sox experience was forged. We all know the details, so I'll spare a rehashing of them, but it was as a seven-year-old in the throes of first love with the Sox that I grew to realize that no lead is entirely safe.
You are a couple of years younger than I am, and in 1978 I believe you had just moved to New England, so while you inherited 1978 you never lived it, and as we discussed in an email last week, that makes you largely free of that particular anxiety. Nonetheless, it is still unsettling for me to see us with a lead this big that continues to grow and to know that we are not even at full health, that Manny has just now started to mash, and that we have not seen JD Drew even come close to approaching the career means toward which we have to assume he will gravitate. Jonathan Lester would be a potential #3 starter on almost every team in the league. Mike Timlin has been a vital bridge to the closer spot over the last few years. Beckett could still be the pick the start the All Star Game. In sum, this is a team that, frighteningly enough for the rest of the league, could actually improve.
Like you, I really think this is a good Indians team. In fact at the beginning of the season I though two teams were going to break out -- the Indians and the Brewers, and so far that seems to be happening. Last night the Indians started to rally in the 9th off of Pap, and had a great chance to win that ballgame when Sizemore, Blake, and Hafner (had he stayed healthy Hafner would have been my MVP last season) came to the plate with guys on second and third. Papelbon reached back, however, and shut them down. That is a team that has serious postseason aspirations, and at least for one night we held them off. Who knows what the rest of this series holds, of course, but the reality is that we just keep beating good teams. May was supposed to be one of our two toughest months, and we have made mincemeat of it. Even against lesser opponents in the next month or two we may not keep up this pace, but right now it feels good to be a Red Sox fan.
As for the Yankees, well, the Clemens investment does not look like a great one. We almost gave them hope last week by losing that series to them in the Bronx, but we get them again this weekend with what could well be a chance to make the Roger Clemens return the most highly anticipated anti-climax in sports history. As you metioned to me a couple of nights back, how the hell do you bring Clemens in as the savior with that contract and then hold him off until after the Red Sox series? From this vantage point on the horizon, that looks an awful lot like a white flag that I see waving.
No comments:
Post a Comment