I’m enjoying the John Lackey who doesn’t make me want to kick him (even if Tim McCarver tried to make the country think he was a serial killer or something because he got pissy about being taken out of the game).
Saturday baseball on Fox was an interesting experience yesterday. Â If you had absolutely no idea of what the standings were, the way Dick Stockton and Tim McCarver talked about the American League East, you would have come away from yesterday’s broadcast believing the Red Sox were behind both the Yankees and the Rays. Â I really don’t get why they still try to sell the “The Red Sox are struggling this year” story year after year. Â The Red Sox, who had a God-awful April and are, currently, without three of their starting rotation (remember Daisuke?), are a game and a half ahead in first place and twenty games over .500. Â Even with injuries, this team doesn’t suck.
I am not one of those fictional Red Sox fans who longs for the old days when the Red Sox were the underdog constantly disappointing their fanbase and it annoys me when the people who cover baseball pretend that those folks exist. Â This is a good team and the fans have high expectations and their being a game and a half AHEAD of the Yankees going into the second half isn’t something we should be complaining or worrying about regardless of what Tim McCarver and Dick Stockton think.
The Red Sox being in first place makes me happy. Â The pitching staff we have not totally imploding game after game pleases the hell out of me. Â The offense teeing off on opposing players puts a smile on my face as I drift off to sleep. Â The Tampa Bay Rays are six games out of first place right now…that isn’t an insurmountable number to overcome but, right now, I’m putting my money on Boston.