As a Die Hard Red Sox Fan, it Pains Me to see the Boston Red Sox Turn Into the Pittsburgh Pirates, and it Sucks to Watch!

     There are a lot of people that consider themselves die hard Red Sox fans, and many have a case to be made to refer to themselves that way.  I am often skeptical when people say this, so I am going to explain a little about why I am a die hard Red Sox fan.  Believe it or not I was born in Los Angeles California and became an early Red Sox fan via my grandparents who lived in New England when I was growing up.  Fast forward to October 12, 1986.  It was a warm fall day in Anaheim California and my mother had luckily secured two tickets to game 5 of the American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and the then California Angels.  The Red Sox had their backs against the wall and were down three games to one to the Angels who were flying high after their come from behind, extra inning, game four victory the night before.   The Sox got off to hot start with two runs in the top of the second, but by the end of the 7th inning the Angels were ahead 5-2 and the end REALLY felt near.  In the top of the 9th inning with the score the same my mother asked her 9 year old son if he wanted to leave early to beat the traffic.  I have never been that person, and I wasn't going to start being that person at 9 years old so we decided to stay, and because of Bill Buckner, Don Baylor, and Dave Henderson, the rest is history.  I will spare you the details, but the Red Sox came from behind to win on Hendu's game tying home run with 2 outs in the 9th, and his game winning sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th.  This game is fondly referred to by myself as the Dave Henderson game, but is morbidly referred to by Angels fans as the Donnie Moore game. 

    If you will humor me one more time, I want to fast forward to Sunday October 13, 2013.  It was game two of the American League Championship between the Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers who had shut out the Sox in game 1 behind starter Anibal Sanchez.  Game 2 started where game 1 left off with Max Scherzer allowing one run and two hits while striking out 13 leading the tigers to a 5-1 lead after 7 innings.  During the bottom of the 8th inning I had flashbacks to 1986 as I looked around the field and I saw dozens of fans walking up the aisles to leave the most beloved ballpark early to beat the traffic.  It was a sad state of affairs to say the least at Fenway Park.  What happened next is the stuff of fairy tales and kids fantasies as young baseball fans.  In classic Stephen Drew style he started the inning off with a groundout to shortstop.  Slumped in my chair, I probably had a faint thought of leaving early to beat the traffic.  This thought slowly started to vanish as Will Middlebrooks rocketed a line drive double to get the Sox in scoring position. 

Detroit pitcher Jose Veras, who had replaced Scherzer, had now given way to Drew Smyley.  This was not very good news to me as Smyley had pitched very well in relief for the tigers all season to the tune of a 2.37 ERA in 63 appearances.  Smyley made me feel a little better as he promptly walked Jacoby Ellsbury on a 3-2 count to put 2 on with one out.  Then, the stars began to align.  Smyley, who walked the only batter he faced, had given way to one of my favorite baseball names of all time in Al Alburquerque (good luck getting that one in the spelling bee).  Al did not make me feel more comfortable when he promptly struck out Shane Vicorino for the second out, and this left it up to dirt dog Dustin Pedroia with two on and two outs.  Leave to the little man to make a big man play.  Pedroia singled to right field on an 0-1 count moving Middlebrooks to third, Ellsbury to second, and loading the bases. 

If there are baseball Gods, they were watching this game because the next batter happened to be David Ortiz, who in my opinion already had a case for the greatest postseason hitter of all time, and one more at bat later there would be no argument ever again.  The Tigers had a left handed pitcher in the pen named Phil Coke who had not yet appeared in the playoffs, but Tigers manager Jim Leyland decided to go with right hander Joaquin Benoit in a perplexing decision.  As Big Papi was approaching the plate I said to my friend next to me, with the score 5-1 and the bases loaded, "at least we have the right guy up at the plate." Before I could finish that sentence Benoit had delivered his first pitch fastball to Ortiz and the slugger wasted no time by promptly putting the ball high and deep into the night.  As it's rising I am saying out loud several times "No way No way."  The next thing I know Tiger's right fielder Tori Hunter is in the Sox bullpen appearing to be standing in his head in an attempt to catch the ball.  I happened to see the ball bouncing and the crowd went crazier than I had ever seen a crowd get.  My 200+ pound frame was picked up in the air by total strangers that were sitting next to me and my friends.  Tears of joy like I had not experienced as a sports fan in a long time were flowing.  I immediately knew history had been made.  

If you are not exhausted and still hanging on to my writing I will say that the Red Sox continued their approach to free agency and the farm system after the World Series winning season of 2013, but it took until they hired, ironically, former Detroit Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski before they would experience that same success again.  I was thankful for Dombrowski as I had felt that anything would have been better than his predecessor Ben Cherington.  In dombrowski's first full season with the Sox in 2016 he made waves by signing David Price to a then record 7 year $210 million contract and Sox fans had good reason to be excited.  They would win 93 games that year and the division, but were immediately swept by the eventual American League champion Cleveland Indians.  Fear not I thought, the team would be back and better than ever the next year.  After Dombrowski acquired ace Chris Sale prior to the following season I was convinced we were in for another winner, but the Sox suffered almost the exact same fate as they were ousted by the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros in the division series three games to one.  The next year the Dombrowski would sign slugger J.D. Martinez and make some of smartest in season trades I can ever remember and go on to win the 2018 World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers.  In my mind, I felt that Dombrowski had found a really great formula for winning:  If you don't have the players, pay the money or the prospects to get the players and you will find yourself with a winning team. Spend now, worry later.  

Now, after the 2023 season and after the man who replaced Dombrowski in 2019, Chaim Bloom, has been fired after two straight dismal seasons, new general manager Craig Breslow seems to be picking up right where Bloom left off and doing nothing to help the team.  They seemingly refuse to get involved in bidding for high priced free agents, or involved in trades for sluggers like Juan Soto.  I do not blame them for not going after the MLB's first $700 million man in Shohei Ohtani, but it would have been nice to see them at least try.  Instead they announced early on they were out on him.  Soto probably could have been had by the Red Sox if they offered the right package, but again they didn't try.  They were just outbid for Pitcher Seth Lugo by the Kansas City Royals.  Let that sink in.  The Sox were once possibly the most desirable destination in all of baseball and they got outbid by the Royals.  Now I admit Lugo is not exactly a franchise changing arm, but he certainly would have helped.  The player I want probably has no chance in signing here and that is Yoshinobu Yamamoto.  It's not everyday that a 25 year old phenom from Japan becomes available in the United States.  I have watched several bullpen sessions and Japanese highlights and, by all accounts, the kid looks like the real deal and we need pitching.  Do you know what happened the last time the Red Sox signed a Japanese pitching phenom in the offseason?  It was Daisuke Matsuzaka and they won the World Series in his first Major League Season in 2007.  

The reason I used the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise as a model is that they have had 6 winning seasons since 1992 and have not won a World Series during that time.  I will not be able to stand it if that happens.  I will have to leave the country or tour with the circus or something.  We need to do something, and we need to do it now.