This doesn’t look good

The Sox are down 4-0 before their first at bat.

Nope this doesn’t look good.
Remember that bad thing? It looked just like this.

That’s more like it

Admit it… when the Sox kept lining into double plays and getting men on base but were unable to drive them in, you thought they were going to blow it.

I sure did.

I had a vibe all game of “Oh man, we just blew our best shot!”

(Although I admit, when I saw the replay of the near triple play, I think the ump made the right call!)

But nope, it turns out that of all the 2009 American League playoff teams, the one with the with the worst mojo right now is the Angels!

I’ll take it.
And I’ll take the win too… time to update the tally!

DODGED A BULLET GAMES – 12

April 4 – 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 – 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 – 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 – 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 – 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk’s 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 – 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre’s bases loaded walk.)

April 24 – 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 – 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 – 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 – 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 – 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia’s 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 – 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES – 9

April 6 – 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro’s error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 – 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson’s 10th inning homer)
April 9 – 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 – 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can’t score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th… lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 – 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 – 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 – 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 – 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 – 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.

Up to +3 and a .500 record.

Go for the sweep today… then brace for New York.

I have a dream… that Boston fans would have better perspective

Last night was a great tribute to Nomar Garciaparra… someone whom I have already saluted on the blog.

It was wonderful to see whatever ill will existed 5 or 6 years ago between management and Nomar has been put aside to remember what a terrific Red Sox player he was.

But of course it is Boston… the city of my youth… and these are Red Sox fans… and I am one of them… and someone HAS to say something nuts.

And that person would be this lady, who appears in a Boston Globe video posted by Dirt Dog guru Steve Silva.

She compares the night that Nomar got traded to one of those days you all remember like “when Martin Luther King got shot.”

I’m just glad they cut away before she took the analogy further. “And you know Dr. King died defending racial justice and Nomar was traded and it lead to the Sox winning the 2004 World Series… so he sacrificed himself for a greater good. I just can’t figure out who was more noble.”

It’s one of those moments where I can’t figure out if I am proud or ashamed to be a Sox fan. I guess a funny combination.

Here’s her clip… it’s right after the band plays up top.