by Nick Valeri, FN Youth Board
As my school vacation comes to a close, I have experienced a lot this week as a Boston baseball fan. For the first half of my vacation, I was lucky enough to enjoy the Universal Orlando resort and rest my mind from a hard push at school, focused only on being relaxing by the pool, going on rides, and see Shamu for a day at SeaWorld. For the first half of the vacation, (Opening Day weekend), things were looking very bright. The hometown team’s bats were alive and had smiley faces on them as they scored in bunches. Even the Orlando fans were saying “Wow, Boston is coming back” (I enjoyed talking sports smack to the Floridians while I was down there.) But then, when teams from Texas and New York spent a visit, that’s when the hopes of actually seeing a true baseball team that we know and love got burnt into ashes in a span of five days.
There are so many problems with this team it isn’t even worth the time to count them all. You can go from the pitching to the lineup to the bullpen to Bobby V to anyone. But, that isn’t worth it. If anything, that would be the stupidest thing to do. We, as fans, have to face the facts. The bullpen could go down as the worst in league history, never mind team history. You don’t just blow a 9-run lead on the Yankees within the blink of three innings. That stuff doesn’t happen every time you see pinstripes. You don’t just give up 18 runs on an April Tuesday night, with your ace going less than three. Sure, the 100th celebration was fantastic, can’t deny the fact that Boston knows how to become clutch when needed, but as a team, this is becoming to the point of an unacceptable embarrassment. As with most of you reading this, a lot does bother me that I think needs to be fixed. But I still don’t think chanting “We want Tito” makes this the league’s best team. The problem is not Bobby V. The problem is the players in the clubhouse. If the 100th anniversary taught us anything about this team, it taught us that there is no Kevin Millar or Pedro in that clubhouse. That toast to Fenway remind me at least that back in ’04, they actually were a bunch of idiots. I was reminded of those idiots because on the flight down to Orlando, I watched Four Days in October, and realized there isn’t anyone in that clubhouse that is going “Don’t let us win today…Don’t let the Sox win today.” The clubhouse today is “we just need to find our groove and we will be ok” BORING. To me, that sounds like a team without a heart like the Red Sox of my generation was. The problem is not Bobby V, it really is the players. And if there are no wins now, then this could get ugly fast.