OK Boston, I was wrong. I was wrong to count you out even though it was the 7th inning and you were down 7-0. I was wrong to think the Rays could hold you off for 7 more outs. I had written you off by the fifth inning. But somehow you came back. Even when you scored four runs, I still was confident the Rays could keep you at bay. I don't know exactly what happened because I turned off the TV and went to bed. But I can't say I was all that surprised when I woke up this morning and saw you had come back to win.
Maybe it was the idea of losing three in a row in the playoffs at Fenway. Maybe, it was because the bandwagon fans left in the 5th and only the true fans remained. Maybe Tampa Bay got complacent and let the momentum slip your way. Maybe the Red Sox can only win when they truly believe they are the underdog and can summon an us against the world mentality. Maybe it's a combination of all those things.
What I'm wondering is how gut wrenching is it to be a Red Sox fan? Yes, comebacks are great when they happen, and the Red Sox are better at coming back in the playoffs than any other team, but the fans still have to sit through the three agonizing losses and resign themselves to the idea that the Sox could get eliminated. I guess the highs are higher when you've had to face the lows, but still doesn't it annoy Boston fans a little to have to go through this every year now. And if they lose tomorrow, was it all just false hope?
Are the Rays destined to become the next Cleveland Indians, a byline in the Red Sox unbelievable but now predictable comeback story? Will there be another swarm of gross little insects? Or maybe some other plague like frogs or the water in Tampa turning to blood to show us that the Red Sox are truly destined to win this?
Can't anyone put these guys away? The Rays still have the upper hand when it comes to games needed to clinch the series, but after last night, will their faith be shaken. They are a pretty resilient team. They lost the first game at home and then came back to win three in a row, two of those at Fenway. So they can rebound, they have in this series already, but are they mature enough to do it again. I hope so.
I don't know if I can deal with the Red Sox fans if they are able to pull this off. And it'll be worse if they pull it off and then beat the Phillies in the World Series. The Patriots fell last year in the Super Bowl and then had Brady go down in the first game of this season. When will this collapse happen to the Red Sox? Cause I'm ready for Boston to go down. So come on Rays, you're 29 outs away from a World Series. Imagine what the party for that will be like.
2 comments:
Meghan-
As a Red Sox fan, I can tell you that it is rewarding to know you back a team that always has a chance. There can be two schools of thought when it comes to the Sox and postseason comebacks. The first is that the team has been there before and knows what to do. The second, and one that still ruminates in the minds of some Boston fans who can't believe this unbelievable run our teams have been on lately, is that our good luck will run out sometime and there is no way we can do it again. I will admit that last night as the Fenway Faithful began to sing Take Me Out to The Ballgame, I had my doubts and was hesitent to believe. But there is something about this team, this manager, these fans (the ones who have been through it all with this team, not those leaving in the 5th inning) that makes you feel like something crazy and magical will always happen. And having the cache of not one, but two comebacks in the past five years leaves you thinking that there is always a chance. That is why the 30,000 or so fans who remembered '04 and '07 and did not leave Fenway were a crazed mass when Papi stepped to the plate in the seventh. Because our backs have been against the wall before and we have rallied. I wish that every sports fan could experience this feeling just once. I have been lucky to have done so multiple times now in the past decade. The knowledge that your team, no matter the score or deficit, is capable of providing just one more night of magic is amazing. Will the Sox come all the way back again? Who knows. My gut feeling is no, but I don't think that makes me a bad Sox fan. I like having our two best pitchers going, but arguably so do the Rays. The fans in St. pete will be out with their cowbells and the knowledge that if they don't close the Sox out in 6 then anything can happen in game 7. Will becket's oblique allow him to pitch at his normal velocity? Doubtful. But I remember back to 2004 and a portly ace with a sutured ankle willing himself to not one, but two wins - the first of which was on the road with the Sox down 3-2. All I know is I am excited that baseball for the Boston Red Sox continues. That was the goal entering last night. Watching a classic game was just a bonus.
Bitch and moan about the Red Sox all you want but just know that the feeling of watching your team make a dramatic come-back in 03, 04, and 07 is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
Whether they do it this year or not isn't as important as it was 5 years ago. I'm just enjoying watching the games and knowing that there will be no 'down and out' moment. There is always a chance for them to win and that is exciting as hell.
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