Bambino's Curse

"I do believe in spooks,
I do believe in spooks,
I do, I do, I do."*

This had me choking on my corn flakes at eight in the morning:

Thanks a lot, Larry. Just what the Red Sox needed was you to insult George Steinbrenner and have The Boss looking to stick it to the Olde Towne Team any way he can as long as you're around (McDonough, Globe).

That's it, Will, publicly send the message that there is something to fear from Steinbrenner and the Yankees.

I wonder if Will got pushed around the playground by bullies a lot at school as a kid? Seems he would have learned the lesson now that appeasement and running scared are actions that don't help much.

So if Will McDonough were a ballplayer and one of this team mates had just been played some chin music by the opposing pitcher, would he pull his team's starting pitcher aside and whisper, "Oh, please, don't retaliate. We don't want to get the other team really mad at us. We might get hurt"?

Please.

True Red Sox fans, Will, don't wilt, in the face of hostility.

[*Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz]

Throw Me a Frickin' Bone Here!

On days like this, I have empathy and admiration for the professional sportswriters, as I don't have a thing to say or comment on. Meanwhile, both the Globe's Hohler and the Herald's Horrigan are able to to make it seem that the Red Sox hiring of Dallas Williams as first base coach is something to take interest in.

No offense to Mr. Williams, but the first base coach position is not the stuff fan dreams are made of.

I'm restless. I want some big news. I'll even take some nasty, dirty baseball news.

It doesn't help that for the past few days the weather here in the mid-Atlantic has been downright spring like; temps into the high 50s and even the 60s, long periods of rain, the earliest spring wildflowers now beginning to poke green proto stems through the soil -- But it's only the first week of January. We've got a lot more winter left. And a lot more waiting by the hot stove.

Ah, well, no one said it'd be easy.

In the End Is Our Beginning.

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger,
The pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

From T.S. Eliot's East Coker (No. 2 of 'Four Quartets')

A toast to home, Red Sox fans, from where we start from and to where we end, to all of our memories of Red Sox seasons past and all of our hopes for Red Sox seasons to come. We are a collective lifetime burning in every moment until the last out is made.

Happy New Year!

We said 'OK no rumpus. No tricks'
But just in case they jump us
We're ready to mix*

Is this front office mudslinging between the Red Sox and Yankees enjoyable or what? I can't wait to get up in the morning to see what's next in the war of words.

Yankees President Randy Levine: "The days of trying to shed or hide your own problems by blaming the Yankees are over. We're playing by the rules of the agreement. There are teams that are getting millions and millions and millions in revenue sharing. Those teams should worry about their own business and be as creative as we are."

Lucchino: "He can be sure the Red Sox will indeed be creative in our baseball and business operations, and be aggressive. Neither attribute will prevent us from criticizing the mighty `Evil Empire' wherever and whenever we believe they deserve it. That's one of the things the Yankees must accept for inhabiting and exploiting the largest sports market in the nation" (Hohler, Globe).

That's beautiful. While it's easy for non Red Sox fans to pin the sour grapes and whining label on the Red Sox executive management and ownership, I can't help but feel this is an attempt by Lucchino et al to lead by example and try to get some intensity and passion back into the notion of beating the Yankees and winning in general.

The one thing I found most disappointing about last season was the perceived nonchalance, laissez-faire attitude coming out of the Red Sox dugout. It was all too much of the "it's just another game" and the "a few losses in a row don't mean much" or the"well, we're going to lose a few" and the real stinker of "the Yankees are just another team."

In Baseball Musings, Dave Pinto writes that he like Steinbrenner because "he's always fighting complacency. And he fights it from the top." In my mind Lucchino is doing something similar. If the players see that the front office guys between NY and Boston are ready to go at it, the message should be resounding clear to the players that the fire has been lit.

If they start a rumble,
We'll rumble'em right.

At least the newest member of the Red Sox isn't afraid to admit the rivalry. Mendoza, who once wanted "to die a Yankee," has the kind of vengeful attitude that can make a difference:

"I always thought Boston was very, very competitive against the Yankees," Mendoza said through his agent and translator, Fernando Cuza. "If I could make the difference and get them to the playoffs against the Yankees, that's what I'd like to do" (Hohler).

How many days 'til Spring Training? I feel something's coming.

[*From West Side Story, of course: "Quintet" sung by the Sharks.]

Mental Preparation

Now, don't get me wrong here: I'm not trying to emulate a doomsday cult's prognostications of the end of the world. Instead, I just want to help us prepare ourselves for what could be some ugliness ahead.

It's easy to say you're on board with the "this isn't your father's Oldsmobile" mantra regarding the less traveled path Epstein and the new owners are taking the Red Sox, but I'm not convinced many of us, myself include, are really prepared for what this path may very well entail.

''If the Yankees can spin a few guys off,'' one American League executive said, ''I wouldn't count them out [of dealing for Colon].''

That's a thought too horrible to bear for most Sox fans, but the threat of Colon also winding up in pinstripes is unlikely to force the Sox to deviate from their stance that they will not sacrifice both All-Star third baseman Shea Hillenbrand and young lefthander Casey Fossum to acquire a pitcher who could leave within a year as a free agent. …

The Sox' decision to hold that line - if indeed, they do - surely will be debated if they don't get Colon. It flies in the face of those who would argue that the window is closing on winning a championship while Martinez is still here and healthy, and the Sox should do whatever it takes. But it underscores the belief that unlike the previous regime, which couldn't resist throwing around huge sums of cash, the current ownership really believes there's another way (Edes, Globe).

OK. I'm 100% on board with that. I do believe the correct path to Red Sox victory is to focus on scouting and player development.

However, I realize how mentally unprepared I still am to deal with the immediate consequences of this new way. I'm like the guy who is talking the talk about losing some weight after the new year, but is really not prepared for what that means, namely, portion control and calorie cutting that more often than not will leave his stomach grumbling and a voice inside his head imploring, "eat, eat, just a little donut won't hurt you."

Know what I'm saying?

Have you thought about this scenario for 2003? Yankees do get Colon. Red Sox don't sign anyone beyond some minor league guys for the future. Yankees explode. Contreras is as good as expected, wins 25 games. Matsui hits close to .400 and by the All Star break the Yankees are already 14 games up. Meanwhile, the Red Sox are a solid team. They're playing better than .500 and are on a pace to finish better than '02. But it's not enough. By August the front office knows this is not the year and begins to shed big name players to teams who are in the playoff hunt for future prospects …

Are you ready for that? Well, you better get ready.

Again, I'm not writing off the 2003 season. After all California won the World Series last year with a payroll less than half that of the Yankees. Good things can and do happen. (But so do bad things.) Prepare yourself.

[Note: I'll be out of town today and tomorrow. Normal posting should resume on Tuesday.]