The Red Sox Roller Coaster

Being a Yankees fan in New England is a bit more of a trial than it should be even if the New England part of the geography is Connecticut which is about evenly split between fans of Red Sox Nation and The Evil Empire (with LR, a/k/a Subway, as our token Mets fan).

The Red Sox lost the first six games of the season and I actually became afraid the Fenway braintrust might give Terry Francona the heave-ho which would be very sad as he's a great manager and is really good with a team whose fans are often (way more than) slightly neurotic.

That danger has passed for now as the Bosox opened a home series against the Bronx Bombers yesterday afternoon and won, 9 to 6, not only allowing the Red Sox to record their first victory of the season, but, seemingly, to also clinch a berth in the World Series. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but only a little bit and that mindset is as rational as the whole 'the sky is falling! What's the matter with the Red Sox' doom and gloom noises that had been rumbling across the Bay State and environs all week.

In light of how my guy, Phil Hughes, got smacked like a pinata at a two-for-one Whackamole garage sale in Escondido, it's almost churlish of me to note the Sox' starting pitcher, John Lester, didn't pitch a whole lot better or even a lot longer than Silly Phil. And considering how many times the two clubs will meet this season (hint: they play the other three teams in the division, Toronto, Tampa Bay and Baltimore a total of 6 point two games*) and how often in history one or the other has captured the division, usually at the other's expense, the last weekend of the season, I'm not sure there's any compelling reason for the victory parade that was launched on Van Ness Street.

One swallow does not a spring, or a porn star, make and the same is true for one victory as the first week of the 2011 season comes to an end. On the other hand, if it gives the fans of The Olde Town Team something to cheer about, more power to them. It's only fair as the Sox players will be busy during the week of the ALCS, arranging tee times as they have so often in recent years as other guys from another city gear up to try to collect what their fans see as their birthright, a World Series ring. Just ask a Cubs fan how often the World Series opens on Palm Sunday.

-bill kenny

(*the Surgeon General has determined this statement exceeds your MDA for hyperbole)