History

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes." - Mark Twain

Let's not get too highbrow here, after all, this is just a hangout for diehard Red Sox baseball fans, literally from all over the world (believe it or not)...

Last night on the Left Coast gave us another episode reminiscent of Last House on the Left in vintage horror story genre. To set the stage, the Sox have loaded the bases with no out, with Bellhorn, Damon, and Renteria coming up against the right-handed twenty-first century version of Mike Cuellar, Kirk Saarloos. Saarloos is tossing up rotten grapefruit, and you know how tough it is to hit rotten grapefruit. Anyway two strikeouts and a harmless pop out later, the game isn't 5-0 or a reasonable facsimile, it's the A's on the comeback trail.

Meanwhile, last season we watched mediocre defense nearly sink the ship before Jedi Master Theo righted the defense with the acquisitions of the O.C. and dear departed horsehider Dougie Defense. Last night, Johnny Damon got turned around like a young Randall Gay and Trot Nixon, hobbling like a wounded deer couldn't track down (not even close) some A's shots off 'Then Came' Bronson Arroyo, and Michael Myers turned in some nightmarish work of his own as the Sox continued to struggle in Oakland, losing 6-4.

Frankly, the A's who hadn't won since the Celtics were still playing, or something like that, profited from Red Sox charity.

The Sox now sport a 22-16 record as they approach the quarter pole (40 games) of the season. The Sox haven't had their ace (Curt Schilling) and frankly the infield production (5 homers) has been nothing short of an abomination. The Sox woes in previous seasons of struggle have been 1) losing close games), leaving men on base, and the failed Closer by Committee (relief pitching). It may seem worse, but they are 7-6 in one run games, they are second in men LOB (they are also first in men on base), and they are twelfth in relief ERA (5.18), last in AL relief OPS by a country mile (.839 versus .770), and 11th in relief K/BB (1.66) with the Angels the best at 2.58.

Bottom line: the love of money is not the root of all evil, it is horrible relief pitching. I'm not saying the Red Sox relief corps is terrible, but their performance has been. History bears repeating.