Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Getting No-Hit in the Big Game

Having an opposing pitcher shut you down is one of the most humiliating ocurances in all of sports. The 0 that pops up next to your teams name in the box score is a constant reminder that:

a). You just witnessed an amazing moment that people will talk about years from now.

And

b). Your team was on the ass end of it.

Now you may be thinking I am talking about the near miss the Sox had facing Lackey the other night, but this is more of a metaphor. Sure, Lackey went into the 9th and was 2 outs away from a traditional no-hitter, but that threat was ended when Pedroia lined a single into the outfield and Youk hit a bomb into the monster. Goodbye shut out, goodbye no hitter, hello plain old demoralizing loss.

No, the real no-hitter the Red Sox are facing right now is the “Front Office No-Hitter”. It’s is dangerously close to the trade deadline and NO DEALS have hit the horizon that have looked like ANYTHING the contenders in this league are making.

Angels (who swept the Sox as I typed this) got Teixeira who just so happened to be the power piece they needed. Well done there… weren’t they already the best team in the league?

Meanwhile the Yankees (remember them?) hit the jackpot with Nady and Marte from the Pirates (who they basically gave nothing) and replaced the hurt Posada with Pudge “freaking” Rodriguez from the Tigers for…. KYLE FARNSWORTH??? Come on! That’s like trading in a dime for 5 nickels.

But lest I forget, the Red Sox made a pretty big pickup too. Yep Boston recently received the “Screw this place, I hate it here” Manny for almost nothing! Just when you thought he was out of your hair, grumpy Manny popped up again and the media came with him. Now I know this looks like the end of the road for Manny… and maybe it is… but does anyone honestly think the Red Sox can trade him for any value? As Eric pointed out, the trades offered look pretty silly.

But then again, at this point the Sox would almost be right to trade Manny for 30 cents on the dollar because I really don’t think that $20 mill option is getting picked up and you would like to get SOMETHING for his years of service (besides him hating Boston suddenly and being hated back) and with the way the front office is swinging and missing… they aren’t gonna make any real contact before the deadline is long past. I think we need to get used to third place (behind the Yanks and Rays) and forget about the playoffs this season. Hell, in the abbreviated words of Jim Mora:

“Playoffs? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game…”