Well, I made mention to ‘The Nation’ going what one might refer to as “Ape Sh!t” last week, and after an extended weekend in the Bronx I can only say this… Think King Kong sized “Ape Sh!t”. Image may be NSFW.
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And while NY and ESPN were so quick to jump up and down and pull out the brooms and blah blah… we took the first 8 in row… doesn’t that qualify as a Sweep or two? Not that it matters, we have a few more of these to go and whoever won the last game gets their say…
Now, I am a true believer that the Sox will be snapping out of this slump. The pitching is slowly coming around… they didn’t have too bad of a weekend if you look past Smoltz (and the Traber sacrifice) and Bard’s little hiccup. The Yankees won because they had what we are currenly lacking (if not on paper) and this is Hitting plain and simple. At this point, my boys couldn’t hit water from a boat. If the Vic Martinez homer had won the game, we’d be flipping out and saying “The slump is over!”, however that would be premature.
A trip home may be just what is needed. Not that we’re going to feast on Detroit pitching, far from it, but being home will let the Fenway faithful smother them in love while guys like Drew and Ellsbury can knock the Monster around a little and Bay can maybe sharpen up a bit. Ortiz is spent at this point, mentally and physically. He’s a presence in the line-up but lately the fear factor seems a little diminished. Like a good deal of the line-up he’s much ado about nothing at this point. The real problem is even simpler… the big bats all went silent at the same time and unfortunately an Ellsbury or a Pedroia just can’t carry the team. Ortiz could carry it, Bay and probably Martinez or even Youk for a short stretch but Petey and Jacoby need a big bat to go in unison with them.
It will happen. Ellsbury will find his place in the line-up (probably a nine spot and not the leadoff) and get even more consistent while the rest of the boys will settle in and pick it up. What we need to do as a team and as The Nation is not piss and moan over the AL East. We are now a Wild Card Champion and better get our collective a$$es in gear to keep it. NY will settle itself through the rest of the season series (and remember the Yankees have yet to hit their late season breakdown, which large or small will happen) however Tampa and Texas are here and need to be addressed. Texas seems ready to breakdown as their pitching is getting younger but not stronger to this point while Tampa is slowly getting over that World Series hangover. We’ve experienced the sober Rays in a two game series and it wasn’t nice… we need to be ready. As everyone knows, it only takes a few days for the season to ressurrect itself or go up like Hiroshima.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
