It's been a rough couple of months for Red Sox fans to say the least. Between the mediocre play, the neverending drama surrounding the team, and the bitterness that comes from being at the bottom of the division. To make things worse, the Yankees have been looking great and it appears that we were in a full role reversal, with the Red Sox having the overpaid/underperforming players while the Yankees appeared to have a cast of characters and a fun clubhouse. It appeared that they were a team on a mission and that nothing could stop them, especially after Raul F'n Ibanez approaching folk hero status for his efforts in the ALDS.
Four games later, it has all gone straight to hell and something that we as Red Sox fans can take solace in. After all our second favorite team has always been anyone that beats the Yankees.
But the way that it has gone down? Couldn't have thought of a better way myself. Just getting straight up dominated. Watching them muster six runs in four games and get embarrassed with the national spotlight on them. This team has gone from a fun loving bunch to a pathetic group in the eyes of New Yorkers. Could it get any better for Sox fans:
And while A-Rod blamed two weeks of postseason futility at the plate, saying it “sucked the energy out of us," another player privately made a far more indicting observation: that the ballclub was affected by the hostility from the fans at Yankee Stadium last weekend.
“I really think the booing spooked a lot of guys," the player said. “A lot of guys hadn’t been booed before, and they couldn’t believe how nasty it got in the stands."
Obviously Nick Swisher admitted to being sensitive to such treatment after Game 2, but the player said Swisher was far from alone in his reaction.
“A lot of guys were talking about it in the clubhouse," he said. “I was surprised by how much it bothered them. I really don’t think they ever recovered."
Admitting that the pressure that Yankees' fans put on this team is the reason the team struggled? Oh this is too good. If there's ONE thing Yankees fans love more than anything, it's talking about how players "earn their pinstripes" and comparing this team to Yankee lore. This is just giving the fans & media a weapon of mass destruction. The screams of irate Yankee fans demanding that this team needs to be gutted will fill the radio airwaves for weeks.
But the best thing of all is that the Yankees are probably stuck with the core of this team. Good luck trying to unload A-Rod' & the $114 million remaining, which doesn't include all the bonuses for the home run record. Even if their were rumors of A-Rod to Miami popping up DURING THE ALCS, the Yankees would probably need to eat $100 million of it in order for it to happen.
Mark Teixeira is due another $97 million over the next four years and not many teams are lining up for a 32 year old first baseman coming off his worst offensive season since his rookie campaign. There's also their hobbled captain, Derek Jeter, set to make $18 million and the Yankees wouldn't be able to move him if they wanted to as no one wants a 38 year old shortstop making that much cash.
All of a sudden the Yankees are the overpaid, underachieving group of recent memory while the Red Sox are on the right path, free of nearly all awful contracts thanks to the Los Angeles Dodgers. (It would be a bonus if John Lackey stopped sucking too!)
I thought that watching the MLB playoffs would've been torturous. Turns out it was the best thing to help brighten my mood because hey at least we're not stuck like the Yankees!
