Reminiscence: Red Sox the World Series Champion, Part I
This is part one of the “Reminiscence” series that is intended to be a summary of the various things that I wanted to write about but didn’t due to my long hiatus from blogging. How much I can cover really depends on my memory, which, unfortunately is anything but impeccable.
The most important event in sports that happened last year was definitely the Red Sox winning the World Series. To a Red Sox fan this is something that falls under the “Now I Can Die With No Regret” category. The 2004 season was indeed what people would call an emotional roller coaster ride. There were lots of ups and downs during the regular season, and the playoffs will go down as one of the most memorable in Red Sox history. Here are some of the more memorable events to this Red Sox fan:
· Starting Pitcher No. 1a Arrived – The Sox traded for stud pitcher Curt Schilling in the off season. Finally the team acquired a pitcher who can compliment Pedro Martinez in the starting rotation. This wasn’t “Pedro and the four other guys” anymore. Besides being the stud pitcher that he is, Schilling was also outspoken and liked to communicate with the fans directly by posting to web sites such as Sons of Sam Horn (SOSH).
Schilling, who lived up to his reputation as being a big game pitcher, was one of the main reasons why the Sox were able to go all the way and won it all. I also liked the fact that he tried to talk to the fans directly through the Internet. Unfortunately that didn’t last long as a sports writer from one of the two dominant local newspapers threatened not to promote Schilling’s charity if he continues. A lot of the sports writers felt threatened by the Internet as it allows fans to get the stories without going through the ‘middleman.’ It is not unusual nowadays to see some of these writers pull a cheap shot or two towards Internet users in their articles. I think these people are a bunch of losers. (Talk radio show hosts are even worse, but some of them also write articles for newspapers anyway.) They make up stories, spreading and fanning baseless rumors, and throwing insults at players who refused to talk to them. When they screwed up and got the facts wrong they would never admit it. When people got tired of their acts and started looking for alternatives, these losers cried foul. It’s really a shame that since then Schilling had scaled back his postings to SOSH.
On the other hand, I was annoyed when Schilling showed up to campaign for George Bush right after the World Series. He basically used the team’s new found exposure to promote his political candidate of choice. I don’t really care about his political opinions, it’s the way he took advantage of the situation that I felt was wrong. He did apologize later about the inappropriate timing, but the damage had been done. I think he should’ve known better. Keep our damn team away from the politicians.
And to give credit where it was due, during that off season the Sox also signed free agent stud closer Keith Foulke. In terms of contribution during the playoffs he was on the same level as Schilling. That led some people to come up with this “Foulke You!” chant, which was very amusing.
· The Trade - The team had been playing sloppy baseball for the first half of the season. The defense was simply atrocious. The number of unearned runs allowed was through the roof. Their poor defensive plays put lots of pressure on the pitching staff and they were losing games that they should’ve won. Feeling that enough is enough, GM Theo Epstein made one of the biggest trades in team history: a four-team trade that had the Sox sent star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra and minor leaguer Matt Murton to the Chicago Cubs, and acquired shortstop Orlando Cabrera from the Montreal Expos and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz from the Minnesota Twins.
I was absolutely shocked that Nomar was traded. He had been my favorite player on the team since I returned to watch the team in 1998. He was the face of the Red Sox. Although I could understand Epstein’s reasoning, that Nomar had not been healthy (Pokey Reese was also hurt) and both his offense and defense suffered because of that. He couldn’t even play on a daily basis. Orlando Cabrera was an upgrade at least defensively and he could play everyday. Doug Mientkiewicz was a gold glove first baseman and a massive defensive upgrade over Kevin Millar. As much as the trade somehow made sense at the time, and it worked out perfectly since the team went on a hot streak afterward and it carried them all the way through, I was still sad to see Nomar being traded.
On the other hand, I was also sad and angry of the way he was treated by the media and some of the fans. Nomar was never particularly popular among the media people. Some of these people, especially that curly haired scumbag from one of the two dominant newspapers, took this great opportunity and fired off some nasty shots at him on his way out. These idiots were despicable. Nomar had been a superb player since his rookie season in 1997. He won two batting titles and was considered the top three shortstops in the league. Seven years of greatness didn’t mean much to these people because “what have you done for me lately?” was their motto. Nomar received lots of flak for his slump in late 2003 season and the first half of 2004. Some of the fans started to boo him and gave him the nasty nickname “Garciapopup.” Professional athletes all suffer from slumps due to injuries and other reasons, but it seemed that it was an unforgivable sin when it happened to Nomar. Some people went as far as to say the “the last straw” was during that stupid game against the Yankees where they said he was sulking in the dugout while Derek “The Captain Intangible” Jeter made this overrated catch on the field. Please give me a break. The guy was injured and couldn’t play, and people wanted to see him being cheerful and happy and all smiling? They were out of their minds. And don’t even get me started about Jeter’s catch. The catch was so overrated I just wanted to throw up. Jeter caught the ball in FAIR TERRITORY then continued to run and dived into the stands. It wasn’t as if he ran and dived into the stands to catch a foul ball. What was so great about it? Because he couldn’t or didn’t stop and got himself a bruised face diving into the seats? Come on now. Pokey Reese made a similar play (which he caught the ball in foul territory) and nobody talked about it. The way Nomar was treated by the media and some of the fans on his way out was shameful. I was very disappointed and felt ashamed to be a Red Sox fan.
Now fast forward to 2005. The Red Sox visited the Cubs last week at Wrigley Field. The team took this opportunity and had Jason Varitek handed the World Series ring to Nomar. He was grateful to receive the ring, contrary to a bogus story reported by this so called “fan site” owned by Boston.com. (It was a stupid story. I won’t even bother getting into the details. You can read more about it here..) Things aren’t working out too well for Nomar this year. He is currently on the disabled list rehabilitating from a torn groin muscle injury. I really wish he won the ring with the Sox. I hope he recovers quickly and returns to his old self. His hard hit line drives, powerful sidearm throws, little quirks such as the constant glove fixing and tip-toeing in the batter’s box, along with the “NOMAHHHH!!!” chants will be sorely missed.
(To be continued…)
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