Back To the Basics
As everyone reading this probably knows, the Sox are having a bit of a struggle with the whole "winning" thing this month. Blame it on the pitching, blame it on the poor defense, blame it on seeing that black cat the other day, it doesn't make much of a difference. The reason the sox are losing is because the Sox aren't playing Red Sox baseball. Think back to '04 and '07. When looking back on those teams, there was a sense of something special happening in that clubhouse. There was a sense of togetherness, a sense of putting aside personal attributes and statistics for the betterment of the team. That is something this team doesn't have. This team has an identity, sure, but that identity is more tends to be more "highly overpaid" (Cough Cough Carl) and "highly under-performing" (Cough Cough everyone not Ellsbury and Beckett.) There's hardly a sense of fight, urgency or desire with this team. When Lackey walks off the mound every 5 days cursing and rolling his eyes, you know there is an issue. You never saw Schilling throw hissy fits, you never saw Derek Lowe give the players behind him the evil eye when they botched a grounder.
This is clearly one of the more talented Sox rosters in recent memory. Their offense is potent, defense (usually) pristine, and when their pitchers are healthy, they have deep, quality pitching. This team was assembled for October. As its clear to see, there is a large chance they might not get there. While everyone has an opinion why this is happening, I think there is a clear consensus that there is some discord behind the scenes. Ortiz and Pap have contracts on their mind, Crawford seems to be busy slaving over the ESPN-Boston Online Diary. (Cute, Carl. Real cute) and there are even reports proclaiming a discord between Francona and Epstein. The Sox need to take a page from the Tampa Bay Rays book. The Rays are a less talented team that are whoppin' their butts because that is exactly what they are: a team. The Sox look like a bunch of highly paid egos that spend lavishly, only worrying about their dough; and play a little ball on the side. All the talent is there, I'm just not sure the team is. Let's hope I'm wrong.
