Now Ain't That Some Sh*t

0-4?? What's this sh*t? Should we hit the panic button?

Firmly sitting in last place in the AL East is not where the projected winner of the World Series should be. That visual this morning made me slightly sick. I read this quote today in the Boston Herald, "No team that started 0-4 has ever won a World Series." But we're not talking about any ordinary 0-4 team. This is the "fully loaded" 2011 Boston Red Sox, and everybody knows that when you count them out, they make you look silly.

Now that's a bold statement coming from a bold Sox fan, and after last night it's more than questionable.

But let's add a dash of reality and not get crazy here because our boys have yet to touch the green grass of their beloved Fenway this season. We've got some time, and looky here, we've got the home opener this Friday which begins a three day home stand with the Evil Empire. Nothing more rejuvenating than a series win over those Damn Yankees.

Then we host Tampa Bay, who last time I checked were dancing at the bottom of the standings with the Sox. So if we do a little simple math here, the Sox have seven games ahead; two more with Cleveland, three with New York and a couple with Tampa. If they take 5 out of the seven against those teams, (which is totally possible) my standing visual becomes much more palpable. Yes? And if they don't we best be hiding the cutlery, just saying.

"We need some kind of spark right now," said newly acquired free agent Carl Crawford after last night's game. A spark? After four games on a brandy new, high hopes season? I hate to break it to you pal but it looks like "we" need a fricken propane tank to light a fire under this team because nobody here likes loosing streaks.

And what if they get their baseball swagger on and win the next seven games? Then we would be in the same place. Yup, we would then be able to comfortably say, "Now ain't that some sh*t!" Here's to hoping for that.

A Nation Comes Alive

Like a fish to water and a bee to honey, The Nation came to life last night as we welcomed our boys of summer back. The plush green fields of Fenway opened it's doors to the first game of it's business at hand, and the proverbial blood began to pump through every Red Sox fan throughout. It was electric, and even if you weren't a true fan, you stopped for a moment to marvel at the hometown team as they took center stage.

In a surprising maneuver, Pedro Martinez, wearing of all things, his old number 45 Red Sox jersey, came from behind an enormous American flag to hurl out the ceremonial first pitch to Jason Veritek. Just like the old days. Pedro was "our daddy" and the crowd went nuts and began chanting "Pedro, Pedro, Pedro..." There might not have been a dry eye in the house as he embraced Red Sox favorite Johnny Pesky.

Josh Beckett got the nod against our arch rival nemesis, the returning World Series Champions, Evil Empire New York Yankees and about two seconds after the first pitch, it felt as if they never left us for winter. Beckett was hit hard in the first few innings, and I have to admit I went to bed with the Sox trailing 5-1 early, thinking this was going to be a long year.

I should have known better than that.
I should have known that our boys had some pixie dust left over from 2007.
Because I woke up to find that my team had done it, yet again.

They beat the Evil Empire 9-7 and I couldn't get to the TV quick enough to see what I had missed. Pedrioa, Youklis, and a few new faces scraped and clawed their way up and out of the loss and brought us a victory. I even forgave Papelbon for his monumental, season-ending choke last year, and I was glad to see he closed it out for the win.

Ah, Sox baseball is back, and I couldn't be happier. Today we have a better record than the Yankees in the AL East and right at this moment, all is as it should be.