Now I am not going to pretend that I was in a good mood after that performance by the Red Sox last night, or Wednesday night. I’m not going to pretend that it’s not disappointing to come so close and fall short, and I’m not going to pretend that the lack of hits the last two games doesn’t piss me off. With all that said, I am also not going to pretend that any of us thought this team would go this far, and I’m certainly not going to pretend that winning championships every other year is easy, because I’m a Red Sox fan. As glorious as the past 20 years have been for all sports in Boston, the one thing that true Red Sox fans know even more than we know how winning feels, is how it feels to fall short. Bucky Fucking Dent, Bill Buckner, Aaron Fucking Boone, Yordan Fucking Alvarez. Most of us are used to this by now, that’s not to say it doesn’t sting, I’m just saying I’ve felt it sting a lot worse.
I won’t sugar coat the last two games. The Red Sox absolutely had a great chance to advance to the World Series. They needed a strong performance from Chris Sale on Wednesday and they got it, letting up just three hits and two earned runs in 5 innings and racking up seven strike outs. But the hard hitting bats of the Red Sox lineup that had carried us throughout the regular season and playoffs failed to deliver. Last night to win in Houston they were going to need yet another great pitching performance and once again got it from Nate Eovaldi, a guy who is likely to go down in Red Sox folklore for his playoff performances the past few years. Despite letting up 5 hits in 4 innings, he held the Astros to just one earned run and in the 4th inning displayed some serious grit. After the Astros opened the inning with a single by Bregman and a double by Yordan Fucking Alvarez, the game very easily could have gotten away from him with two on, no outs and Carlos Correa coming to the plate, but Eovaldi struck him out swinging, and the next batter. Then after intentionally walking Gurrell to load the bases he struck yet another batter out swinging and got out of the inning without allowing a single run to score. You don’t get that from a pitcher often, especially not in do or die games on the road. The Red Sox batters followed this up with 3 straight outs. I said I won’t sugar coat it and here it is, if you can’t do anything at all for your pitcher after he keeps you in the game like that, you don’t deserve to win the game.
Sure, the past two games were very frustrating but at the same time, I’m old enough to remember before this season when the Red Sox were supposed to win MAYBE 70 games. They won 92. I also remember when Chaim Bloom allegedly blew it at the trade deadline by only getting our future DH after Martinez in Kyle Schwarber. And then I also remember the end of the season when i was told they were falling apart and wouldn’t even make the playoffs. They ended up in Game 6 of The ALCS, two games away from the World Series. Not bad for a team that wasn’t supposed to make the playoffs. On top of that the Fenway crowd was loud and proud, chanting Yankees Suck because they felt like it...not bad for a fanbase I was told would hate this team. Bloom and Cora definitely have some work to do to take this team to the next level but the one year turnaround on this team was nothing short of impressive. So yeah I’m frustrated with this loss, but Red Sox fans have no real reason to be depressed about this team. They were supposed to be one of the worst teams in baseball and they’re undeniably one of the best. The future is bright.