For Eric Annett: Red Sox Exact Revenge In a 14-1 Stomp

I should start by saying to all the creatures who read this, that I am sort of dedicating this to a resident Boston Red Sox writer who’s skill for journalism as a whole, and passion—both happy and angry— for the Red Sox is unmatched.

His name is Eric Annett, so please, check out his stuff when you have some time.

I should, again, mention that I am not a fan, per say, of the Red Sox or the Yankees, but rather a diehard Cubs fan—typically, what happens in the American League doesn’t affect me too much.

I am, however, blessed with a strange set of circumstances.

My wife is a diehard Red Sox fan. My sister is a diehard Yankees fan—see where I am going with this yet?

In addition, my best friend—my cousin—is a diehard Phillies fan.

I was reintroduced to baseball by my cousin some three years ago; a hiatus from baseball that I now regret, but one that was justified for other reasons.

I was introduced to the Red Sox on a daily basis by my wife BEFORE the Red Sox won the World Series, and I have a torrent of slap-in-the-face rivalry-ship between my wife and sister on a constant basis.

Add everything up, and ya gotta admit I am pretty fortunate to have the type of surroundings I have.

Did I mention we all live in New Jersey?

Today, I sat down after a very long and incredible week in the Catskill Mountains to watch a baseball game between the Yankees and the Red Sox; baseball took a back seat for a moment there for me.

No, I did not catch the wild game that yielded 31 combined runs—more than the 15-14 contest over 80-some years ago between these two teams, but something told me this was just as good of a contest to view.

Within a single drop of beer, and a quarter of a hotdog into the game it was already 4-0 in favor of the Red Sox.

The youngest Japanese pitcher to ever notch a win in MLB, Junichi Tazawa, was on the mound against the perennial ace A.J Burnett. The Red Sox were coming off of an indelible drubbing thanks to the Yanks; truly the makings of a great game.

Boston previously won the first eight matchups, and the Yankees were on their way to winning the next five.

And so it began after that said first drop of beer.

The pitching in this game was one of those noodle-scratching games where the opposition (New York) was hitting the guy—albeit only three players— but no runs were being capitalized on. Not a lot of strikes, but Tazawa pitched himself out of every bind he found himself in.

On the Yankee side, Burnett was seemingly unraveling from the start; something most are not used to seeing in him, and despite the poor outing the man still managed to fan six.

I have read and heard all the talk this year about Big Papi losing his swagger only to see him hit his 20th HR, while seeing the majority of the Yankee high-powered hitters become stifled in the box, with the exception of Cano, Swisher, and Teixeira.

The game progressed at such a rapid pace, that had it not been for commercial break… well let’s just say my bladder would be in worse shape than it needed to be in.

The choice to sit and watch this game instead of the other matchup between my Cubs and the Dodgers was a great choice needless to say.

So how, and why, is this partially dedicated to a creature writer?

Well, as I have become familiar with his style and his penchant for being about as honest as honest comes in a fan, I couldn’t help but think where his thoughts were in this game coming off of last night’s performance.

This has a lot to do with my familiarity towards him as a writer.

It brought up a point he made about the Red Sox slipping in the race towards the postseason before the Red Sox were seven games behind. I remember making a comment that the Red Sox will be alright when everything is said and done; a comment I still believe.

I guess in the end, from an outsider’s POV, it is far easier to say things will be just fine, from a journalistic fan POV of the writer however, it was a good notice to me that one writer can remind us of the passion that embodies the notion of being a fan period.

Don’t worry, for some reason, I stick to my guns here: The Red Sox will be just fine come time October.