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| It's been all smiles in Red Sox land this season, hopefully people start to take notice. (Credits: Michael Dwyer/Associated Press) |
They called it the "Worst Week in Boston Sports History," it might have been the worst week in sports history for one city. Between the devastating Bruins loss, to the departure of Doc Rivers (in ugly fashion), Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and then the Aaron Hernandez debacle, things were truly ugly in Boston. With the Hernandez trial surely going to consume New England and a majority of the northeast, things in Boston will be will definitely be different this summer and fall. The worst part of this week, and maybe even of this entire spring, has been the lack of attention paid to the city's beloved Red Sox. It could be the story of the 2013 MLB season.
Last year, the Red Sox pulled off one of the greatest "below the surface" trades in the history of Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It didn't even matter the players they got, though Allen Webster could be a nice pitching prospect down the line, they had just shed $250 million in salaries through 2018. They had gotten out of albatross after albatross contracts between Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett. Boston leads the AL East. The Dodgers are last in the NL West.
They currently lead the MLB in runs, are second in batting average and second in slugging percentage. Even while losing two great, but struggling bats last season, the Red Sox have actually exploded. 84 games and 50 wins in, the Sox have the best record in the AL East and haven't even seen phenom prospect Xander Bogaerts touch a major league diamond yet. Their staff is led by resurgent starters Clay Buchholz and John Lackey who have 1.71 and 2.99 ERAs respectively. Lackey didn't even pitch last year and Buchholz ERA was north of four. This complete two-way turnaround has the Sox in a legitimate chance to win a very difficult AL East. Yet, no one's taken serious notice.
This team is one year removed from winning 69 games and finishing dead last in the AL East. They're two years removed from the "chicken and beer" meltdown and somehow they've already won 50 games in only 84 tries in this campaign. This is a story for the ages and yet it's been so heavily overrun by murderers and the end of an era. I get that we're only in July, but with how much the Red Sox mean to the city it's fascinating to see that this turnaround hasn't seemed more magical. I guess when you have the worst week in the deep sports history of your city, you can forget about a team just passing the halfway point of their season.
I just hope that the Red Sox start to bust through this dark cloud surrounding Boston sports, most notably the ruckus created by this alleged murderer. The Sox are doing something incredible, so let's start talking about them.
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