Sunday, January 1, 2017

In 2017, Beware Of The Red Sox Ghosts Of 2011

We all remember the headline in The Boston Herald: 'Best Team Ever'. It was March of 2011 and the Red Sox seemed poised to dominate major league baseball with a 'Super Team': Adrian Gonzaelz, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia. On the mound: Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Even their bench had stars in Mike Cameron and Jason Varitek (backing up Jarrod Saltalamacchia). And, of course, games would be closed out by Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon. Game. Set. Match. World Series Champs. NESN's website actually said this in January of 2011: "They could unseat the 1927 Yankees as the greatest major league team of all time." Ha! Then, Chicken. Beer. Back-Biting. They actually won 90 games—and finished out of the playoffs. So, as we look forward to the heavily-hyped 2017 Edition of The Carmine Hose, we should all heed the words of Pulp Fiction's Winston Wolf—and not be so self-congratulatory quite yet.