The Sky Is Not Falling

Why are we so upset with the Red Sox? Did we not say that we would be okay with a third-place finish prior to the season?
We are currently 20 games over .500, two games behind the Yankees (with a lot more Yankee games to be played) and tied for the Wild Card lead. Facing the Royals with the Yankees and White Sox doing battle, the odds are high of us either leaving Kansas City with the division lead or the wild card lead.
And yet, we’re not happy.
Yes, our bullpen aside of Papelbon recently has been falling apart.
How many fans called for the ball to be turned over to Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen?
These two pitchers are brimming with talent, but they are rookies. As Seth Mnookin’s “Feeding the Monster” introduced in the beginning, Theo Epstein knows that rookies have an adjustment period. In a meeting before the 2005 season, people except Theo were in favor of glossing over the potential struggles of the club and rookies. Theo felt this was not the way, and wondered what would happen once Pedroia botched a ball in the field or hit a skid hitting.
We all know Dustin Pedroia is an exciting ballplayer, but to expect him to step in from day one and constantly outproduce our expectations is foolish. He’s not even yet a rookie, and we’re especting him to not only start for our club next year, but to do so at an All-Star caliber?
Rookies learn. They learn by making mistakes, and they learn by experience. Rare is it for a rookie or a sophomore not hit a skid at some point. That’s what we’re seeing with Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen.
The fans agitated for them, and I cautioned against putting too much trust in them. They’ve hit a rough patch, and now the world is falling down.
We have a young, learning bullpen with Julian Tavarez and Rudy Seanez sitting around and not doing much. I’m not in favor of Tavarez in high-leverage situations, but I’m also not in favor of burying him. Rudy Seanez’s ERA the past month is microscopic, and even fans are realizing that hey, he’s not all that bad.
And yet the organization and the fans rely on the youngesters, and now the world is over. Before, when Tavarez and Seanez failed, fans wanted the young guys because they thought they’d help us win.
And they have helped us win, but they’ve also helped us lose. Such is the life of a youngester. Josh Beckett is still yet only 25!
Our future is incredibly bright. We are tremendously lucky to be able to truly have a great chance to win it all every three years, and in between these three years, have a good chance to win it all. How many other rebuilding clubs can say that?
20 games over .500, 2 behind the AL East lead, tied for the Wild Card with struggling youngsters? People say we’re not as good as our record shows. Does that not mean that they’ve exceeded expectations, then? How can we pile on a club that’s exceeded expectations?
Instead of thinking the world is over, that Josh Beckett is ruined for life … let’s just play baseball and support our Sox.