Stranded

OK, so the Sox are within a 1.5 games with the Rays coming to town for three. They win the first game, but then Papelbon blows a save. Then last night they couldn't close the deal despite putting men on in multiple extra innings. The Rays get the big blast after the Sox blew so many chances. How many of the boys were left stranded? I lost count, I'm sure the stats nerds know, but it really doesn't matter - no way they can go far in the post-season by stranding the equivalent of the population of Brighton on base!

And what was with Papi bunting?

Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its not the Sox, but:

BRADY WENT DOWN

and Palin is David Duke in a skirt.......



WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not getting it done

Like a battered patient clinging to life, the Bloody Hose have not gotten worse (overall) but definitely have not gotten better. They have actually lost ground to the Evil Rays and maintain a 2.5 game lead over the Twinkies for the Wild Card.
It doesn't help though when you strand 11 batters like they did yesterday. Its even worse when its against a team you could face in the postseason, if they are able to make it that far!

Gloom increases

Beckett is now on the 15 day DL after seeing "Dr. Doom", Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola., Fla. He's the doc pitchers go to when they have serious problems.
And (very) Old Man McCain picked a fundamentalist whack job who has a smaller constituency than Mumbles Menino.

Dark days indeed.

Status: Critical

We stayed quiet for the past few weeks to stay out of the Manny chaos. It would seem perfect fodder for us and we could whine about the departure of Manny foreshadowing the end of the season and how it was equivalent to another Babe Ruth trade. But even we couldn't stoop to that level of ridiculousness. Lamenting over Manny is for the bandwagon crowd.
(BTW: the Ruth trade was not the cause of the Sox 86 year WS drought. Read Red Sox Century for the real reasons. And the idea of a "Curse of the Bambino" came not the fans, but from the media).

Regardless of all that, the Sox status is critical. The remaining pitching is disappearing and Francoma's boys barely escaped a Blue Jay sweep. The Rays are for real and just will not lose.
The RS have not gained any real ground and remain 4/12 back with a month to go.
Even more chilling is the fact that they lead the Twinkies in the Wild Card race by one, count 'em one, game. A Bloody Crimson alert level is possible before the posteseason.
Theo et al rested on the pitching from last year and we see the results.

And its not too soon the panic over the Pats. We haven't seen Brady and the backup committee is none too impressive,

Failure Threat Level Raised!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sox have been swept by the Angels 9-2, despite Beckett on the mound. The Angels now have Mark Teixeira and they are obviously no longer vulnerable to the Sox. Also, the Rays and Yankees both won handily tonight; meaning the Francoma boys are falling behind TB and the A-Rod crew is poised to pass them. Even worse, despite the loss of Posada, the Yankees remained strong behind the plate by trading for Pudge Rodriguez. And what has Theo the Wonder Boy done yet in the trades? Nada!

The threat is growing, real members of RSN know this feeling of foreboding, so it is time to raise the Red Sox Failure Threat Level to

FOREBODING RED

Take all necessary precautions:
1) Start saying, "It's all over" and "Francona you're finished".
2) Question all front office decisions since 2000 on every message board and blog you can find.
3) Declare your intentions to quit watching or listen to the games.
4)Demand the Manny be traded (if it that does happen, declare it to be the worst move ever).

Failure looming, not yet inevitable

Back from the Last Frontier...as much as the situation improved during my self-imposed exile (Rays slipping, Big Papi returning) it also worsened (swept by Angels, lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees, Bad Manny rising). I did witnessed the day game in Seattle where it took 12 innings to beat the lowly Seattle 'Ners. Now they've lost 2 straight to the Anaheim Angels of LA or Orange County Angels of SoCal or Ahnold's Angels of Hollywood whatever they're calling themselves these days.

The threat of collapse is looming, but isn't a certainty...yet.