The Night(s) the Lights Went Out

Tonight in Chicago at US Cellular Field, the lights went out during the game. Granted, the game was already out of hand and Lester had squandered his chance to finish with 20 wins and a sub-3 ERA and granted, neither team was playing for a post-season spot anymore, the power outage at The Cell was emblematic of all but a 6-week period of the Red Sox 2010 season. That 6-week period was mid-May through the end of June, when the Sox overcame their sub-par April to come within a half-game of first place. At the same time the Sox soared, the Rays scuffled and the Sox overtook them in the standings. It was the only part of the season where things went right for the Red Sox.

Then came the injuries. Already shorthanded in the outfield, the Sox would, in the space of one fateful series against the Giants in San Francisco, lose Pedey for the year (minus a 2-game ill-fated attempt to return) and Buchholz and V-Mart for about a month. A few days later, down goes Tek. Their replacements: Eric Patterson, Felix Doubront, Kevin Cash and Gustavo "not related to the other ones" Molina. Felix did alright, all things considered, but the other three--Yikes! July was brutal and August wasn't much better. September was up and down, but ended on a down note with a 3-game losing streak.

The lights may have literally gone out only one game this season (so far. It remains to be seen what happens this weekend at Fenway), but in all other ways they've been out during the times they've been needed the most. The most frustrating aspect of the season is the Red Sox uncanny penchant for passing up opportunities to gain ground in the pennant race, or, in the case of tonight's game, achieve an individual milestone. I wanted so badly for Lester to get his 20th win. It would have ended this season on a high note, regardless of what happened this weekend with the Yankees. Lester, unfortunately, could not come through. In his start tonight lies another analogy for the season: He had a rough first inning, a very good second inning (striking out the side, though he allowed a 2-out walk), but it all went downhill from there.

This offseason, the Red Sox have their work cut out for them. They have to overhaul the disastrous bullpen, make decisions on Papi, V-Mart, and Beltre (I hope they'll all be back next year. It's hard to replace that kind of production), maybe sign a free-agent outfielder (I'd prefer Crawford to Werth), and hope the injured players return fully healthy for next year. They need to spend less money on marketing and trying to shoehorn as many seats as possible into Fenway and more on building a team that can contend in the A.L. East. No more buzzwords like "run prevention" and "bridge year" Just make the necessary improvements to the team and maybe 2011 can be more like 2007.