If the Pattern Fits

"It's not a pattern you want to fall into," says Theo Epstein in Dan's latest "effort" (which, at just 882 words, is for the typically longwinded Dan barely more than a throat clearing. Maybe it was getting dark and he still had to get his run in). "But it's the personality of this club not to do things easily. It's too cliche to say we've done it before, but obviously we have. But we can't rely on it because history doesn't win games."

Ah, but history does write columns. In those 882 words, he raises the ghosts of the infamous Chicago Black Sox, ex Red Sox mediocrities Matt Young and Orlando Cabrera, ex Red Sox stud Pedro Martinez, and of course, the 2004 Sox. Never gone there before.

Indeed, other folks write columns that sometimes cover the same ground, like Howard Ulman, who covers the BoSox for the AP, and ProJo's Sean McAdam.

And sometimes, even Dan himself, the day before (!), whose effort on Thursday contained this nugget: ''It's not a pattern you want to fall into," said general manager Theo Epstein. “It's the personality of this team to not do things easily."

It’s not a pattern you want to fall into. That is, not unless you’re Dan Shaughnessy.