Battered Fan Syndrome

Now that the Red Sox are on a roll, Shank waxes estatic about how awesome our Red Sox are.

We love baseball. We love the Red Sox. Nothing else explains the wonderful, wacky reception the Sox received Monday in their 113th home opener, a 3-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

You can insult the fandom. You can treat people as if they are imbeciles and win 69 games. You can produce the worst season in a generation (47 years). You can offend the sensibilities of smart people. It doesn’t matter. Give us a shred of hope and we are hooked.

The woebegone Red Sox are 5-2 and in sole possession of first place in the American League East. So now it looks like the pennant. Print the World Series tickets. And should the World Series reception be held at the JFK Library or the Museum of Fine Arts?

“This is a Red Sox town,’’ said Boston’s outgoing mayor, Thomas Menino, as he patrolled Level 3 behind home plate in the early innings. “Boston fans love the team. They are going to follow the team. We’re going to follow this team to a rolling rally in October.

“The Red Sox are part of the DNA of Boston. We always come back. We love the team.’’

We always come back.

I can't emphasize this point enough - just wait until the first two or three game losing skid, and Shank will be trashing everyone in the Red Sox organization from John Henry to the grounds crew.