Strawman

Shank devotes a column to 'debunking' some alleged myths about this year's Red Sox team, as some sort of explanation for their recent losing streak, with a serving of Dan's favorite dish:

But the blame pie is large and a few myths need to be exposed.

Myth No. 1: The Sox are losing because of injuries.
...
Myth No. 2: The 2014 Red Sox don’t need to apologize for this early slump because this is not the same team as last year.

The first two are pure inventions by Shank; I have not seen any other local sports writer or talking head mention either of these two 'myths', hence the strawman angle.

Myth No. 3: The Red Sox have a great farm system.

They do, in fact, but Shank uses the lack of immediate help from Pawtucket as support for this 'myth'. I say that's bogus.

Myth No. 4: The swap with the Dodgers in August of 2012 was the greatest trade in the history of the Red Sox, and the Dodgers were complete fools to make that deal.

So Shank wants the Red Sox not only to be able to unload unfavorable contracts, but also expects a good number of MLB-ready players in return? I don't think it works that way. This is called 'trying to have it both ways'.

Myth No. 5: The Red Sox did not object to Yunel Escobar taking third base with a five-run lead in the eighth Sunday; they were only bothered because Escobar was chirping at the Boston dugout.

This isn't a myth, it's a dispute as to how a baseball 'fight' got started.

Other than that, it was a good column...