Poisoned By Last Place

Those are Shank's words from yesterday's column, not mine, but we all knew he'd be singing this tune after... one loss?

Not surprisingly, the Red Sox already are back in last place

The 0-1 Red Sox are in last place.

Which is home for this once-great franchise. The Sox have finished in last place in five of the last 11 seasons — more than any other team in Major League Baseball.

The upstart Orioles beat the Boston wannabes, 10-9, Thursday at frozen Fenway — a train wreck of a baseball game (12 walks, 3 errors, 5 Oriole stolen bases, none of which drew a throw) in a non-tidy 3 hours and 10 minutes.

Ugh. This is not what Theo Epstein was aiming for when he helped create rules that hasten down the wind and speed up the game.

With the Sox trailing, 10-4, in the middle of the eighth inning, the Olde Towne Team came off the field on a freezing March afternoon and the public address system blared “Sweet Caroline.”

So good. So good. So good. The Orioles’ mound wildness and defensive sloppiness made it close in the final two frames, but the Sox were worthy losers, and frozen fans went home unhappy, probably emboldened with false hope.

Shank buried this team quicker than anybody Whitey Bulger buried at Tenean Beach.