Boston Red Sox Update

A few minutes ago, the Cleveland Indians went up on the Red Sox, 5-3 in the seventh inning. When do we get the disparaging tweet from Shank about this development?

Finally Telling The Truth

I'm sure this is an inadvertent disclosure...

CHICAGO — The white-hot Cleveland Indians thrashed the Cubs again Saturday night, this time by a score of 7-2. The Tribe holds a three-games-to-one lead and has a chance to win its first World Series in 68 years Sunday night at Wrigley Field.

So I ask you, Baseball America . . . while acknowledging that this is not yet over . . . if the low-payroll, underdog, no-name Tribe wins the 112th World Series, is the lasting narrative one of the Indians winning or the Cubs losing?

I am a flip-flopper on this one. I feel strongly both ways. Stay with me and play along if you like:

I have better ways to waste my time...

Cubs Tweets, By Dan Shaughnessy

Killing time until that next riveting World Series column:

The Cubs have been shut out in four of their last eight games.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) October 29, 2016

Joe West at second base tonight. Inching closer to where he can do real damage. On tap for Homeplate if there's a Game 6

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) October 30, 2016

Woodstock Watch

Let the clichés commence!

Wrigley Field turns into Woodstock

CHICAGO — The Cleveland Indians clearly did not get the memo about their role in this Cub-centric World Series. The Sons of Terry Francona are supposed to be mere props in the nationwide coronation of the Chicago Cubs.

They are not. Tito’s Tribe got an RBI single from Coco Crisp and stuffed the Cubs, 1-0, Friday, giving Cleveland a 2-1 lead in the 112th World Series.

“That’s a heck of a win,’’ said Francona, who made multiple moves and emptied his bench. “That was agonizing. We needed to win that game in nine because we used so many guys . . . We don’t worry too much about outside expectations. What’s important is how we feel about ourselves. We want to be one run better and that’s about as true-to-form as you can get.’’

It was the first World Series game played at Wrigley Field in 71 years and there was a Woodstock-like feel around the ballpark all day and night. We even had (Kyle) Hendricks facing (Carlos) Santana to start the game. Wrigleyville could have been Max Yasgur’s farm.

Shank sure loves reliving past events, doesn't he?

More clichés and the paint-by-numbers Shank walk down memory lane ensue from there.

Familiar Complaint

Harkening back to those Red sox / Yankees games...

Baseball is killing itself with this pace. 297 pitches through seven innnings. We are almost three and a half hours old. Awful

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) October 27, 2016

Trying To Have It Both Ways

It doesn't take long for Shank to jump from one bandwagon to another:

CLEVELAND — Cubs, Cubs, Cubs. This World Series is about the Billy Goat Curse, Steve Bartman, Wrigley Field, Theo Epstein, Jon Lester, Back To The Future II, 108 years, and dozens of essays by high-minded intellectuals explaining what a life-changing moment it will be when the lovable losers from the North Side finally win the World Series.

Swell.

But all of this leaves the needy folks of Cleveland asking, “What about us?’’

This crap, from the same guy who was telling Red Sox fans two short weeks ago they have to root for the Cubs.

Listen up folks; there is actually a second team in this 112th World Series and the Cleveland Indians won’t be mere props in the Cubs’ inexorable march to the crown. The Tribe made this abundantly clear Tuesday night, thrashing the Cubs, 6-0, to take the first game of the World Series. Cleveland’s No. 9 batter, Roberto Perez, who hit three homers all season, hit two in his first Series game and Terry Francona improved his Fall Classic record to a preposterous 9-0. Cleveland has now won eight of nine in this postseason (four shutouts), shredding your Red Sox, the Blue Jays and now the Cubs — big payroll, star-laden teams, all favored to beat Cleveland easily.

So when does the national narrative become about the Indians? Fact is, if not for the presence of the Cubs, the Indians would be the ones posing as sentimental favorites in the Fall Classic.

Remember - this is the same city Shank took a major league shit on a year and a half ago, and now pretends to like the city. He's utterly shameless.

Rewriting History, Part II

My co-blogger notes in the post below the many times Shank has trashed a Red Sox player, manager or general manager as they were ending their tenure in Boston, only to have their careers resuscitated in Chicago or Cleveland. Shank's world class hypocrisy tour continues today as we await Game 1 of the 2016 World Series.

CLEVELAND — Theo and Tito.

Theirs are names from “Sesame Street,’’ or perhaps a couple of characters for a children’s book series: “Theo and Tito Go to the Zoo.’’ “Theo and Tito Say, ‘Goodnight, Moon.’ ’’

When I read a Shank column, I often think I'm reading a children's book.

But they are neither muppets nor fiction. Theo Epstein and Terry “Tito” Francona are the men who in 2004 brought Boston its first baseball championship in 86 years. Then they did it again in 2007.

Theo and Tito were together on Yawkey Way for eight years, winning an average of 93 games per season, making the playoffs five times, and filling Fenway for every game of every season. When they left after the chicken-and-beer collapse of 2011 — Theo voluntarily, Tito being pushed — it was like the breakup of Boston’s baseball Beatles.

Shank should have written them a thank you letter for the chicken & beer fiasco - he got about ten columns out of it.

Theo and Tito were together on Yawkey Way for eight years, winning an average of 93 games per season, making the playoffs five times, and filling Fenway for every game of every season. When they left after the chicken-and-beer collapse of 2011 — Theo voluntarily, Tito being pushed — it was like the breakup of Boston’s baseball Beatles.

Now they are on opposite sides of two “other” long-suffering franchises in the 112th World Series, which starts Tuesday night at Progressive Field. The Chicago Cubs, led by general manager Theo Epstein, have not won a World Series since 1908 and have not even participated in the Fall Classic since 1945. The Cleveland Indians, managed by Terry Francona, have not won a World Series since 1948. We have two plagued ball clubs led by a pair of curse-busting bosses.

Something has to give.

Dan Shaughnessy - Master of the Obvious.

The Obligatory Shit On The Sox Column

I'm willing to bet he was writing this column in the fourth inning.

The fall of the 2016 Red Sox is complete. The Sox were the feel-good story of our summer, but it seems that it all went away when they held their division-clinching toga party in the Bronx after an embarrassing 5-3 walkoff loss at Yankee Stadium Sept. 28.

Since this is Shank, someone needs to be blamed and run out of town. Any guesses?

The Red Sox rightfully won the American League East, sweeping through Baltimore and Tampa, winning 11 straight games during the most critical stretch of September. And then everything stopped. A day after clinching, manager John Farrell “rested” Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts and pulled David Ortiz after a couple of at-bats, triggering a losing pattern that carried straight through the playoffs. The Sox lost their way during an interminable series of heartfelt sendoffs for David Ortiz and had nothing left when the championship tournament started last week.
...
The ignominious sweep no doubt will crank up the “Fire Farrell” bandwagon that rolled across New England for much of the spring and summer.

A paragraph later, Shank has a moment of clarity:

It’s certainly not Farrell’s fault that Rick Porcello and David Price spit the bit in their starts in Cleveland. It’s not Farrell’s fault that the Sox — who led the majors with 878 runs — scored seven runs in three games and hit .214 in this series. A team that went 20-24 in one-run games during the regular season lost two more one-run games in the playoffs.

Asking The Important Questions

In a column conveniently timed to coincide with a Red Sox loss, Shank revisits a topic from earlier in the season:

CLEVELAND — In the wake of Thursday night’s terrific Game 1 — a 5-4 Red Sox loss that didn’t end until Dustin Pedroia’s checked-swing on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt — Sox fans have to be asking themselves one key question:

What pitcher on this staff do you trust?

The Sox came into this series against the Indians as prohibitive favorites, but they do not have a single pitcher with a postseason win as a starter. Rick Porcello gave up three homers in one inning Thursday and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning. David “Mr. July” Price gets the ball in Game 2 Friday. Boston’s closer is Craig Kimbrel, who’s been making everybody nervous lately.

Gulp.

Shank On The Red Sox - Indians ALDS Series

It's well known that Shank and Tito Francona collaborated on a book, and today we get partial confirmation on just how extensive that collaboration was, so we can skip the usual Shank column filler bullshit and cut to the chase:

Francona’s never going to go public with how much it would mean for him to beat Boston. That would be like Bill Belichick or Tom Brady acknowledging that winning the Super Bowl this season would be a little more special than all the others. No. It’s far more classy and diplomatic to shower everything with sweetness and ambiguity. Leave it to the carnivorous Boston media to connect the dots. (but I repeat myself! - ed.)

OK. Will do.

Tito is still hurt by how he was treated at the end in Boston. Knocking the Red Sox out of the playoffs would be sweet revenge. This matchup is more than a professional encounter. It’s a tad personal.

Did your unending barrage of chicken and beer columns have anything to do with that? Just asking!

Francona still has fondness for a lot of people and things around Fenway Park. He has great memories of the Starbucks on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill, the Marriott at Coolidge Corner, the Red Lantern, and the powerful shower head in his cramped old office at 4 Yawkey Way. He loves Dustin Pedroia almost as much as he loves his own kids and he’s been friends with John Farrell since they were teammates in Cleveland 28 years ago. Tito was Farrell’s chemo wing man when Farrell went for his first treatment at Mass. General in the summer of 2015.

And now they’re “facing” one another in the postseason.

“I’m not going up against John,’’ said Francona. “Our players are going to decide this. I have mixed emotions. He’s one of my best friends in the whole world — outside of baseball. So it pulls at you a little bit. The way I look at it, it’s an honor to be able to compete against them. And I’m including him in that. That’s kind of how I feel.’’

Shank occasionally writes good columns. This is one of them.

UPDATE AT 10:49 PM - Typos corrected in the first and last sentences.