There is a beautiful thing about baseball in the summer time. I use baseball as a therapeutic exorcise. It’s fun to sit back, with beverage, and just take in the game.

Tonight wasn’t baseball, nor was it really relaxing.

When the game was over, I was full of anger at this team. Four men really inspired me to kick puppies, steal candies from babies, and essentially resort to other brands of hooliganism usually reserved for such people as British Soccer fans, and Abu Girab guards.

I’ve never been a fan of Derek Lowe, ever sense I found out about him beating his then-girlfriend, Trinka. I can’t comment rationally on him, so I’ll just say that he pitched like hell tonight. You can’t fall apart because the defense behind you has.

Jason Varitek has a noodle-arm behind the plate, and looked bad on the three strike outs.

Kevin Millar needs to slug over .400 to be a useful first baseman. I believe that part of the reason why there has been some trouble in scoring runs is that the 5-6 hitters haven’t really been hitting the ball for extra-bases when Bellhorn/Ortiz/Manny are on base. Millar was part of that problem. I really should write a column on him soon.

Nomar Garciaparra is the most frustrating great player in the majors. In 2001, he had surgery on his wrist. At the time of the surgery, he was a top 10 hitter in the majors. Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, and Nomar himself, the split wrist sapped him of his ability to drive almost any pitch thrown to him (if you missed it, he was like a line-drive version of Vlad Guerrero, only you couldn’t get him out with off speed pitches up). He still tries to drive everything though. Because of that, the end result are popups to the outfield, and groundballs pulled.

Nomar doesn’t have a plan. He doesn’t wait for his pitch, and he tries to pull everything now. He really hasn’t ever had a plan, but his natural talent was enough to cover that. It’s not anymore. His bat isn’t so quick, and his wrists aren’t so strong. In two years, he went from a top 10 hitter in the MLB (2000) to a top 40 hitter in the AL (2003).

His fielding has been poor as well, but I think that might have something to do with his ankle injury, rather than a disintegration in skills. I’m really starting to wish the ARod/Magglio deals went through though.

Despite all that crap that came out of this game, there are some things to keep in perspective. The Red Sox have played some crappy ball, but teams play crappy baseball throughout the season anyway. Take 2003 for example.

On June 30th, the Sox were 47-33, 4 games behind hated obsession New York Yankees. This year, they are 42-33. You want to know a common bond? They were in second place, and tied for the Wild Card lead both years. When I was really losing control after the game, my friend Sam put things in perspective. He said “The Sox went 18-19 from May 1 to June 12. They’ll be fine”.

I’m convinced now that he’s right.

Tomorrow there is Leiber vs. Wakefield in a game of the unimpressive starters. If things hold in Leiber’s elbow that is. That game should be a toss-up with a slight edge to the Yankees because of the home field thing. Thursday, the tables should turn with Brad Halsey against some fellow the Sox picked up a few years ago from Montreal. I like the Sox on Thursday.

I just need to keep repeating that the Sox will be fine. After all, the season is 162 games, not 75.