It’s an unpleasant feeling that tormented us during many autumns in the late 80′s and 90′s, and much to my chagrin, it’s back.  The feeling of fear, uncertainty, and the cold wind howling from the nearby abyss.  The Boston Red Sox enter these playoffs as heavy underdogs, like they have done many times before.

Just take a look at the ESPN expert picks.  You know ESPN, right?  Many folk living to the left of the Appalachian mountain range believe that the “E” stands for East Coast Bias.  Well, 7 out of 19 participants (37%) believe that the Angels will defeat the defending champions.  If a gun were held to my head and I had to pick a winner, I’d probably side with the consensus.

Look, the Sox made it to the postseason mainly on the strength of guys like Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and J.D. Drew, and all three are gigantic question marks.  The players we have filling in for these guys (Paul Byrd, Alex Cora / Sean Casey, Mark Kotsay) are enormous drop-offs in talent.  You’re essentially factoring out three guys with game-breaking ability, and their understudies are players who you’d be happy with if they miraculously managed to give you league-average play.

Add to this the fact that David Ortiz has not been himself this year (despite a late-season surge in power), the fact that the lineup is weaker without Manny Ramirez, and the fact that our “lights out” reliever has been very shaky lately, and the prospect of facing a 100 win juggernaut is as pleasant as a snuff film.

The next three days have the potential to be extremely miserable.  We have:
1) Late-night west coast games which might last 3.5 hours each (factoring in all of the ancillary television bullshit which usually goes hand in hand with post-season baseball) 2) a team which abused the Red Sox in the regular season like mentally disabled children from the 1920′s, and 3) the overall mountainous level of angst and despair created by the state of the economy.

If lack of sleep and crippling depression are your idea of a fun time, just buckle your seat belts and enjoy the rest of the week.

By the way, the Sox have announced their ALDS roster:

Starters: Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, and Paul Byrd
Relievers: Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon
Catchers: Jason Varitek, Kevin Cash, and David Ross
Infielders: Kevin Youkilis, Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia, Alex Cora, Jed Lowrie, Mike Lowell, and David Ortiz
Outfielders: Jason Bay, Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Mark Kotsay

The silver lining here: since Terry Francona decided to only carry 10 pitchers, he must be somewhat confident that Josh Beckett’s oblique injury is not very serious.

Comments are closed