Yeah, that picture pretty much sums up the Red Sox performance against the Jays. Not just last night either, Jaspar, I’m talking about all season. The Sox have mustered just three wins against the Jays in ten games, all three wins coming against Josh Towers. And-oh-by-the-way, Towers is now in triple-A Siberia.
Toronto was the trendy pick to compete for the East this year. I maintain that won’t happen. Come September, this will be a two-pony race. Think about it; The Yankees and Red Sox have been plagued by injuries and the Jays can’t keep pace. What happens when Coco hits his groove, Wells comes back (or is replaced with a legitimate pitcher), Sheffield decides to start trying, and…well, you get the idea. The Jays will quickly become an object in our rear view mirror that isn’t as close as it appears.
That doesn’t solve the Red Sox inability to beat them head-to-head. A few starts ago, Beckett was ‘da man. Running the bases, hitting long balls, pumping his fist and shutting down opposing batters. Put him out there against the Jays and he turns into John Wasdin. The team as a whole seems to have an aura of losing when they play the Jays. They either fall behind early and mount a comeback that they can’t quite finish (see the last two nights) or they build a lead and watch it evaporate.
There are some teams that seem to just “have the number” of other teams. That seems to be the case for Toronto and the Red Sox this year. As painful as it is to watch, once the game is over and the police leave my house without cause to arrest me and I clean up all of the broken glass, I can look at it and realize we are just going to struggle against Toronto for the rest of the year. It isn’t, in my twisted mind, a true reflection of the better team or a barometer to measure how the Sox will do elsewhere, it is simply “one of those things.”
So tonight, when Red-Sox-killa Ted Lilly steps in against some kid from the Spinners, I’ll be sufficiently medicated to objectively watch Vernon Wells tee off and admire his strength. When the Sox roll out a pitching maching wearing a Sox cap from the bullpen for the final six innings, I’ll chuckle and top off my mug of Iced Tea and SoCo, knowing we play someone else on Friday.
