Saturday 10/23/21
The Red Sox' season has come to its end, but there can be no complaining. They took it as far as they could, which was much further than anyone thought they would. The series was largely lost, in my view, with the Whitlock blown save in Game 4. That's when you had them. With the blown save, they had you. One of the great life reminders of sports is of how quickly and totally things can change. I've known someone for twenty-five years, who will say to me often that when I get past the people holding me back, there will be an explosion that will not stop, and I and my work will be everywhere, constantly, and it will be that way, always, going forward. I was talking to them yesterday, and they spoke about the foundation of a house. The foundation here is the historically unique body of work. The unique genius. And the house will go up so quickly from that foundation. The foundation is everything. This Red Sox team was true to what they were--as strange as that was--until the last. They were all or they were nothing. You never really knew what you'd get. I suspect they did not know. But here's another life lesson we can source from sports: you need the in-betweens. You need to be able to win when you are in-between. I hope they address their considerable issues for next year, because I do believe this season had a mirage quality. This kind of roster and playing style--with the bad defense, the bad base running, the lack of plate discipline--won't sustain winning. But they took a Red Sox fan such as myself all the way to October 22, and I appreciated the weird ride. They gave it all they could. As we all should.
