&c.

What happened?

Much of Redsox Nation is walking around this morning shaking its head wondering how we got into this predicament.

I attribute it to two things: bad luck, and, we don't know what we're doing.

Bad luck, is simply that a handful of unfavorable things are all piling-on at the same time.

After the excellence of the Division Series we now find ourselves in a little slump, we can't hit the ball. That is complicated by the fact that the #1 and #2 pitchers for the Yankees happened at this moment to pitch two of the best games of the season. And finally, one of the key components of our plan, Schilling, got injured. That's just REALLY bad luck.

The Schilling injury thing is just something we're gonna have to accept, but the other things I'm hoping we can put behind us and get it going again.

As for "not knowing what we're doing". Last year at this point, we were in the midst of the whole "cowboy up", shaved heads, thing. We had a strong sense that, if we just had enough heart, we could play up to our potential. And we were right.

But this year, this year, I don't think we know how to excel. We played awesome in April, and August, and in the Division series. But in May, and the first two games against the Yankess we pretty much sucked.

And here's the problem: We don't know why.

We don't know what triggers the good play. It seems out of our control. We don't know what the incantation is that will allow us to perform. It's a puzzle.

So tomorrow we return to Fenway, hoping that whatever the juju is, it will appear in time for us to do what we we're certain we're capable of: beating the Yankees and getting into the World Series.

Posted by jackhodgson at October 14, 2004 07:25 PM