Sox implode, Tribe wins

(September 3)

Short take:  The season in a nutshell.

The Sox imploded Monday nigh.  They fell behind, bounced back, and imploded.  Cleveland didn't win this game so much as our Pale Hose lost it.  That's the story of this entire season.  The Sox aren't a championship-caliber team and obviously neither are the Cuyahoga Chokes.  The Chokes simply aren't as adept at finding ways to blow ballgames.  Sox lose 6-3.  Only the most wild-eyed optimists have any hope left.

"We're just two plane crashes away from..."

What happened, Gary Glover?  You had the lead and appeared set to earn the win, just four hits and one earned run across the first five innings.  Thanks to the improbable heroics of Josh Paul and his two-out, two-rbi single, you were saved from a 1-0 deficit.  Along with a Ray Durham sacrifice, you had a 3-1 lead entering the fateful sixth inning.

Aw crap Sox Fans, you know what came next.

The roof caved in on Glover.  A lead-off triple and yet another stupid fielding error by firstbasemen Paul Konerko, and Cleveland was off to the races.  Glover fed his gopher and suddenly the Sox were down 4-3.

Fielding errors by our firstbasemen and a pitcher who melts in a pressure situation?  Does anyone else see parallels to that fateful night in the HumpDome last June when Keith Foulke was nursing a lead?

The rest is like a bad nightmare.  The Sox played corpseball starting in the fifth inning.  1-2-3--out!  1-2-3--out!  The top four hitters in the line up (Ray Durham, Carlos Lee, Magglio Ordonez, and Paul Konerko) were a combined 0 for 14 at the plate.  You know it's bad when Josh Paul and Royce Clayton are the two guys carrying your offense!

Meanwhile the Sox bullpen was doing a fine job securing the defeat.  Everyone's favorite punching bag, Bob Howry, watched his first watermelon sail over the wall and into the Sox bullpen.  A pathetic two-out rally in the ninth by our Sox was harmlessly done away with when Carlos Lee popped up to end the game.

We've been doing this for five months now.  Is any Sox Fan really THAT surprised.  Didn't think so.