What Can We Do?

Have you ever watched a friend or family member make a big mistake (or a bunch of smaller ones), and you can’t do anything to help? It doesn’t matter how much talking, strategizing, listening, encouragement, or ice cream (I am a woman after all, ice cream solves a lot surprisingly) we give to that person, nothing seems to work. That person is the one who has to make the decisions about his/her life.

Well, that’s about how it feels with the Red Sox these days. It doesn’t matter what we, the fans, do. It’s ultimately up to the Red Sox players to win games. We can’t play the games for them.

Sure, it’s easy to yell at the television/computer screen every time we see one of the players, or a combination of players, make a mistake. It doesn’t matter how many times you say “Please get a hit. Please strike out this player. Please get a double play,” it doesn’t work.

I’m hoping the Red Sox players get something going. It’s kind of sad that individual players (most notably Adrian Gonzalez and Darnell McDonald lately) seem to be taking the blame. Yes, those two players need to own up to some of the blame (A-Gon striking out to end a game, McDonald going 1-4 yesterday then giving up a 3-run blast to end the game- the latter should not be his fault though), but two players do not make a team.

Collectively, as a team, the Red Sox are starting to look like an old group of players stuck in the glory days. The seem to have a mentality that the fans will keep coming because they have been good in the past. While this might be true for some, it’s really sad that there are front-running fans, and they seem to be flocking away from the Sox.

Now, I don’t encourage fans being front-runners, but the sad truth is these are the fans that really spend the money. They’re the fans that keep buying shirts, hats, and other memorabilia. Ultimately, they’re the ones who keep buying so the Red Sox can afford those hefty salaries.

Other fans, like me, have bought their apparel and such. Yes, we still buy the occasional item, but it’s not a big rush. We wear our old hats and shirts proudly because we have watched this organization for so long.

But, getting back to the topic, the Red Sox players need to start playing more. If they don’t, management is going to kick in to get something going themselves, whether that be through releases, trades, or sending players back to the minors. A shake-up might happen, like in 2004 when Nomar was traded. No one ever thought they would’ve seen Nomar traded, but it happened.

There’s really nothing we, the fans, can do besides sit back and watch the Red Sox. As much as we feel like a part of the game, we’re not the ones playing it. They are. They are the ones that decide their fate.