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Wait till this year?
A Sox fan in exile: The view from New York
BY SEAN RICHARDSON

BOSTON RED SOX fans know better than to expect good baseball weather for this year’s home opener, which takes place this Friday afternoon against the Baltimore Orioles. Chilly temperatures notwithstanding, the Sox have plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading into their first game of the season at Fenway Park. Despite losing both of ace pitcher Pedro Martinez’s first two starts, the team handily took consecutive series from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Orioles to start the year. In the Sox’ first seven games, 2002 All-Star Shea Hillenbrand drove in a whopping 15 runs, and the team’s torrid offense helped it match the hot start of its storied American League East rivals, the New York Yankees.

Last year was a frustrating one for the Sox. They won 93 games and boasted two 20-game winners (Derek Lowe and Martinez) and a batting champion (Manny Ramirez), but they still missed the playoffs for the third year in a row. Still, the team’s first season under new ownership was a vast improvement over the previous two, and fans have high hopes for this year with new general manager Theo Epstein and second-year manager Grady Little at the helm.

No news is good news on the Sox frontline, where big guns Martinez, Ramirez, and Nomar Garciaparra are all coming off monster seasons. Martinez and Garciaparra both spent much of 2001 on the disabled list, and their return to form was the biggest key to the team’s success last year. Martinez shrugged off lingering questions about his health and led the league in both earned-run averages and strikeouts for the umpteenth time. All-Star shortstop Garciaparra returned to the heart of the batting order and tied for the league lead in doubles, with a career-high 56. Injuries limited Ramirez to 120 games, but he remains one of the most fearsome hitters in the game.

It’s the supporting cast that needed tinkering, and Epstein — at 28, the youngest GM in Major League history when he was hired — didn’t waste any time getting to work on that. When free-agent closer Ugueth Urbina joined the Texas Rangers, the team signed veteran relievers Ramiro Mendoza and Mike Timlin and went with a bullpen by committee. Management also added some punch to the right side of the infield by bringing in first baseman Kevin Millar and second baseman Todd Walker. With returning fan favorites Johnny Damon, Trot Nixon, and Jason Varitek rounding out the line-up, the Sox offense again promises to be one of the best in the Majors.

The team’s big question mark is pitching, where it’s hoping for a strong encore performance from Lowe and a breakthrough season from young Casey Fossum. The bullpen got off to an ominous start on Opening Day, when Alan Embree and Chad Fox failed to protect a 4-1 lead, resulting in a loss to the lowly Devil Rays. One thing’s for sure: if the pen keeps blowing Martinez’s leads, expect to see some new faces before long.

With so many familiar names on the roster, the Sox’ playoff outlook for this year is one we’ve all heard before: second to the Yankees in the AL East, with a good chance of winning the wild card. The advanced age of the Yankees’ pitching staff is a definite weakness, but only a fool would bet against a gaudy collection of talent like theirs, especially with the addition of Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui. Unless the Sox manage to knock off their bitter pinstriped enemies — which isn’t entirely out of the question — they’ll end up battling the world champion Anaheim Angels and the Chicago White Sox for the wild card. With division favorites the Oakland Athletics and Minnesota Twins also in the mix, the road to the World Series is no cakewalk. But the Sox have both the offensive firepower and the prime-time starting pitching to get there.

As it happens, I’m writing this column from the belly of the beast: New York City, where I moved two years ago after living in Boston for seven years. Being a Sox fan in New York isn’t as bad as you might think. Sure, I miss listening to Sean McDonough and Jerry Remy on NESN and reading Tony Massarotti in the Boston Herald, not to mention making impulsive weeknight visits to Fenway. And of course I hate being inundated with that trademark Yankee arrogance, which has an obnoxious way of weaseling into every level of New York society.

But there are more than enough expatriate Massholes here to provide moral support. Sox fans in New York even have a small but entertaining voice in the media: New York Press columnist Russ Smith, a/k/a " Mugger, " who mostly writes about politics but also likes to tell stories about wearing Sox gear to the Bronx and getting in shouting matches with Yankee fans. To his credit, Mugger is no fatalist — he picks the Sox over the Houston Astros (led by former Boston manager Jimy Williams) for this year’s World Series.

And then there’s the only other team in baseball that hates the Yankees as much as the Sox do — the Mets. The Mets have Mo Vaughn, the last man to win the AL Most Valuable Player award in a Sox uniform and still an awesome power hitter when he’s healthy. They also picked up the 2002 Sox’ most likable castoffs, Cliff Floyd and Rey Sanchez, and they even came shockingly close to luring Sean McDonough to New York a few months ago. None of which makes up for the way they stole the World Series from the Sox in 1986 — but as surrogate favorites go, the Mets could be worse.

As for the Sox themselves, it’s been four long years since Martinez, Garciaparra, and, uh, Troy O’Leary shocked Ramirez and his old mates the Cleveland Indians with a miraculous come-from-behind victory in the 1999 AL Division Series. They were eliminated by the Yankees a week later, and they’ve been underachieving ever since. Time to step up to the plate, boys.

Sean Richardson can be reached at neckrus@hotmail.com

Issue Date: April 10 - 17, 2003
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