:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/697950/GYI0060481347.jpg)
I could not help myself this morning. Following Monday night's crazy New York Yankee victory over the Boston Red Sox I went looking for the reaction from the Boston media, and I wasn't disappointed.
Crestfallen. Melodramatic. Ready to toss the season, and Jonathan Papelbon, into the river.
Let's take a look at some of what they are saying in Boston.
Another round of torture in the Bronx - The Boston Globe
Friday night the Bruins were like the old Red Sox.
And now the Red Sox are the Bruins.
Underachieving. The opposite of clutch. Hard to watch. Not worthy of the love of the legions back home.
The 2010 Red Sox sank to a new low last night when Jonathan Papelbon surrendered a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the ninth in an excruciating 11-9 loss to the Yankees. The late-night implosion erased a noble comeback in which the Sox recovered from a 6-1 deficit (next bus to Lake Wobegon for you, Dice-K) to take a 9-7 lead on five home runs in the Bronx bandbox.
Seasons are defined on nights like this and it looks like these Red Sox might be remembered as the Lost Boys of 2010.
Yankees hand Red Sox devastating defeat: Where do they go from here? | masslive.com
This was going to be the game that everyone looked back on in a month after the Red Sox fought their way back to respectability and said, ‘this is where they turned the corner.’
Then Jonathan Papelbon happened.
The closer surrendered a two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez and two-out walk-off homer to Marcus Thames to transform a great win into a disheartening loss.
Now, instead of celebrating, the Red Sox will now have to do a serious audit of themselves and decide who they are.
Are they a team that is temporarily underachieving, or a team destined to underachieve?
Grating, but Red Sox know Yankees’ Rodriguez also great - The Boston Globe
Red Sox fans won’t want to read this, but here goes.
Great players do great things. And Alex Rodriguez is one of the greatest.
Sox fans will resist every inkling in their bodies to admit that. They’ll bring up steroids, and incidents such as the ones with Jason Varitek and Dallas Braden. They’ll never give him his due, but the fact is he stepped to the plate with his team trailing, 9-7, in the bottom of the ninth inning last night and slammed a two-run homer on the first pitch from Jonathan Papelbon to tie the score.
"I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it,’’ Rodriguez said. He said of past successes against Papelbon, "Sometimes that stuff is overrated.’’ But last night, nothing was overrated. This was a big-time performance on a big stage.
A-Rod’s manager, Joe Girardi, gave him the ultimate compliment when he said, "He’s a weapon. Every time he steps up to the plate, everyone is in scoring position.’’
Rodriguez is hitting .405 with four doubles, three home runs, and 28 RBIs with runners in scoring position.
What dramatics.
We’ve said it before: The Red Sox do not have such a superstar who can do what A-Rod can do on a regular basis. Not even close.
Here are a few more Boston headlines today, since I can't get enough of the angst.