Red Sox Nation In Pain

BOSTON–This is the difference between Red Sox Nation in the 2000s and Red Sox Nation in the 1960s. Present-day Red Sox Nation is on the verge of nervous collapse because the team is losing. The 1960s Red Sox Nation just stoically absorbed the body blows because the fans were used to losing.

Red Sox Nation of the 2000s is angry and loud about demanding change. Red Sox Nation of the 1960s wished and hoped for better things. Red Sox Nation of the 2000s is used to winning, pays the highest ticket prices in baseball, and has zero tolerance for players that don’t project a hard-nosed, serious attitude about winning. Red Sox Nation of the 1960s paid $1 for bleacher seats and kind of, sort of hoped that management could find a few complementary players to support Carl Yastrzemski and Frank Malzone, and oh my gosh wouldn’t they be happy if they found a reliable starting pitcher under the Christmas tree.

The Red Sox are operating under the worst of all possible combined circumstances. There is a gigantic, chip-on-the-shoulder resentment hangover stemming from the end of the 2011 season when the team blew September and the playoffs with a 7-20 finish. The disintegration ended the feel-good tenure of manager Terry Francona (a mistake the Sox will continue to feel for a long time).

Bobby Valentine was brought in to be the anti-Francona, but Bobby hasn’t even been able to be Bobby with all of the things going wrong. A guy known for his candor, every time Valentine opens his mouth someone slaps him across the face.

There was a lot of brave talk about not missing closer Jonathan Papelbon when he split in free agency to the Philadelphia Phillies and letting him walk has proven to be a mistake, too. Papelbon is having an All-Star season with Philly and the two substitutes the Red Sox brought in have been A) injured; and B) so horrible as to be exiled to the minors.

In the piling on category are injuries to the position players Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis.

All of that adds up to a painful start to the season,  but exacerbating things is the perception that the Red Sox players don’t really care enough about winning. There was a long period under the late Tom Yawkey when the Sox were viewed as a pampered team and the players were seen as a collection of guys who happened to work in the same place, as opposed to a single unit. These were the legendary days of 25 players, 25 cabs.

For all of the bad luck and all of their sins, the hint of a return to those days of selfishness has riled fans more than anything else. The post-mortem of last season’s collapse revealed that on off days selected starting pitchers spent games in the clubhouse ordering out for fried chicken and drinking beer rather than cheering for their teammates.

Pitcher Josh Beckett was pointed out as a prime offender. Now things have come full circle. As irritated and upset as fans are because of the Red Sox’ slow start, nothing incensed people as the news that last week when Beckett begged out of a start because of a minor injury he still took a turn on the golf course.

Oh, that tore it. Beckett, who apparently could not tell which way the wind is blowing with a weather vane perched on his head, did not act contrite, did not say maybe he should have sat home rather than hitting the links. No. That would have been the smart thing to do. Instead, Beckett essentially said it is nobody’s business how he spends his days off. Talk about being tone deaf to the mood of the populace.

Compounding things, Beckett returned for his next turn and promptly got shelled. So Beckett is being roasted on the sports talk radio airwaves and in the newspaper. This is hardly the most enviable position for your No. 1 starter, the guy you really need to pull it together to get the team out of the cellar.

The good news for the Red Sox is that Beckett could get hot in an instant and the injured position players could make it back into the lineup one by one over the coming months. Even Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has been sidelined for a year with arm woes, is on the verge of returning to the big-league roster.

Every little bit helps to soothe the feelings of the unhappiest fan base in America.

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