A New Curse?

Forget the pending shutdown of the Federal government - Boston baseball fans have way more important things to worry about.  Their beloved Red Sox are 0-6, with the dreaded Yankees coming into town this weekend.  I lived in Massachusetts back in the days of Clemens, Boggs, Evans and Rice; back when the "Curse of the Bambino" was at its peak.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Curse, it was long ingrained in baseball folklore that because the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees back in 1918, the Red Sox were destined for eternal failure, misery, and doom.  That curse was broken in 2004, when the Red Sox, led by pitchers like Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez, Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling (bloody sock and all), won the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals.  Names like Varitek, Garciaparra, "Manny" and "Big Papi" were the names of heroes - guys who were scrappy, never washed their hair, and played some hard contact baseball.  That brought the Curse to an end, and in 2007 the Red Sox repeated with another World Championship.  So now what?  The Curse has been broken, their players are overpaid, their ballpark is old, and fans are left kind of hanging.  Should they come up with a new Curse?  Should the Sox get a new ballpark?  Should Dustin Pedroia learn to bat left-handed?  Will more modern-looking uniforms help?  Something better happen, because if the Red Sox continue to lose, their fans are going to be (even more) unbearable.

Hey, did you see the Nationals finally won last night?  They're now 2-4, and do NOT have the worst record in the Majors (I just told you the Red Sox did).  Both Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche hit home runs, and they won 5-3 in 12 innings.  The Orioles won too, beating the Tigers 9-5.  The darn Phillies beat the Mets 11-0, the Texas Rangers remain undefeated, and the Yankees beat the Twins 4-3.  Mariano Rivera already has 4 saves (whatever!), and Derek Jeter is up to 2,931 hits.

It should be an interesting weekend, with the Yankees visiting the Red Sox at Fenway Park.  I hope the Red Sox take 2 of the 3 games (no sense in being greedy!), and I hope Jeter gets 4 more hits.  Here's to an action-packed, baseball-filled weekend!  Enjoy!