Roller Coaster
Like the season this game was a roller coaster. Just look at the win probability chart for the contest from Baseball Reference. The graphic from FanGraphs reverses the teams’ halves so it is condensed mirror image.
Such are my thoughts about the impending trade of Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto to the Dodgers. I truly thought acquiring Gonzalez would complement David Ortiz much as Manny Ramirez did. I wasn’t as keen on Crawford, thinking that a smart organization like the Rays must be sensing his decline, but in no way did I think he was at the end of his run. Beckett helped win 2007 and called Joba Chamberlain a c*** but seemed to have gone astray when Mike Lowell retired. Nick Punto was signed as a good veteran clubhouse presence, but see how well that worked out this season.
After 2004 I remember grinning along with Ramirez as he said that the team has to turn the page after that success so that they could achieve more. He mimed the action making it all the more memorable. With Theo Epstein at the helm I thought there was a chance at a Belichickean dynasty.
Epstein resigned in 2005 but was wooed back early the following year. It seemed there was some sort of internal power struggle that Epstein won. While 2006 was as injury-ridden as this season the team rebounded to win the World Series in 2007. It was perhaps inevitable that the monumental collapse in 2011 would rend open the wounds that were so carefully mended in 2006.
Time to turn the page. I only hope this chapter reads more like A.S. Byatt than Ayn Rand.
| Game 125: August 23, 2012 ∙ 10 innings | ||
 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim65-60 |
14 | BS: Jason Isringhausen (5) BS, W: Ernesto Frieri (2, 3-0) |
| 2B: Erick Aybar (21), Vernon Wells (8) HR: Wells (8), Kendry Morales (16) | ||
| Boston Red Sox 59-66 |
13 | BS: Andrew Bailey (1) BS, L: Alfredo Aceves (7, 2-8) |
| 2B: Dustin Pedroia (27), Mauro Gomez (4), Pedro Ciriaco (8), Jacoby Ellsbury (15) HR: Pedroia (11), Mike Aviles (12), Cody Ross (19) | ||
