How Can they Be So Bad?

When I worried aloud a few days back that the Yankees could easily blow the lead they had built up with their ragged bullpen, bad at bats and free in season vaction for Mussina, I simply failed to grasp how terrible Boston had suddenly become, or rather how terrible Boston became in response to the massacre. Even though that series occurred early enough for them to climb back into the race, they acted as if they were dead and so they seem to be. Before Sunday's games, the yankees were 1-4 on thier trip, with a minor leaguer starting the last game of the west coast swing. Had Boston been able to go 4-1 to that point in their swing (not unreasonable when three of the games were against Seattle) they would have looked likely to pick up 3 of the 5 they lost jusat like that and been back in the hunt. Down 5-0 in the fifth against OAK., it looks like they will now drop 8 games in the loss column to the Yanks, which means if the Yanks play just 500 ball the rest of the way, The sox will have to go 23-8 just to tie things. The key game was saturday night. With the Yanks losing in ther afternoon, the Sox had a 3-2 lead late to cut the lead to 4 1/2. But they let Seattle grind on them the way they have typically ground on other teams, and they lost. Now Manny seems to have gone fishing, Lester is hurt, cutting down their rotation further, and even Ortiz is out of the line-up tonight, in what seems a concessionary move by Francona, who by trhe way was heard cursing Manny's decision not to play again. Wasn't it morning in RedSox nation just a couple of weeks ago, with Ortiz as MVP, Manny as beloved teammate and hitting titan, the young arms looking to October and power pitching? How did they come to lose not only their swagger but their intensity, their interest and their cohesiveness so abruptly? Theo has taken alot of het for not making deadline moves and (here) for complaining his resources were econd to one, but an utter implosion such as the Sox seem to going through speaks to the character of the present team as much as the injuries they've suffered or the additions they let pass. After losing 6 in a row, including the massacre, they have now lost three going on four in a row, 10 of their last 12, and lately they have been scoring so little, getting so few hits, that it seems like they really don't care. I have to say, as upset as I cqan get with the Yankees, who are pretty awful themselves right now, if I were a chowderhead, I'd be going ballistic over this mess.