Three and out for the defending champions? How much more pathetic could the 2005 Red Sox postseason have been than what went on display this week! From anemic hitting to pitching coming apart at the seams, the team bore absolutely no resemblance to the Force of Destiny (tm) that struggled mightily against all odds last year to reverse the Bambino's Curse and bring home the first World Series victory in eighty-six years.
In the end, it was the lack of pitching that did them in. For although you can often rely on overwhelming offense alone during the regular season to make up for your shortcomings on the mound, in the playoffs there's no time for the law of averages to even out a lackluster starting rotation and bullpen. And here is where I point the finger at Sox Management. They knew damned well that Curt Schilling wasn't going to be half the man he was last year this season, and yet they let Pedro Martinez (who won fifteen games with the Mets this season) go over the issue of an extra year on his contract renewal.
I know that Petey was a diva, but tell me this -- what ace isn't? Fact of the matter is that Martinez was a critical component in our defense, and despite whatever animus the front office had with him they should have thought long and hard about kicking to the curb a player who'd taken the Sox to the playoffs time and time again since joining the team, especially if they had no plans to replace him with another Cy Young pitcher.
As time goes by Boston might come to regret letting Pedro go as much as they did another phenomenal hurler some ninety-odd years back. It certainly has cost them their chance at a World Series repeat, and Sox management being what it is it may be several years (or decades) before they get another opportunity to go all the way again, let alone forge a dynasty to rival that of The Evil Empire.
Who knows? In years to come we may be speaking of a new hex over the Olde Towne Team -- the Curse of Pedro Martinez!
One year and counting...
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