Something is missing

So I’m getting my pump on this morning, watching SportsCenter, and they show the Florida Marlins relievers messing around with another releiver, Jose Ceda (I think), by locking him in a door in the bullpen by stacking up sandbags and other stuff inf ront of the door…and I thought to myself…when was the last time we saw the Red Sox do something like that?  When was the last time we saw anyone on this team have some fun, play a practical joke or in general show some personality?  I think it has been since 2003-2004 since we saw that…look at the good teams in this league right now outside of the Yankees…Justin Verlander was lighting shoes on fire last month in the dugout, Joe Maddon has the Rays dressing up in different outfits for road trips, and the Red Sox just look like a joyless group of robots and I think this is a huge reason as to why we haven’t seen this team fight through adversity. 

Now let me put this out there…the 2004 Red Sox didn’t win just because they had personality and had fun; they were a pitching wagon, best in the league.  The Detroit Tigers aren’t winning because they have fun, they’re winning because their pitching is nasty.  The Tampa Bay Rays aren’t winning because they dress up in cosutmes for road trips, they have the best pitching in the American League.  But a championship makeup has a lot of elements to it outside of the on-field product, and personality is one of them.  For the last 5-6 years, Theo has built a comptetitive squad, but other than Pedroia, they’re like a group of personality-less robots.  I don’t think that you need to have a team of idiots like 2004 to win, but there has to be a middle ground between a team like that and the one we have now.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the last 3 years the Sox have sucked against the Rays…they play tight against them and you can’t play baseball that way…do the Rays look tight to you?  Were the Sox tight in 2004?  Nope, how else can you explain co0ming back from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees, they were doing shots before game 6 to loosen up, you need that to get through the tough times and stare down adversity.  Don’t get me wrong, this is not the sole reason the Sox are reeling right now, I’d attribute more of their recent struggles to starting pitching…but this is a piece of it, I have no doubt…wouldn’t mind seeing some personality back on this team and I guarantee you won’t see 3-11 Septembers.