After watching the Red Sox get swept by the Orioles -- yes, the same team whose over-under win total for the season is 64 -- an old parenting go-to kept coming to mind.
We're not mad at you, we're just disappointed.
That was always a deeper dagger than any vitriol hurled your way after some teenage transgression. And it is should result in same kind of shame when it comes to these Red Sox.
Mad? By the time the final pitch was thrown in the Red Sox' 11-3 loss to the Orioles around 4:30 p.m. or so Sunday most fans had moved on. They were raking leaves, going for walks or trying to remember where those uncovered jelly beans might still be residing. Any true initial venom toward this team had peaked three hours earlier, upon learning there was a 10-run deficit to make up.
No, this was more just flat-out disappointment. While there were around 4,500 fans at Fenway Park, a legion of Red Sox' followers had been convinced to invest their emotions in this team out of the gate. Sure, they had been stung by the Red Sox' 2-8 start in 2019, and 6-18 record to begin last season.
But three straight years of sucking the optimism out the fan base? For the $200 million Red Sox, that didn't seem possible. It wasn't a promise, but it sure seemed like a strongly-worded suggestion.
Now we are left with the same narratives that has been lingering since 2019. No hope. Not enough talent. Second-tier team.
These Red Sox could certainly bounce back and show everybody that spring training message wasn't just hollow promises. Garrett Richards can be good. The offense is going to be better than a collective .160 batting average and .448 OPS. Rafael Devers can play a better third base.
Four members of the Red Sox' Opening Day roster don't have a single hit yet, and two others only have one. That would seem to be something that might improve.
After Opening Day, Kiké Hernandez said nobody was going 0-162. After Sunday, Richards said, "It’s three games in a season. It’s kind of an early panic button.” Both true.
But it is two different conversations.
Nobody is suggesting the Red Sox are mathematically eliminated, or don't have a chance to turn things around by the time next week rolls around. For all their last-season faults, the 2011 Red Sox started 0-6 and owned the best record in baseball in the second-to-last month of the regular season.
What we are talking about is feeling optimistic that this isn't going to be a third straight season of running in mud. That's all fans were asking for from this past weekend.
Without a whole lot of familiarity on the likes of what Chaim Bloom and Alex Cora were rolling out starting April 1, there had be a lot of benefit of the doubt despite none being earned. They were going to be more athletic. They were going to be better defensively. The starting pitchers had the kind of upside not available a year ago. And they were gong to be flat-out fun to watch.
Opening Day, 2013. The same kind of promise was delivered upon at Yankee Stadium. After a quick bump-in-the-road back in 2018, 17 wins in the first 19 games left no room for interpretation.
This time? It was simply a poor three-day investment by those being sold better times had finally arrived.
It's time to play catch-up ... once again.
