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I will remain calm. I will not rant and rave. I will not curse. I will not scream. I will not break anything.

On October 27th, 2004 the door was opened by 25 "Idiots" for the Red Sox to assume control of the AL East, and baseball as a whole. The balance of power was shifted, the Yankees had taken a shot on the chin and the aging giant seemed unlikely to rise up again immediately. Steinbrenner wanted blood and the Red Sox covered themselves in champagne and adoration from the masses.

There was more good feeling around Red Sox nation (a perpetually downtrodden group) that day and in the days to follow than there has ever been. We were vindicated, triumphant, champions. This Red Sox ownership was a given a chance to make us all forget about Aaron Boone, Bill Buckner, and "next year" not just for a little while, but forever. 2005 was a wash, a season highlighted by a ring ceremony regardless of wins and losses. Even in defeat we were constantly reminded that the Sox were defending champions. Red Sox management could have transcended the game and become Gods in Boston, perpetuating the good feelings of October 27th far into the future.

Simply, they blew it.

First Pedro went to the Mets. Fine. He hated it here, he was the best Red Sox pitcher of all time but his departure was a foregone conclusion. No hard feelings towards him or the Red Sox on this one, we knew what he was and I will never begrudge him after his immense contributions over the course of 9 years.

Second, they allowed the wildly popular Orlando Cabrera to leave. Not a problem, his value was inflated after his post season performance. But then to fill his void they went out and got Edgar Renterria an even more overvalued shortstop who ended up producing less than Cabrera would have. However, his career numbers were impressive so one bad year under a brighter spotlight than he has ever played in is no cause for panic, more on this later.

Derek Lowe was a hero in the playoffs but a goat for the 6 months before that, his signing with the Dodgers was the only move that made sense for him. His post season performance jacked his value up way beyond reality and he took the money. I will always love D-Lowe for game 7 regardless, but I will remember how bad he was in the summer of '04 everytime I start to miss him. But now the floodgates are open an the '04 team is fleeing the coop quickly.

Then the sky started falling. After the '05 season Larry Lucchino personally robbed Red Sox fans of half of their lingering positive feelings from the previous year by forcing out native son and local hero Theo Epstein with his arrogance and sleaze. The media leaks, the back stabbing, and in-fighting created one of the ugliest scenes imaginable and left the Sox in the lurch for a GM with major business ahead of them. For fans, this was starting to feel familiar.

Skip forward a few weeks and now the Sox and whoever is pulling the strings have made 2 trades. First they traded Hanley Ramirez who has been considered their best prospect for a while now, and others for Josh Beckett (and also Mike Lowell = Bill Mueller to the Dodgers) in a move that was just crying to be approved by Red Sox nation. We took the bait and applauded despite knowing that we were losing Mueller in the process, though we did not know whom we were applauding. Then in a move that reeked of, "We don't need Theo!" they traded Renterria for some 12 year old kid from Iowa and a case of beer, plus sent $11 million to the Braves so they would take him. Now those game 7 memories were starting to seem like a vague dream, one that we had at least 86 times between 1918 and 2004.

So now just as the old feelings of resentment and misery as a Red Sox fan were starting to creep back in hope springs eternal. They will re-sign Johnny Damon, the core of the team will remain in tact: Schilling, Varitek, Manny, Ortiz, Nixon, etc. "Remember game 7? Yeah, Johnny was great in that game, it will be great to have him back."

Ooops.

Just as they did with Epstein the Red Sox arrogantly assumed that there was no way Damon would leave, and they never even considered the Yankees to be a threat in the negotiations. Not a threat eh? When have we known the Yankees to not be a threat in high dollar value negotiations? Lucchino and his shocking ego thought they had the deal by the throat and that eventually Damon would realize that this rock-star status would be diminished anywhere other than Boston and that he would accept whatever they offered. With Lucchino, Ben, and Jed clearly drunk at the wheel Damon packed his bags and made a midnight escape to the enemy.

And here we are December 23rd, 2005 and the Red Sox team of October 27th, 2004 has been blown up. Among others who are now gone: Millar, Bellhorn, and Embree (not that we miss them, but they were all crucial to that '04 team). Those good feelings are eradicated and once again we are reduced to looking angrily and fearfully 200 miles to the south at the Brox as they just get better and better.

We thought that things would be different, we thought they had changed. Thanks to Lucchino's pervasive arrogance, Damon's greed, and our delusions things have changed. The thing is, the changes I was hoping for were for the better, not the worse.

Good riddance Johnny, we would have loved you forever. There is no way you will be the star in New York that you were here, but you were blinded by the $$, your impossibly high-eyed view of yourself, and the stupidity of the Red Sox. I blame you and I think you are a traitorous little rat that has been exposed for what he really is, but I blame Lucchino more and it's his head that I want now.

Oh right, I almost forgot, they still want to trade Manny... maybe they could trade him to the Yankees for Damon and save 7 million. Morons.

Merry Christmas from the B-Slant, sorry I just dropped the ball on the Week 15 post. I would blame it on Christmas shopping but I'm just headed out to start that right now.