I’ve been meaning to write more, but I feel like I’ve been living in a parallel universe this week.  Fresh off of my Sox tirade last week I vowed not to watch one inning of the Braves series.  I held off until I realized that they were on Sunday night and Schilling was pitching.  So I watched the entire game and I was amazed at how it ended.  To light up the Braves in the fashion that they did was amazing but to realize that the Braves possessed a far worse bullpen than ours was astonishing.  Atlanta GM, John Schulerolz, could improve their situation by taking on Seanez and Tavarez.  Theo, pick up the phone and make the call.  Strike while the iron is hot.  Tell them you’ll take Sid Bream in return.

Now all of a sudden we’ve won six straight and I’m not sure I can take it seriously, because the NL is terrible.  However, the Sox have never done well in Interleague play and this season they have only lost one game to the Phillies.  Perhaps that’s a sign and at the end of the day a win is a win.  If they sweep the Phillies this weekend then I think the reverse psychology of my tirades will become a weekly event.

Let me tell you why things are turning around.  Youth.  I firmly believe this.  When the kids do well it’s infectious.  It lifts everyone’s spirits and forces the veterans to work harder, because they see how much fun the rookies are having.  It all started with Papelbon who is becoming a freak of nature as the saves keep piling up.  Also the “Who just punched my mother” face that I labeled at the beginning of the season is most likely being emulated and impersonated by hundreds of New England Little Leaguer’s.  How can you not love it?  Delcarmen is coming around with more innings under his belt, which is encouraging and I know Jon Lester has only had three starts, but the Sox have won all three of those games with Lester picking up two wins.  He’s a lefty.  A lefty I say.  A lefty.  Aside from a bonafide base stealing center fielder my old man used to pine for good lefties in Fenway.  If he were alive today he’d have called me a hundred and thirty times by now to talk about how awesome Lester looks.  It’s true though.  Give credit to Varitek for having him use 2-3 different pitches and letting the batters worry about what’s coming.  His off-speed stuff is slow and his fastball is in the mid-90’s, which looks must faster when combined with the slow stuff.  Plus, he’s not afraid to pitch off the plate and make the batters work.  That kind of confidence is natural.  I’m convinced you can’t teach it.  All of these kids are fearless which means we just might be in store for something special.

World Cup

Here’s the real reason why I’ve been out of it all week.  I barely survived Saturday’s Italy/USA match.  Never in a million years did I think it would effect me like it did, but after those horrible calls by the ref and DeRossi’s vicious elbow on Brian McBride I lost it.  I lost it to the point where I started to loathe every Italian-American who obnoxiously rooted against the USA.  They might as well have been wearing Yankee gear from head to toe.  It was weird.  I love my heritage more than most, but I’m a Red Sox fan and when it comes to rooting for the underdog home team you pour your heart and soul into it. 

Now that Team USA blew their HUGE chance to do something great this year I’m all about Forza Italia.  Give me a few days but I’ll be behind them 100%.  If you haven’t been watching the World Cup I hope you start now, because it’s going to get very interesting.  After today sixteen teams are left and it’s single elimination.  Let the fun start.