Keller @ Large: These Red Sox Seem Worse
BOSTON (CBS) - This is the day so many of us look forward to all winter long, Opening Day, when our local obsession with Red Sox baseball is renewed in earnest.
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But is it just me, or do you share my sense of uneasiness about what lies ahead?
It's not that the team pulled off a spectacular flop last September. As a Sox fan since the early 1960s, I've seen more than a few of those, but have never failed to greet the next season with renewed enthusiasm.
And it's not that I'm stuck in some sort of silly Curse of the Bambino funk because of the big 2011 fold. We know they can win it all.
They've done it twice in the last eight years, right?
That did happen, didn't it?
No, I'm more skeptical than usual on day one of the season because the 2012 Sox do not appear to be an improved version of the team that tanked last year.
If anything, they seem considerably worse.
Let's start with the dugout, where the best manager in Red Sox history was dumped in favor of a new manager who has never won anything and thinks it's part of his job to be communicating regularly with Yankee fans.
Are you kidding me?
Let's move to the bullpen, where there is not a single starter who has proven in recent years that they can win consistently and stay healthy for an entire season.
The best closer we've had in years is gone, and his replacement is injured, forcing us to use our only decent middle reliever in that role.
And our lineup is full of question marks.
In Florida, only Pedroia, Gonzalez and Darnell McDonald among the regulars hit well.
Youkilis and Saltalamacchia looked especially weak.
There's no sign of power, speed, or especially good defense.
Other than that, things look great!
Look, no one wants the Sox to do well more than yours truly.
Do you think I want to spend the next six months in a foul mood?
But I can't shake the feeling that we're in for an unpleasant ride in an overrated clunker.
How fitting that we're opening the season in Detroit.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
