Keller @ Large: I Trust The Red Sox
BOSTON (CBS) - The final games of Derek Jeter's illustrious career are going to dominate the talk around Fenway Park on this final weekend of the season.
But with all due respect to Jeter, I want to talk about the Red Sox.
Read: A Boston Farewell To Derek Jeter
Are you upset about this disaster of a season? I'm not, even though I would have preferred something closer to last year.
I am sentimental, but not stupid.
Some fans are frontrunners, interested only in rooting for a contending team. Not me, and apparently not the 35,000 fans who I joined at Fenway Tuesday night for a meaningless game against Tampa.
I follow the Sox because I love baseball, the rhythm of it, the long periods of nothing happening punctuated by brief spasms of action. It's like commuting to work or covering politics, except much more relaxing.
Yes, I like to see the Sox win, but I also like seeing an unknown like Brock Holt come out of nowhere and light it up. As hard as it was to watch Jackie Bradley Jr. and Will Middlebrooks melt down, I enjoyed watching the young studs like Mookie Betts and Garin Checchini come up and tattoo the wall.
This cycle of bust, boom and bust again is a little weird, but would you rather have a team that's just mediocre year after year?
I trust Red Sox management to recognize their mistakes and spend what it takes to fix the mess for next season. After all, three titles in ten years is proof they know what they're doing.
And for lifelong Red Sox fans like yours truly, it's the nourishment of all that winning that makes it easy to endure this winning-starved season.
No October baseball this year?
No problem.
As long as our kids beat the Yankees' kids next year, I'm fine with it.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
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