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Jerry reacts to the recent Red Sox swoon, and the situation with A-R od and Ry an Dempster

BAD KARMA

Karma may be turning against me when it comes to Victorino (AP)
Karma may be turning against me when it comes to Victorino (AP)

I’ve long suspected that John Lennon knew what he was talking about back in 1970, when he declared that we needed to be aware that karma has a way of tripping us up. Actually, Red Sox fans of a certain age will tell you that for decades we suffered from bad karma. Although, at the time, we choose to call it a “curse’, suffer we did. At any rate, I should have known better (another Beatles reference) than to write two optimistic items about the Sox in my last week’s post. The first was the “rave” I threw at Shane Victorino, regarding how his impressive outfield play, especially his strong throwing arm, had been an important ingredient in their success so far this season.

Just moments after I had finished writing that and submitted to Jobu for his consideration, Victorino was committing a throwing error that led to an unearned run against the Jays, in a game they lost in extra innings. My other “gem” was to comment on how the Sox had managed  increase their lead in the AL East to four games over Tampa Bay, despite not playing very well. Unfortunately, the Red Sox have continued to not play well, but the Rays have turned things around, and are now in a virtual tie for the top spot. If the Sox don’t get an effective Clay Buchholz back soon, as well as start coming through with some more timely hitting, they could soon be looking up at the Orioles as well.

THE ‘TAINTED’ EMPIRE

Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Dempster
Did Ryan Dempster mess with the AL East’s karma? (Getty Images)

It’s been a little strange to watch the once mighty New York Yankees stumble through this whole A-Rod fiasco. They’ve been doing their best to find a way to dig out from underneath his mammoth contract all year, and undoubtedly would have used the insurance policy to pay his salary if only Kevin Youkilis hadn’t proven to be such a failure. The Yanks are twisting themselves in all kinds of directions in their efforts to support him as a teammate, while still trying to keep their distance from the person. I would have had far more respect for them if they had stayed in their dugout and bullpen when Ryan Dempster finally managed to hit Rodriguez on his fourth attempt. If the allegations that he “ratted out” other players, including a teammate, in an effort to save himself turn out to be true, then the Yankees are going to have some explaining to do to their union brethren. I realize that the Yanks are on a definite up swing of late, and are a different team with the addition of Soriano and the return of Derek Jeter, but I believe that bad karma is going to fall on the aging Yanks if they don’t find a way to get rid of Rodriguez on their own, and not just wait for MLB to do it for them.

One last word on the Dempster/A-Rod incident; Joe Girardi probably should stop talking about how easy Ryan Dempster got off with only a five game suspension and should consider himself lucky he’s not gone for a very long time. Girardi clearly took a swing at the  home plate umpire and very nearly made contact. Regardless of his intent, if he was to have done that in almost any other context, the consequences could have been much different.

Actually, (OK, one more last word) having said all that, I don’t think Dempster helped the Sox karma that much by throwing at Rodriguez in the second inning of that contest. At this point in the season, winning games is far more important than winning whatever point he was trying to make. Of course, if the point Ryan Dempster was trying to make was that the Sox might be better off without him, then maybe he was successful after all.

About Jerry Ballgame

The personification of "old school", Jerry Ballgame was born in the shadow of Dr. Naismith's peach basket, and baptized in that "Dirty Water." Designated by his "Uncle" Ted, to keep an eye on things, he's here to tell everyone what his view is like from the Hub of the Universe.