Appreciate Your 2013 Red Sox

The Red Sox are back in a pennant race after a one year hiatus and we should all feel pretty fortunate that they have turned things around after the debacle of 2012.  In fact, we should appreciate that this is an ownership group that really does care about the product it puts on the field.

Forget the comments by Tom Werner after the 2011 season that they needed to make the team sexy for TV.  They’ve acknowledged the Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez mistakes and moved on and gotten back to putting the team together the way they said they always would when this group took over after the 2002 season.

Aug 7, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Boston Red Sox left fielder Mike Carp (37) and center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury (2) and right fielder Jonny Gomes (5) celebrate defeating the Houston Astros 7-5 during the ninth inning at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

At that time, then GM Theo Epstein said the goal of this group was to win between 90-95 games every year to make themselves a perennial playoff contender and have a productive farm system that constantly churned out quality players to keep the player production pipeline a well-oiled machine.

After the stain of last season, people seemed to forget that the group lived up to that promise nearly every year prior to 2012 with two World Series titles, two American League pennants, four trips to the ALCS and six playoff appearances overall since 2003.  As a fan what more can you ask for?

The player development machine has also produced as advertised.

The first wave brought us names like Ellsbury, Pedroia, Lester, Buchholz, Papelbon and Youkilis.  Now, a second wave has brought or will bring us names like Doubront, Reddick, Nava, Middlebrooks, Workman, Britton, Iglesias, Barnes and Owens.  That’s called doing the job the right way.

As Red Sox fans, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of demanding immediate satisfaction every single year.  When we do we become the very thing we hate- entitled Yankee fans.

Realize that the mistakes of 2012 helped produce the team we all love now because it forced GM Ben Cherington and management to refocus on their original blueprint for success.  Whose future would you rather have right now, that of the Red Sox or the Yankees?

Even more than the excitement on the field, the buzz off the field is back to being palpable in Red Sox Nation.

Jul 3, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Members of the Boston Red Sox wait at home plate for pinch hitter Jonny Gomes (5) (not pictured) after Gomes hit a walk off home run during the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

If 2012 taught us anything it’s that the dog days of summer in New England (and elsewhere in the Nation) just aren’t as fun or as interesting if the Sox aren’t in the race.

Because I live in New England, I take many day trips in the region during the summer.   Whether its Portland, Newport, Martha’s Vineyard, Bar Harbor, Providence or Nantucket one constant you will see if you enter any bar or restaurant is the Red Sox game on the TV screen.

It’s a tradition and a necessity when you are out and about and it really creates a buzz in the air when the team is going good.  It wasn’t like that late last summer and it was easy to feel the disappointment and indifference.

Many cities in baseball experience that disappointment year after year.  We should be grateful as a fan base that we don’t.

So thank Cherington for bringing guys like Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino, Koji Uehara and Mike Napoli to town to revive this franchise.  Summer 2013 is so much better because of how they, and the rest of the team, have played.  It’s time we all acknowledge and appreciate that fact.