Keep Baseball in Perspective – Not

Addiction: 2 a slavish addiction to fashion: devotion to,dedication to, obsession with, infatuation with,passion for, love of, mania for, enslavement to.

Aug 17, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox designated hitter

(34) celebrates after hitting a home run off New York Yankees pitcher

(not pictured) during the seventh inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Addiction is a terrible thing. I am a reporter. I should be a dispassionate observer just reporting the facts. I can’t help it. I’m a fan DAMMIT and this season is starting to derail me. Gut wrenching wins and losses are starting to take their toll.

The Sox are in the middle of a pennant race  and they’re playing a hated archrival  in less than sixty minutes. My daughter is moving back to college in less than 48 hours and I’ve been as busy as all get out today. Nevertheless, here I am at 7:14 EST catching up on Breaking Bad and waiting with baited breath to watch game three of the Yankees/Red Sox tilt. If you’re reading this you get it. If you’re my wife – well, that’s another story.

Ryan Dempster, a journeyman innings eater and C.C. Sabathia, up until now an MLB stud, will be taking the bump shortly and as crazy as it sounds Dempster has the advantage because Sabathia has been on a very long losing skid. At stake are series bragging rights, a badly needed turnaround by Sabathia and a psychological advantage over the other guy as Boston and New York settle this score and square up for two more pivotal meetings in September. This is why we watch.

"For those of us of a certain age it’s as old as Williams and DiMaggio, Munson and Fisk, Torrez and Dent, Wakefield and Boone; Cabrera, Lowell, Foulke, Ortiz, Ramirez, Schilling, Martinez, Pedroia and Varitek."

The Red Sox have always been standing in the shadow of the Yankees. Franchise world championships aren’t even close. Until 2004, they failed to break free of the chains that bind. Now that’s all behind us. Even after two world championships in recent memory I, like many Red Sox fans, feel the fatalistic tug and the inferiority complex. We pray that this year, once again, will be different. We count our blessings that we’re not Cubs fans, yet we still carry around that loser stigma whenever tough times come knocking. This year will be different. I believe that. I have no other choice.

Enjoy the game. Gotta go. Breaking Bad just finished. Go Sox!