Red Sox: Pains of a west coast road trip
By Sean Penney
Late nights following the Boston Red Sox on a west coast trip can turn into painful mornings after a gut-wrenching loss.
What’s worse than seeing the opposing team walk off with a victory in the bottom of the ninth inning? Having it happen late at night on the west coast, where by that time we are in the wee hours of the morning back in the Boston area.
An uneasy feeling crept in as I watched Boston Red Sox closer Brad Ziegler load the bases one single at a time. With each pitch I would nervously glance at the clock, attempting to calculate how much time remained before I would be forced to pull myself out of the comforts of my bed to drag myself to the office for work the next day.
Had the Los Angeles Angels tied the game to send us to extra-innings, would I stay up to keep watching without knowing how long this game could last? That’s a recipe for a dreadful day of work the next day. Maybe I could call out sick? Fridays are great for playing hooky. I pondered this last night while desperately hoping Ziegler would induce the double-play he needed to escape disaster.
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As we now know, that didn’t happen. Oh, Ziegler got the ground ball he wanted, only for his defense to let him down. Hanley Ramirez charged in hard, scooped the ball into his glove and… sailed a throw over the head of Sandy Leon. The error allowed two runs to cross the plate, ending the game in agonizing fashion. Perhaps calling out of work would have been warranted after all, as watching that play made me feel ill.
This is the pain of a west coast road trip. Losing a game like this is always painful, but that stabbing feeling in your gut is intensified when the clock says it’s nearly 1:30 AM and you think to yourself, I stayed up for this?
How many of you didn’t bother to stay up until the end? Honestly, had the Red Sox tacked on a few more runs then I probably would have retired for the night earlier, content with a more comfortable lead. I couldn’t pull myself away when the Red Sox went to the ninth still clinging to a one-run lead, but I can’t blame anyone who values their sleep too much to sacrifice it for a single game.
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For those that didn’t make it to the end, the first thing you did after slamming the off button on your alarm was likely to roll over, grab your smartphone and look up the final score of the game. Finding out first thing in the morning that the bullpen blew a spectacular start from David Price is not the best way to start your day.
Staying up late to catch the end of a game played three time zones away is difficult enough, but having it end in such an excruciating way makes it that much more insufferable. We are left to wonder if our decision to deprive ourselves of a good night’s sleep was a bigger blunder than Ramirez’s botched throw to home plate.
Had Han-Ram’s throw been on point, we could all have gone to sleep happy, at peace with a win to kick off this road trip. Instead we slumped into our beds with feelings of regret, frustration and anger toward anyone we believe should be blamed for the loss. Not exactly the best mindset for getting proper rest.
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This is the inherent risk in staying up to watch a game on the west coast. It can be brutal, but get used to it. The Red Sox have embarked on an 11-game road trip that will take them from Los Angeles to Seattle and back again, so buckle up for a lot of late nights.
I foresee a lot of coffee in my near future.