There's always next year.

[khaosworks]

Excellent Red Sox article, pointed out to be by autographedcat:

Red Sox just didn't have it this year

Since it's late-September, you know what that means ... that's right, it's time for my annual Red Sox eulogy! As a die-hard Sox fan, sitting down to write this piece always feels like stretching out on Dr. Melfi's sofa. It's almost a cathartic experience, a chance to gather all the accumulated pain and agony from the six-month season, then inflict it on you, the unsuspecting reader. Isn't that why they created sports columns in the first place?

Looking back, Boston's 2002 baseball season was weirder than most, a year when the Sox trotted out seven All-Stars, including two 20-game winners, a potential batting champion and a shortstop on pace for 200 hits and 120 RBI ... and yet they weren't even one of the best five teams in their own league. How does that make sense? Usually, when a baseball team falls short, you can always latch onto something -- shaky managing, injuries, shaky chemistry or whatever else. Not this year.

As usual, my dad summed it up best. About six weeks ago, we were talking on the phone for the first time in days, gabbing away about anything and everything. As the phone call wound down, I wondered, "Hey, we aren't even gonna talk about the Red Sox?"

Dead silence on the other end.

Finally: "Nahhhh. They don't have it this year."

Best piece of analysis I heard all season.