Breakup

The breakup is slowly dimming. I've concentrated on thinking about other things, thinking about the future, and lowering my expectations. I guess I expected too much. But if you aren't willing to let yourself go when you're head over heels in love, how will you ever attain your destiny?? It's the great paradox of pain and love - you can't love unless you're vulnerable to pain. I suppose that's the way God created it; it's even the way it is for Him.

Mea culpa: I'm talking about the Red Sox. And yes, the pain is dimming. The great grace of breaking up with the Red Sox is that they always promise to get back together with you on Valentine's Day, or a week or two thereafter. Then the whole cycle begins again. Someday, we really believe, our collective love for this team will not be scorned, and our shame will be lifted.

I'm not the only one this unbalanced. The Sports Guy talks about the only one he loves more than the Red Sox (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on that, actually): Anyway, my wife understands now. She only jumped on the bandwagon a few years ago, thanks to me. Now her Sox virginity has been taken; she was near tears last night. "I finally understand why you're so crazy about this team," she kept saying. "I can't imagine going through this for my entire life. This is horrible." Add another one to the list.

During the first week of April, InstantReplay and its readers made some predictions about the Red Sox season. Let's see how we did.

Statistic	Actual	Official IR	Dad	Barnzo	Jenny	Best Pick
Days on the DL by Pedro, Manny & Nomar	15	40	30	25	30	Barnzo
Home runs by Sox #1 first baseman	25	22	15	20	15	IR
Who will play first base most?	Millar	Giambi	Ortiz	Millar	Giambi	Barnzo
Pedro+Lowe+Wake wins	42	52	48	50	65	Dad
Nomar's batting average	.301	.345	.375	.350	.329	Jenny
Steals by team leader	30	14	18	30	11	Barnzo
Triples by team leader	13	9	6	7	7	IR
Sox will be eliminated	ALCS	ALCS	World Series	Win WS	ALDS	IR
Yanks will be eliminated	WS (win or lose!?)	ALDS	Season	ALCS	ALDS	Barnzo
Sox wins at the All Star break	55	51	54	55	54	Barnzo
Sox regular season wins	95	95	99	96	91	IR
Sox record against Yanks	9-10	9-10	11-8	12-7	7-12	IR
Sox interleague record	11-7	9-9	6-12	5-13	11-7	Jenny

Hmm, so our team is fairly predictable. We got, in many respects, precisely what we expected. The injuries were fewer this year than we dared hope, and the breakout of talent something you never could have guessed. If we'd been asked to forecast total home runs or team slugging percentage, or any other useful statistic, we would've grossly underestimated. Yet, somehow, we were right on with the number of wins. I guess bad pitching makes up for good hitting.