Red Sox fans aren't as different from Yankee fans as they'd like to believe.
Hiroki Kuroda got roughed up by the Twins last night and was removed in the fifth inning. All fans exist in a bubble, to some extent. To be a fan is to be someone who focuses an inordinate amount of attention on one team, your team, the team you follow all year regardless of wins or losses.
To be a Boston Red Sox fan is to be that type of fan taken to an exponentially higher level.
The Red Sox are 4-8, with a near worst case scenario start to what was supposed to be a successful 2012 season.
Injuries to key players are an excuse that no group of fans ever wants to hear about. They impact every team, but, of course, all injuries are not created equal. Where would the Detroit Tigers have been last season had Justin Verlander been hurt for 6-8 weeks? What would happen in the Bronx if C.C. Sabathia were to need a month or two off? Take a glance at the numbers Matt Kemp is putting up and ask yourself what the Dodgers record would be without him.
In baseball, more than any other major sport, almost every team will go through hot and cold stretches. It's been said a number of times but it's worth repeating that a 100-win baseball team will still have 62 losses. That means they're winning a touch less than two out of every three games.
The Boston Red Sox entered the 2012 season with a slew of questions regarding clubhouse stability, changes at key positions, and new management on and off the field.
That's not the case in New York City with the New York Yankees. The Yankees are the defending American League East champions. They've won the division in 12 of the last 16 seasons. Anyone that thinks that there is an expectation of anything less than an American League East title in New York City is living in denial.
At 6-6 the Yankees are two games ahead of the Red Sox, but that's not the topic of conversation in New York. The Yankees have their own starting rotation crisis, and their own lazy veterans. New Yankee starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda is already being declared a "bust." Andruw Jones has incurred the wrath of fans for apparently jogging after ball in left field.
At 6-6 the Yankees are a full game out of first place behind the Baltimore Orioles and, with only 150 games left in the regular season (!), time is running out on manager Joe Girardi and General Manager Brian Cashman to right the ship.
The two franchises have each won two World Series Championships since the turn of the century. Both have their designs on winning a third title this season. Friday they meet head-to-head at Fenway Park for the first of 18 regular season match-ups. Friday's loser will only have 17 chances to exact revenge. Time is running out.