Valentine's Day

In case you haven't noticed, I've refused to to talk much about the Red Sox since September. That collapse was hard to handle, hard to fathom, hard to come to terms with. I was up till 4 A.M. that night, not even drinking, just replaying the nauseating scenes in my head. I kept thinking about "2-10" and "7-20". "2-10", of course, was the team's record through their first 12 games, the first signs that maybe this whole 100-win talk was a bit premature. "7-20" would be the team's September record, 29th out of 30 teams in baseball, ahead of only the injury-ravaged Minnesota Twins (6-20). Hey, at least the Twins had an excuse. They were without their two best players, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Both former MVP's. What the hell was the Red Sox' excuse?

The fallout from September resulted in a despicable yet revealing smear campaign against Terry Francona, the departure of Theo Epstein, and a general indifference towards the Red Sox in general. Did it help that this had happened post-2004 and 2007? No doubt. But it's telling that after a few days or so, nobody seemed to really care that the Red Sox had just completed a choke of epic proportions. There were too many unlikable figures associated with this team, too many headcases. Order needed to be restored for these Red Sox to matter again.

And so we wound up here, with the hire of Bobby Valentine. It may surprise you to know that in 15 years of managerial experience with the Rangers and Mets, Bobby V has been to the post-season just twice; he's never won a division title. His overall record is 1,117-1,072, a .510 winning clip. A rather bland number.

Yet for some reason, not only am I okay with this hire, I'm flat out ecstatic about it. You dig deeper into his career, and look at what he did with some of those Mets teams in the late-90's/early-2000's, it's remarkable he was able to not only finish above .500 in 5 of his 6 full seasons there, but actually took the 2000 team to the World Series with Mike Piazza and.....Todd Zeile, Robin Ventura, Benny Agbayani, and Jay Payton, just to name a few. The pitching staff was solid but unspectacular, led by Mike Hampton and Al Leiter. That team overachieved, and then some. It's not Bobby V's fault the Braves of that era had far superior front office management than the Mets did with former ESPN analyst Steve Phillips.

Bobby V has the reputation of a no-nonsense guy, and that is exactly what this team needed. Dale Sveum? Please. Gene Lamont? Hasn't managed since 2000 with the Pirates. Sandy Alomar? Yawn. Bobby V is ready to kick these guys in the ass. 91-71 will be unacceptable again next season, not with the talent that exists on this roster. No more 7th inning trips to Popeye's across the street from Fenway. No more Josh Beckett asking me to go to Washington Street for him before the game. And best of all, no John Lackey period!

Word is already leaking out that several players are irked by the hire of Valentine. You know what? Good. Fenway isn't a frat house, as they're about to find out. It's the holiest of holy ballparks in America, and these same players disgraced that ballpark last fall. No more cushy-cushy. No more laissez faire approach. The Red Sox had a marketing campaign last year that decried "We're all-in". May have been a year premature. Because I can guarantee you this much: With an established mind like Bobby Valentine, these 2012 Red Sox had better be all in.