Wow, was that most monumental Choke ever?

[marcski]

It is certainly up for discussion.

But, either way, I figured it was certainly a bust and choke worthy of its own thread.

Sorry guys, but even with that recent series under their belts, the Sox will NEVER be the Yankees. The Yanks just don't choke like that. IMHO, they are the best professional sports franchise, period. As long as you define "best" as winning.

(p.s. I'm a Met fan!).

 

[Nick]

With the sox you get higher highs and lower lows. The yankes are kinda even keel / boring. :uzi:

 

[threecy]

Sorry guys, but even with that recent series under their belts, the Sox will NEVER be the Yankees. The Yanks just don't choke like that.

2011 Red Sox may have choked, but the 2004 Yankees prolapsed in comparison.

 

[deadheadskier]

Yanks don't choke? 2004?

Not denying that this was one of the worst regular season collapses in sports history. To be honest, as a fan, it didn't hurt so much. Brett Boone's 2003 dagger hurt more. I gave up watching this Red Sox team pretty much in July. No heart. There have been teams in the past that had zero chance of making the playoffs, but I still watched them til the end of the season because they still gave it all they had. This Sox team never did that. Whenever down by a couple of runs late in a game, they folded and didn't battle. They were way too cocky from the start figuring the 100 win roster on paper was all that mattered. You still have to play the game hard everyday to win 100 games.

 

[snowmonster]

You can't be a baseball man and have a short memory. The latest choke will always be the "most monumental."

There have been many, many late season collapses. Without even going to google, I can name the '51 Dodgers, the '64 Phillies, the '78 Red Sox, the '07 Mets and the '11 Red Sox and Braves (two teams united by a Boston connection) off the top of my head. Giving up a late season lead in the standings is a choke. But, it happens more often than we think it does so it can't be the Mt. Everest of choke-dom. To go into any discussion of the most monumental choke, you have to go into uncharted territory. For that, my nomination goes to the '04 Yankees in the ALCS. Before that, no other baseball team had lost a 3-0 lead in a 7 game series. To lose a series when past experience shows that 100% of the teams in that same situation would win it has to be THE monumental choke job.

And, yes, subsequent to that, any baseball team that was up 3-0 in a 7 game series (e.g., the '04 and '07 Red Sox) went on to win that series.

 

[2knees]

It is certainly up for discussion.

But, either way, I figured it was certainly a bust and choke worthy of its own thread.

Sorry guys, but even with that recent series under their belts, the Sox will NEVER be the Yankees. The Yanks just don't choke like that. IMHO, they are the best professional sports franchise, period. As long as you define "best" as winning.

(p.s. I'm a Met fan!).

huh? sox have the record for blowing the biggest lead in september in 111 years.

Yanks are the only team in the history of baseball to lose a PLAYOFF series after being up 3-0.

which is worse? that is debatable but to say the "yankees dont choke like that" is rewriting history to suit your attempt at riling up sox fans.

I give you an F-.

 

[Nick]

Haha. I <3 this thread.

 

[deadheadskier]

Reports out there right now say Francona is gone

 

[soposkier]

I would say the Yankees Choked in 2004 while the red sox just sucked in september.

To choke I think you have to care, the Red Sox had no heart in September. Wednesday night wasn't even that upsetting, sure with the timing of the Rays winning and everything it was disappoingting, but the Red Sox had plenty of chances to clinch that playoff spot.

The Yankees in 2004 were playing for a place in the World Series and choked it away. The Red Sox played like they didn't care for a month and couldnt even beat the one of the worst teams in baseball. (Baltimore)

 

[marcski]

Haha. I <3 this thread.

Me too! :grin:

While they were the first to lose a 7 game series after being up 3-0, the '04 yanks were still playing baseball in October. The '11 sox are playing golf!

Snowmonster summed it up best with this:

You can't be a baseball man and have a short memory. The latest choke will always be the "most monumental."

Like I said I'm a Met fan....so I have a lot to say.

 

[TheBEast]

I was hopeful for a playoff birth (but didn't expect them to make it far seeing how they played in September), but alas the Orioles are the spoiler and the loly Rays (who didn't even sell half the seats in their stadium for Wednesday's game) come up with heart, and sometimes that's what you need to win.

Tom Carron and Remmy noted after the game about the conditioning of the Sox team this year. It was interesting to hear them call out the players as not taking their physical conditioning as serious as they should have. Like others have said, they took it as a given that they'd make the playoffs and despite saying they cared and battled every day, it didn't seem like it in the end. And starting the year 2-10, let's not forget that. It will be interesting to see how this off season plays out and what heads roll. First prediction: Drew is gone and Crawford moves to right. And for god's sake Theo NO MORE BIG free agent deals....you've proven to be very inept at spending BOAT loads of money on guys who can't step it up and help the team WIN!

Ok a bit of a rant. I'm done. Hats off to the Rays for making to the post season. I still think Philly will take it all at this point, but time will tell. How do you beat that rotation of theirs?

 

[Black Phantom]

You can't be a baseball man and have a short memory. The latest choke will always be the "most monumental."

There have been many, many late season collapses. Without even going to google, I can name the '51 Dodgers, the '64 Phillies, the '78 Red Sox, the '07 Mets and the '11 Red Sox and Braves (two teams united by a Boston connection) off the top of my head. Giving up a late season lead in the standings is a choke. But, it happens more often than we think it does so it can't be the Mt. Everest of choke-dom. To go into any discussion of the most monumental choke, you have to go into uncharted territory. For that, my nomination goes to the '04 Yankees in the ALCS. Before that, no other baseball team had lost a 3-0 lead in a 7 game series. To lose a series when past experience shows that 100% of the teams in that same situation would win it has to be THE monumental choke job.

And, yes, subsequent to that, any baseball team that was up 3-0 in a 7 game series (e.g., the '04 and '07 Red Sox) went on to win that series.

Tell me how the 78 Red Sox "choked".

 

[deadheadskier]

Tell me how the 78 Red Sox "choked".

Boston Massacre?

Sox had a 4 game lead on the Yankees in the middle of September, Yankees came to town and swept the Sox, tying the division.

At one point in July of that season, the Sox had something like a 15 game lead on the Yanks.

They did finish the season strong, but the inconsistent play of that years team is what draws comparison to the 2011 squad.

 

[BMac]

Francona is gone.

 

[snowmonster]

Tell me how the 78 Red Sox "choked".

Boston Massacre?

Sox had a 4 game lead on the Yankees in the middle of September, Yankees came to town and swept the Sox, tying the division.

At one point in July of that season, the Sox had something like a 15 game lead on the Yanks.

They did finish the season strong, but the inconsistent play of that years team is what draws comparison to the 2011 squad.

This.

Yes, I know that the 78 guys finished the season with an 8 game winning streak so they aren't in the same boat as the '11 Sox. But, think about it. Before this collapse, as a Sox fan, there were two seasons that stood out in memory as being the epitome of the Sox's bad luck: '78 and '86. When the latter happened, you felt like the Sox were cursed and had really bad luck. The former, that felt more like the Sox couldn't will themselves out of a bad situation.

 

[JimG.]

With the sox you get higher highs and lower lows. The yankes are kinda even keel / boring. :uzi:

Boring to a sox fan because they win all the time.

They weren't boring in '77-'78; Reggie hitting 3 homers on 3 pitches to clinch '77 wasn't boring.

They weren't boring in '96 either.

 

[JimG.]

Tell me how the 78 Red Sox "choked".

They truly didn't...won 100 games.

Yanks caught them. To me the most amazing regular season race ever.

 

[Geoff]

Emotionally, 1978 (and the 1986 Word Series) was a much bigger deal. This year, we had a month to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the Red Sox were either going to not make the playoffs at all or get swept in the first round by any other team. I'm kind of glad that Tampa is in the playoffs. The Red Sox didn't deserve it.

...and I hope the f-ing pink hats and suits stop going to Fenway so it's possible to get tickets at retail. It really sucks having to shell out 2x face value because all the corporations have bought up the season tickets for any decent seat in the ballpark.

 

[kickstand]

...and I hope the f-ing pink hats and suits stop going to Fenway so it's possible to get tickets at retail. It really sucks having to shell out 2x face value because all the corporations have bought up the season tickets for any decent seat in the ballpark.

+1

Honestly, I'm happy they lost, not just because it was a hard team to like, but also to show all these fair-weather, pink hat, "Sweet Caroline"-loving "fans" what it's REALLY like to be a Sox fan. We've been spoiled over the last 8 years by this organization. Kids who are 16 years old know nothing about '78, '86, '99. Look, I'm all for growing the fan base, but when that new fan base is more concerned about singing "Sweet Caroline" or who cute player in center field is, I don't want 'em. Hopefully it will be easier to get tickets at face value in the next couple of seasons.

 

[snowmonster]

^ File under: Be Careful What You Wish For.

This was exactly the same thought I had an hour after the game ended on Wednesday -- it'll be easier to get tickets to Fenway again. Maybe they'll start giving away free batting helmets to kids like they used to. Then again, I backed off the cliff when I realized that that probably meant our record was 62-100.