The statement “they’re not booing, they’re saying “Yoooouuuuukkkk” may never be more relevant than it will be tomorrow night.
There’s no real reason to believe that Boston fans would ever greet Kevin Youkilis with a smattering of boos, other than the simple fact that he’s playing for the opposing team. There’s no question that its been hard to watch such a beloved player, such an important piece to the franchise over the past eight years, find great success in a city, and on a team, that isn’t the Boston Red Sox. Even so, if Youkilis’ reception after his last at bat is any indication, all signs point to him receiving a standing ovation when he steps to the plate in the top of the first inning. And he deserves every second of it. Youk was a part of two world series teams, one as a bench player, and the other as an invaluable piece to the team. Youk will be a sock for life, even if the colors of the uniform change, the memories have already been made.
But as everyone knows by now, Youkilis isn’t the only player returning to Fenway Park tomorrow night. And while cheers and ovations are all but a guarantee for the Youk, it’s almost impossible to predict the greeting that Carl Crawford will receive.
If we’re going by strictly numbers, then Crawford should be booed out of the park. In his first year of an enormous seven-year 142 million dollar contract, Crawford put up career worst numbers in just about every offensive category, hitting for a miserable .255/.289/.405 line.
Yet, all season, through all the miserable losses, through all the patched together lineups, and the shoddy starting rotation, there has been one common theme to this season: wait until they get healthy.
Well, here we are.
Dustin Pedroia and Andrew Bailey are still absent, and Daniel Bard is still channeling Rick Ankiel down at Pawtucket, but besides from that, the Red Sox are going to have every key player of their projected 2012 in Fenway Park to open the series against the White Sox.
It’s time to put up or shut up for this team. They’ve used the excuse of injuries all year, and finally that’s close to not being a valid complaint anymore.
It’s hard to predict exactly how Crawford is going to perform now that he’s back, especially with all the circulating worry about his elbow, which now will certainly require surgery once the season is over (or perhaps before that depending on how he plays). The left fielder played in eleven games over his rehab stint, hitting .306 in 44 at bats. So, he’s definitely capable of playing, the question is how long will he able to go at an everyday rate, and perhaps more importantly, will he be a threat on the base paths? Crawford’s greatest asset is arguably his speed, which factors into his strong career defensive metrics, but also his ability to wreck havock when he reaches base. The injuries he’s sustained have been in his wrist and elbow, so his legs shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s still hard to say exactly how much those injuries will affect his overall game.
Youkilis, on the other hand, has been firing on all cylinders since the day he donned a White Sox uniform. The easy narrative is that Youk feels rejuvenated now that he’s out of Boston, and feels that he has something to prove. That very well may be true, but it’s important to keep in mind both that his time so far in Chicago is very small sample size to suddenly be jumping to quick conclusions based off of, and that he was due for an increase in offensive performance to begin with. At the end of the day, no matter how well Youkilis hits for the remainder of the season, the Red Sox made the right decision by trading him. Will Middlebrooks was ready to play everyday, and the growing tension with Valentine and Youkilis was getting tough to handle. Both Middlebrooks and Youkilis were not benefiting from having to sit every other day, and especially for a rookie, that can be damaging to ones performance at the plate. Middlebrooks has a bright future in Boston, and it was his time.
Boston has a tough road ahead, there’s no question about that. They’re mired 9.5 games behind the Yankees in the division, and have an almost impossibly tough schedule for the remainder of July. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Youkilis come up big during this series at Fenway, as he has so many times in the past. But if there was ever a time for Boston to turn it around, it’s now.
There are plenty of reasons to boo Carl Crawford tonight. Whether it be his performance last year, or his absence for the entirety of this year so far. But the Red Sox finally healthy? Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury finally in the same lineup for the first time this season? In my book, that’s certainly a reason to cheer.