Adios, Mighty Dirt Dog

Photo credit: Boston Globe.

Every dynasty has its sunset, most after the final championship.  In 2004, the Boston Red Sox ended the curse and won their first World Series in 86 years.  It maybe wasn't a proper dynasty--they only won one more Series--but considering what came before, we'll take it.  That members of that team--Pedro, Derek Lowe, Curt Schilling, Jason Varitek, Mark Bellhorn, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon, and Manny--are all gone.  Even Tito's gone.  You could argue that as long as David Ortiz remains with the Sox, the era hasn't ended.  But really, today it did.

Youk is gone. 

The great era of the Red Sox in the aughts will be remembered for the idiots and the dirt dogs, and chief among them is Kevin Youkilis.  The hardest working man in baseball and perhaps the most unlikely star (Michael Lewis called him "Euclis, the Greek God of Walks" in Moneyball), he didn't look like a ball player and he had the weirdest stance in baseball.  But for those reasons, he was always one of the most beloved members of the Red Sox.  Youk was having a rough year and he's had injury trouble lately, so there were business reasons to make the trade to Chicago.  Still, I can't imagine there's anyone in Red Sox Nation who doesn't feel that the earth has just shifted under our feet.   I mean, Brandon Roy and now Youkilis?  Change sucks.