Where are we going so quickly...

...and why are we in this handbasket?

Honestly, the loss is secondary. You don't fuck around with David Ortiz's health. You just don't. We forget sometimes but the man is human, like the rest of us, albeit subsisting on a diet of rice, beans, drywall nails and motor oil. And as such, he needs to be taken care of. So let's take care of that, because regardless of this season, we need David Ortiz around. He's what makes baseball in Boston fun.

It would also be hilarious, if it weren't true, that this team has Tito spitting up blood. As mentioned on the SGMB, if it were fake and he was just using it to rile the troops, it'd be the greatest motivational tactic ever. But it's not. It's real. Scary.

So this is where we sit, our manager coughing up blood, our star sluggers out with heart issues and a balky knee, our starting catcher rehabbing his own knee traumas and someone with the alleged name of "Kason Gabbard" starting games for us. Forgive me for bringing the New England doom and gloom, but things aren't looking too rosy around these parts right about now.

But you know what I realized? This is what it's like to be a fan of nearly every other team. You go into the season with the highest of hopes and your sights set on the brightest of futures but if you were being honest with yourself, you'd know that your team isn't going to be playing baseball in October. And yet somehow, you still manage to watch and love the game. Because it's not all about playoffs. And it's not all about winning the World Series every year or the season's a disappointment. Unless you're the Yankees. And frankly, I don't want to live like that.

I am sure some of you think this is a cop out on my part. "She's throwing in the towel and conceding." No, I'm not. Stranger things have happened. What I'm saying is, maybe I should just start watching the games, not as a means to an end, but as an end in and of themselves. Because baseball is still baseball. And we likely only have a month of it left. The cooler temps around these parts lately have reminded me that soon, it'll be football season. And while I loves me some football, I realized that when it's gone this year, I'm going to miss baseball tremendously. So maybe now I start watching it for the little things. Like the flawlessly executed double play. Or the hit and run. (Ha! Just kidding. The Sox haven't executed a successful hit and run since the Nixon administration). Or the David Ortiz home run. Maybe the smaller things become the bigger picture. Because if there's one thing we know, it's that we don't know anything.

Apologies for the lack of snark today but the weather's made me feel all transcendental and reflective or some shit and I needed to get that out. Also, I'm not awake yet and need to dive headfirst into a giant vat of coffee.