Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry

Photo By Kelly O from www.sittingstill.net

I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamed that Johan Santana was a member of the Red Sox. Theo had traded Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie, Justin Masterson, Coco Crisp, and one other prospect, to get him.

He was making his second Spring Training start, against the Marlins, and was doing pretty well, striking out 5 through two innings, while giving up only one hit-a single- and no walks. This is where it gets pretty weird. The camera flashed to the Sox' dugout, where Beckett was sitting, glaring out at the field, in his Becketty way. He suddenly looked up and down the bench, as though searching for someone in particular. After seemingly failing to find whoever he was searching for, he broke out into a long string of swear words, then went back to glaring out at the field. This time the glare seemed different, less like he wanted to go out there and snatch the ball for Santana's hand and pitch for him, because y'know, Beckett could do it better, and more like he wanted to go out there and beat Santana up.

This is when I woke up, and wrote my dream down before I could forget it. As I was writing it down, I suddenly realized who he was looking for. Of course it had to be Jon Lester! Lester, who tries to emulate Beckett, following him around like a lost puppy. I think Beckett missed that. I think that Beckett truly loves Lester, and loves that Lester looks up to him.

I know that this probably won't make sense on a practical level, but this dream made me realize how glad I am that the Sox didn't trade for Santana. Was he pitching extremely well? Yes he was. Would Lester have pitched better if he were in that game? Probably not. So why am I so happy that we have Lester instead of Santana?

I think it boils down to the reason the Sox won the World Series. They have become a family, wanting to win, not for themselves, but for each other. I think this is what separates the Sox from every other team. Do other teams have good chemistry, and enjoy playing with one another? Absolutely. But none of those teams have pirate themed bullpens, a manager in love with their second baseman, a left fielder that randomly gives away cars and watches to his teammates, and none of those teams have Big Papi, the hugging machine.

This team truly loves one another. They love spending over half the year with each other. You could see it in their eyes all throughout the post season. You could see it when Timlin told Wakey that they won the World Series for him, you could see it when they reacted to JD Drew's Grand Slam, you could see it as Lugo jumped into Manny's arms after he finally broke out of his slump, and you could see it as Royce Clayton- who probably had about 10 AB's for the Sox all year, and struck out in about 8 of them- climbed on top of the table to hold the WS trophy.

I hope that we will witness many more of these events in the future, because they have come to define the team that, just a few years ago, felt like 25 individuals out there playing baseball, and now feels like one.