Bob Lobel: Pushing the Panic Button on the Red Sox

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

That, my friends, is the honest to goodness, real panic button as seen for a couple of decades on local television. 

The key to its effectiveness was minimal use. Threaten to use it frequently, but only rarely roll it out. What does qualify as an appropriate moment to use it? One would be an inordinate amount of requests for it. 

Yes, I have had an inordinate number of requests, that appear to be justified, based on the recent play of your Boston Red Sox. The real issue was the overwhelming belief that this team was, even with mediocre pitching, a playoff team. Expectations, in other words, were way off the charts. 

Now, unless something dramatic turns things around, they will very soon be the worst team in the worst division. In the power rankings they are right around 27. Here is my take on what would be a legitimate comparison to men of John Farrell.  

Last winter would be the perfect comparison to this performance so far. Last winter never stopped coming at us with snow, cold, wind, more snow and still more snow. That so far describes what is happening to the Red Sox. When will the snow stop and when will the losing cease? 

They really made a big push on the now available Cuban players with little to show for it. Like a snowy road, the season is slip-sliding away before our very eyes. Calls for firing the General Manager and the manager are beginning to be heard from Coos, NH to the sea. 

How did this happen? 

For one thing, no one was really paying attention as long as the golden boy was involved with the inflatable footballs that weren’t inflated, or so it has been said. 

Now, the fan base waits for a commissioner pardon, and while it's still waiting, it has time to pay attention to the baseball team. 

It has been a long winter that apparently isn’t ending quite yet. So the panic button might as well be of some use. It doesn’t work standing alone in the back of a garage. It is time to use it. 

It does show we care. However, once the Brady decision is rendered, the panic button may be the only thing remembered this 2015, besides the winter of out discontent. 

Time to end it, now!