When the Boston Red Sox began their season losing six straight games and having one of the worst Aprils in their history, it seemed as if it were over.
Fortunately, that losing streak was a hiccup, a minor skin irritation, but now it seems the symptoms have become full blown.
The Sox, to their great resiliency, came back and played far beyond what the opening week suggested. They looked almost like what the stats sheet said they would appear to be.
Alas, the injury bug has hit like Contagion, the new hit movie about a pandemic.
Forget Bird Flu or Swine Flu. We now have caught Red Sox Flu, which is not to be confused with Red Sox fever.
As the new movie Contagion states, nothing spreads like fear, and now, Sox fans, the panic is about to set in.
The injury bug has gone viral.
Don’t talk to other Sox fans. Don’t touch Red Sox memorabilia. You may spread the fear that the Sox are looking at a fight to stay in the Wild Card slot.
The latest bug has bitten Kevin Youkilis. The Red Sox medical staff, which borders on malpractice at best, recently returned the third baseman to the lineup, and now his hipbone is detaching from the leg bone.
Another MRI is just what the doctor ordered.
Sox fans may demand that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) be sent to Boston to learn what kind of voodoo has cursed the Red Sox just when they looked ready to win a third title in this decade.
If we look for a common factor in the rampant injuries that have beset the Red Sox, we find only a sad excuse to use as a salve when the crying is over.
Last year, the Sox lost Jacoby Ellsbury to the injury bug, and this year, they may lose the entire team.
Unless there is a Jonas Salk or Louis Pasteur in the Red Sox trainer’s room, we fear the gremlin that attacks the team. If only we had nothing to fear but fear itself, we might feel confident.
Alas, injury bugs often run the course of a season.
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