Early season struggles

©Kayla Chadwick 2013

It took the Red Sox getting swept by the Brewers, but I'm officially ready to put the glory of last season behind me. As fun as it's been to bask in the afterglow of 2013 (the ring ceremony was very moving - though the production team in charge of the livestream left something to be desired), it's time to "turn the page," as the Sox are fond of saying.

Red Sox fans my age and younger never suffered through periods of sustained mediocrity; it would be easy for us to be satisfied with three World Series wins in the last decade. But luckily we have the older generation to remind us how to panic when the Sox get swept in the second series of the season.

Though I don't think it's time for hysterics, it's also no time to shrug off the early season doldrums. This team has already matched the longest losing streak of 2013. Obviously, it's exceptionally rare for a team to never lose four straight games - and it's not that I expect that kind of incredible achievement from this year's squad.

But even without that kind of expectation, I am certainly hopeful that the Red Sox will make a serious run at repeating - and they can't do that if they can't score runs when it counts.