But, in retrospect, we got too far ahead of ourselves. And so now the baseball gods have humbled us on account of our hubris. We dared to tempt fate, believing that the Sox might finally cast off the cursed mantle of 82 years of futility. But alas, our pride was found to be in excess and we were struck down in the sight of our enemies, namely the ever-loathsome front-runners who hail from the Bronx.

Even still, surely no team deserved as much calamity as befell Boston this year. The first casualty of outrageous fortune came before the season even started, as promising righthanded starter Juan Pena went down with a season-ending arm injury in spring training. Third baseman John Valentin was Boston's next victim, as a freak play in the infield disabled him for the year.

Pedro, meanwhile, was cursed by a lack of run support all season, receiving a grand total of just seven runs in his six losses this season. Carl Everett, whose slugging skills were supposed to finally replace the bat of Mo Vaughn, was revealed to be little more than a whack job, whose off-the-field tantrums overshadowed his team-leading home run total. Perhaps the four teams that released Carl prior to his joining the Red Sox knew something we didn't.

Despite all the turmoil, though, the Sox might still have had a shot at the postseason had their efforts not been undermined by the ineptness of Sox general (mis)manager Dan Duquette. After pledging in that now-infamous SI article last spring to make a serious bid for an impact player to help put the Sox over the top, Duquette sat idly by while the trading deadline came and went last July. While the Yankees bolstered their roster with the likes of Denny Neagle, Dave Justice, and Jose Canseco, the Duke brought us the immortal Ed Sprague, Mike Lansing, and Sean Berry.

In the process, Duquette has sent the Sox' payroll soaring to George Steinbrenner-type levels, sans the output on the field. As a result, Red Sox management will likely find itself in the unavoidable situation of having to raise ticket prices, which are already the highest in the majors, in order to cover its inflated spending.

And so there seems to be no hope for this cursed ballclub either now or in the immediate future. It's enough to make anyone want to hurl himself off a bridge.

Looking back, Sox fans might have been better off had they employed more caution in their approach to following this team. Perhaps we should not have allowed ourselves to get carried away with enthusiasm, so that we might never have been so greatly disappointed. Likely, we were foolish to not temper our passions that we might avoid the extremes of short-lived highs and devastating lows that mark the passage of each Boston summer.