4/16/05 – The Next Pope vs. Some Dope

It’s time for Jose Melendez’s KEYS TO THE GAME.

Jose makes his season debut tonight, attending the game with SoSH poster Lushess255, best known for his appearance in the upper right hand corner of some photos of Friday night’s unpleasantness. Last year Lushess255 sent out a Christmas card that showed him looking out over the Fenway field in a contemplative pose. Somehow, Jose suspects that his Christmas card this year will show him screaming with blood lust for Sheffield and the offending fan to throw down. Both are good images for the holiday season.

Jose makes his debut tonight amidst significant concern over how he ended last season. Jose’s 2004 was a lot like Kevin Millar’s 2003. He started off red hot, going 8-1 and then ended the year a horrific, 0-4 including a disastrous 19-8 loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS. (Note: Okay, so we know now that it wasn’t disastrous, but it sure seemed like it at the time.)

So the question tonight is will we see the good Jose from the first three quarters of 2004 or the bad, burnt out Jose from the stretch run. Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain – if Jose doesn’t start winning, his demands that John W. Henry give him free tickets to promote good karma will fall on deaf ears. Of course, even if they win Jose’s first 10 games, his pleas will still fall on deaf ears, so actually there’s no difference. Never mind. Please disregard this KEY.

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