Red Sox must leave glory in past

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The bloody socks have been sent on to Cooperstown. The victorious ball has been pried from the cold, Met fingers of Doug Mientkiewicz. A-Rod has been gleefully spanked, ad nauseum, and the obligatory White House visit awaits them next week.

So, what now for the Boston Red Sox?

The world-champion Boston Red Sox, in case you still don't believe the Idiots really pulled it off.

For a team that has embraced the slogan "Wait Until Last Year!" how do you approach this year — when last year was so sublime, so ridiculously beautiful, that it will forever live in legend and only grow in eminence among its fans?

Well, for one thing, you usher out 40 percent of the starting rotation, including the best pitcher in the team's history (Pedro Martinez) and the guy that won the clincher in all three playoff series (Derek Lowe).

You re-tool with David Wells and Matt Clement, upgrade at shortstop with Edgar Renteria, gussy up the bullpen and then work like crazy to make sure that you don't get swept away in all the Red Sox love that has been flowing your way all winter.

"That would be the human response, to keep living off that," admitted second baseman Mark Bellhorn.

After all, it's not a bad feeling to know that you'll never have to buy a beer in Boston the rest of your lives, and to have weeping New Englanders constantly expressing their everlasting gratitude.

If the Red Sox players didn't know the scope of their achievement last October, they certainly do now.

"It really hit me when we had the reception of the people in New England," said catcher Jason Varitek. "When it goes from, 'Congratulations,' to they don't congratulate you, they thank you. It kind of puts life into perspective a little bit."

"I quit going to Boston," said Red Sox reliever Alan Embree, who spends the winter in his native Vancouver, Wash. "You get worn out. You were recognized throughout the country. I didn't realize how many people watched that series.

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"It just seemed like it wasn't just about the team and the individuals on it; it was what it did for our fans, for New England, period. Seeing everyone around the country wearing Boston hats, no matter where you went. Some of them were bandwagon, and some were just legitimate diehards. You'd have people coming up, 'I'm from Mass.' You'd be in Portland, Oregon, going, 'What are you doing here?' But it was a great experience."

Embree said the magnitude of the Sox title didn't hit him until he was elk hunting near Vancouver, a month after the World Series.

"You sit back, pretty much me and the mountain, and all of a sudden — 'Oh, crap. We won the World Series. It's kind of a big deal.'

"It was all quiet and peaceful, and all of a sudden, I just had this thought. I forget where I was. I was replaying the games in my head after that. The endings of each one of them. It was dramatic, all of it. You didn't get a chance to soak that in because of all the hoopla."

Now, as they toil at their spring camp here, the Sox's goal is to minimize the hoopla, which isn't easy. Not when your team is being voraciously covered by the media — and not just from New England.

In what is likely an unprecedented development, the New York papers have been covering the Red Sox camp on nearly a daily basis all spring, so huge has become interest in their rivalry.

That led, inevitably, to the rash of A-Rod baiting early in camp, before general manager Theo Epstein gently urged the team to tone down the anti-Yankees rhetoric — at least until the two teams meet in Yankee Stadium on opening day, Curt Schilling (ankle willing) against Randy Johnson.

That cataclysmic event will be followed by the Red Sox's mega-cataclysmic home opener at Fenway Park, also against the Yankees, when their World Series rings will be distributed in the best way possible — in front of pinstripes.

"Since I've been here, Red Sox-Yankees has doubled in expectations," Embree said. "Every year it's gotten more intense. We look at the Yankees like, they're built like us and we're built like them. It's fun to play at that level. But it wears you out. We've played some exhausting games."

The Sox insist they will be able to put aside the euphoria that began last October and carried over through the winter.

"This group of guys we have here, they're baseball players," said Kevin Millar. "We get it. You're not looking at a bunch of guys that don't understand we have a lot of work ahead of us. Everyone worked as hard as they ever have this offseason, which is a sign we're ready to work."

"Like they said in the first meeting, as good as it was, it's in the past now," added Bellhorn. "We've got to move on. You don't want to forget it. You want to keep the same swagger, the same confidence that team had. This team is definitely capable of that. We just have to find out what can drive us to do it again.

The Sox believe they have a chance to be even better with a healthy Trot Nixon available all season, an improved bullpen and an upgrade at shortstop.

But as Bellhorn said, "We'll find out. It's tough to say when you had the first team in 86 years in Boston to win a World Series — kind of hard to say this is a better team."

It may turn out to be just that, and who knows? The Red Sox, once a franchise defined by near-misses, might be ready for a run of championships.

But one thing is certain: Even if they have a better team, they'll never, ever have a better winter.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com