Peter Gammons has it about right in his latest ESPN.com commentary, I suppose, although my take is probably less charitable. I’m glad Petey, the gods love his spiteful little soul, finally came through and helped the Sox win it all, but now that the Curse® is broken it’s time for the Sox to move on and spend that money elsewhere.

See, Pedro Martinez was the Red Sox’ crack. He was the thing they were addicted to, the thing that made it all better – while it lasted. Of course, like all of the best recreational drugs, it never lasted more than about six innings. And crack kills.

Specifically, their addiction to the Pedro Crack killed the Sox shot at the Series in 2003, and it damned sure killed Grady Little. I mean, it’s Pedro, ferpeteysake, and a tired Pedro still has to be better than anything we have in the pen, right? That’s how crack sounds when it gets your brain all jacked and velvety. But let’s face it, Aaron Fucking Boone didn’t do anything that a million of us didn’t see coming. But Grady, like the Sox organization and its fans, had it bad. The Pedro Crack had its hooks in him deep.

Now the Mets front office (The Boys of January) are serving up a dish of cold turkey, and while it may hurt for a little while, trust me – you’ll feel better once the shaking stops.