Weekend Buzz: Reaching success in different ways

BOSTON -- The Weekend Buzz while you were dumping your liquids before stepping onto an airplane:

1. Boston Massacre: And now for the explanation as to exactly how the Boston Red Sox are vulnerable enough to get their rear ends handed to them four consecutive times by the New York Yankees. ...

The Red Sox can't figure out how to keep Bobby Abreu off the bases. (Getty Images)

Their pockets aren't nearly as deep as those of the Yankees, so every now and then things like getting hammered three in a row are going to happen to the Sox as they reload, and that's life, and deal with it.

Those weren't the exact words Boston general manager Theo Epstein used in discussing the dire state of affairs around the Fens before Sunday's gruesome 8-5, 10-inning loss, but it's a pretty good working Yale-to-English translation.

Essentially, in the eyes of the Red Sox front office, the Yankees have transformed from the "Evil Empire" to an uber-team, a phrase that surely will elicit an entertaining response from Fort Steinbrenner.

Epstein said that this year's Red Sox team has a smaller margin for error than others because they're in the process of blending in some youngsters, such as starting pitcher Jon Lester, reliever Manny Delcarmen, closer Jonathan Papelbon and others (and possibly soon, second base prospect Dustin Pedroia).

"Sometimes you don't have an uber-team," Epstein said. "That's not our dynamic. We're not going to have an uber-team every year.

"We try to build a team to win 95 games. We're going to have years where we have less margin for error. That's part of the process."

What's significant in Epstein's words, apart from the addition of another catchphrase in Red Sox lexicon for their rivals, is that they further define the GM's vision for his team after last winter's rift with CEO Larry Lucchino resulted in Epstein's resignation as GM.

Epstein returned only after, if not clearly winning a power struggle, at least being given plenty of latitude to implement his philosophy.

"Since I've been the GM ... we've never focused exclusively on the now, and we never will," he said while his Red Sox stood at 6-12 for the month of August. "We're not going to change just because of a tough month.

"We are not the Yankees. We admire the Yankees. I admire the Yankees. I respect them. But ... when they are beating us I said that, and when we were beating them I said that, we have to do things differently.

"Our approach is a little bit different. Given our resources relative to the Yankees, we feel our best way to compete with them year in and year out is to keep one eye on the now and one eye on the future and to build something that can sustain success.