Were Sox too arrogant about themselves entering the season? NAY: Their talent justified great expectations

On April Fool’s Day, after the Texas Rangers had denied Terry Francona’s ballclub the right to make this a wire-to-wire job, the Red Sox manager still sounded upbeat.”To be honest with you, the expectations in our clubhouse are high,” Tito told MLB.com. “They should be. That’s what’s important to us.”Two weeks later, the Sox are 2-9, stuck in last place in the American League East, and their fans are sounding like the people who went to see Charlie Sheen at Agganis Arena the other night and then walked out at intermission. Yet the Sox and their fans had every reason to believe their self-generated hype.Think about the lineup additions. General manager Theo Epstein brought in two players who evoked the stars that helped Boston break the Curse in 2004. Adrian Gonzalez can mash like Manny Ramirez, sans steroids, while Carl Crawford is as dangerous on the bases as Johnny Damon once was ? maybe even more so.Meanwhile, the 2011 team was getting back key players who missed time due to injury last season – speedsters Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia; the power-hitting Kevin Youkilis; and onetime ace Josh Beckett. It’s hard to see how the revitalized team and its fans couldn’t imagine themselves doing anything other than celebrating a World Series championship this fall.Recent history in the East was also encouraging. The Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles have been also-rans for years (Baltimore’s 34-23 finish under Buck Showalter notwithstanding). The Tampa Bay Rays lost Crawford to the Sox ? and just about all of their middle relief (including another Boston pickup, Dan Wheeler). Only the New York Yankees looked to challenge ? but Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova were hardly Ron Guidry and Catfish Hunter.Every sign in the world, then, seemed to point toward success for – and justify the arrogance of – the Red Sox. Even a doubter like yours truly, who did not see them making the Series, still felt they would do well in the regular season. Let us hope that some remnant of their estimated talent still lingers to fuel a successful season.Rich Tenorio is The Item’s sports copy editor.