The phone calls didn't start until Sunday. "Are you all right?" "Still mourning?"

Rest assured everyone; I'm fine. In fact, I'm not depressed at all. I'm relieved. It's hard work being a Red Sox fan.

I no longer have to stay up nights and worry about the Yankees.

I now get a break from the nightly, three-hour ritual of cheering and jeering. My stress level should now level off a bit.

Surprising? Maybe. But this year's team wasn't like last year's. Expectations may have been high but the tools to do the job were never in place.

The Boston Herald takes a look at the up and down season.

What went wrong? Well, there were a number of holes in 2005.

Starting with pitching, pitching and more pitching.

No offense to our young guys (Papelbon, Hansen and Delcarmen) - who will undoubtedly be something special in the very near future - but seeing them in such pressure situations was simply ridiculous. There time will come, but it was too soon to ask them to carry the team.

Keith Foulke. His injury and, I suspect, lack of focus was especially harmful. Mike Timlin filled in admirably but the Curt Schilling experiment didn't do anything but expose a weakness.

Speaking of Curt Schilling... I respect him, but how many of his teammates do? His, err, devotion, helped ruin the chemistry that brought Boston a World Series Championship. I think the team thought Schilling was running the ship. After all, he had some influence in the manager's job; he decided to go the the pen and be the closer. Heck, he even decided when to come out of games. No one player should have that much power. Not even Boston's newest hero.

With Schilling's injury, there was never a fifth starter. Wade Miller tried to fill that hole, but he too was still banged up from the year before and ended up back on the D.L. Without a fifth, the pressure on the rest was great.

And then there is the manager, Terry Francona. He is a good off-the-field guy. I'm sure he keeps a lot of egos from running in check, but his in-game decisions are suspect. I question his leadership and his ability to handle the pitching staff.

Now, David Wells is talking retirement (doubtful); Schilling is a year older; Miller won't return to form; Bronson Arroyo is unreliable. So, I wonder what the Red Sox need to do over the winter?

How about take a stab at either Billy Wagner or better yet B.J. Ryan, both are hard-throwing lefties who can close a game. Wagner has the better numbers but is 34. I think it's over for Foulke, though he may make a good set-up man.

Let's also take a stab at A.J. Burnett. Yes, I understand that he left the Marlins on bad terms. He was frustrated and wanted to win. If you take out his September numbers (lost four of his last five starts), is numbers would be stellar (3.05 ERA; 1.56 WHIP) He finished the year with 198Ks in 203 innings and opponents only batted .237 against him. In fact, even with a bad September he would have lead the Red Sox in those categories. He's only 28.

Another starter the Sox should at least look at is Kevin Millwood. He's coming off a particularly good year, though his winning percentage wasn't great. He's 30 and finished the year with a 2.86 ERA and a WHIP of 1.22. Worth a look. Besides, he was brought up in the Braves organization and learned a lot from the likes of John Smoltz and Greg Maddux. We all know how good their pitching has been year in, year out.

Last year this team was deep. But this year, we only had depth at first and I question that move. Kevin Millar was virtually useless in my view. In fact, I would have much rather seen John Olerud everyday than see Millar. With that in mind, I would hope Olerud will stay on as a back up to Paul Konerko - who consistantly hit for power and plays better defense than Millar. He's only 29 and has had back-to-back 40-100 seasons. Tampa Bay's Aubrey Huff may be available as well. As is Milwaukee's Lyle Overbay.

Third base may be a question. I don't really have the faith that most do in Kevin Youkilis. I'd try hard to resign Bill Mueller - if for no other reason - he played brilliant defense. He is also the best No. 8 hitter in the game. Rumor has it, he 's gone.

Say what you will about Big Papi and Manny, to me, Johnny Damon is the key to this offense. If he is not on base, they don't score runs. Boston should make every effort to re-sign him. There are no other good centerfielders available. I realize his arm is poor, but defense only counts in the playoffs. Damon, I suspect, also wants out.

There are a number of rumors about the Red Sox trading Manny, again. I'm sure the organization will make another go at it. In general, I hope they fail. I've thought about this often and it would take an awful lot to fill those shiny shoes. I'm sure Pedro is doing his best to talk the Mets into acquiring his buddy, but Carlos Beltran is not enough; though a trade involving him is a heck of a lot better than one involving Mike Cameron.

Tony Graffanino - despite his error - should be given a short-term contract. I know he'll be looking for more than a one-year deal, but it's worth a try. Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez, though very promising, are not quite ready. In fact, the only guy I can see coming up from the minors is Papelbon.

One more thing. The Sox must keep Theo Epstein. I don't always agree with him either. (Did anyone see what Jay Payton did after leaving the Sox?) But, if they lose this young, talented GM all of Red Sox Nation will be saying "wait until next year" for a lot more than the next five months.

Now that the Red Sox have been eliminated, I'll put my support behind the Houston Astros (Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio are among my favorite players and time is running out for them both). Besides, they've already played the greatest game ever - 18 innings of post season baseball. The deserve it.

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