The Bostonist SportsLists: 10 Biggest Disappointments of 2007

8. Gerald Green. The highlight of the Celtics' 2006-2007 season was probably Gerald Green winning the Slam Dunk Contest. Unfortunately, that will probably be the highlight of Gerald Green's life, as well. Touted as a rookie with unlimited potential, Gerald never seemed to really develop a head for the game, and was a throw-in in the trade to Minnesota that you may have heard about this summer.

7. Daisuke. It kills us to call 15 wins, 201 strikeouts and a 1.32 WHIP disappointing, but we were told that Matsuzaka was going to revolutionize pitching with his 14 different pitches, his Gyroball (which may or may not involve a portal to another dimension), and result in every man, woman and child in Japan wearing a Sox cap. We're not sure if we ever really even saw the Gyroball, and towards the end of the season, our hopes for Dice went from "strike out 25" to "give us five decent innings". Things will be better next year. He wouldn't make the list most years, but disappointments were few and far between in 2007.

6. Red Sox eBay Bonanza We're not sure which is more disappointing. The fact that people actually put items on eBay such as Mike Lowell's jock, and the underpants of several of our hometown heroes, or that eBay thumbed its nose at unfettered capitalism and shut down the auctions. Wait, it's the former.

5. Eric Gagne (postseason). It turned out OK, but who can forget Game 2 against Cleveland? It went into the 11th inning, Eric Gagne came out of the bullpen, and Red Sox fans went berzerk. Of course, he only allowed one hit and one walk in that inning, but it set the stage for a Total Bullpen Meltdown. He also loaded the bases in Game One of that series, and earned a 9.00 ERA in one inning against AnaheimOrWhatever. And he kept showing up on the playoff roster, every single
round. Go figure.

4. 06-07 Bruins. With Sergei Samsonov and Joe Thornton going deep into the playoffs elsewhere, last year's Bruins were a team searching for some kind of identity. The identity turned out to be a last-place, boring team, which cost nice guy Dave Lewis his coaching job through no real fault of his own. About the worst sin in Boston these days is to be boring.

3. J.D. Drew. He picked things up remarkably at the end of the season. That's why he dropped to #3 on the list. But his litany of double plays, caught-lookings, and ended rallies from April to August left sour tastes in the mouths of Sox fans who couldn't understand why a guy who looked like he hated baseball was in the lineup every day. Things reached their lowest point when the Red Sox announced a promotion in July that the first 5,000 fans under 10 would have the opportunity to be left on base by Drew. But all is more or less forgiven now.

2. Reche Caldwell. We don't know where he is now; we don't care. We do know that at least two (it seemed more like nine) Tom Brady passes bounced in and out of the arms of Caldwell, keeping the Pats from holding their lead and allowing Indianapolis to win the AFC. Wherever you are, "Ricochet", we hope it's a desk job.

1. Eric Gagne - regular season. He gave up 10 runs in his first six innings with the Red Sox. Unacceptable. Simply unacceptable. We could have done that, for a lot less money, and without our names being sullied in the Mitchell Report.

Caroline Roberts and Victoria Welch contributed quite a bit to this list. Look for the 10 Biggest Surprises of 2007 coming soon!