Some Items To Take Solace In
1) Precedent
The Red Sox have made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons, and here is how things looked after the August 10th close of business in each of the last three years.
2003: The Red Sox were 68-49, 3 games back of the Yankees and leading the Wild Card by a game.
End Result: Aaron Boone Grady Little
2004: 61-50, 9.5 games back of New York and tied for the Wild Card lead.
End Result: World Series Champions
2005: 66-47, 5.5 game lead over the Yanks.
End Result: A tiebreaker loss to the Yanks for the division and a three-game sweep at the hands of the eventual champion Chicago White Sox
2006: 65-48, 3 games back of the Yankees and 2 games back of the White Sox for the Wild Card.
End Result: Who knows?
The point here of course is that there is no reason whatsoever to panic. Things look grim at the moment, with injuries and crappy performance killing Boston while the Yanks and White Sox appear to be hitting their stride. But the Sox are still very much in this thing, and I for one do not believe that the team that just stumbled through a 1-5 stretch against the dregs of the American League is the one we will see for the remainder of the season. Remember, Boston is two Jonathan Papelbon pitches away from being a game out in the AL East and tied for the Wild Card.
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2) Luck Turning for Other Teams?
Francisco Liriano is out indefinitely, Jered Weaver has been human of late and Ervin Santana had to leave last night’s game after being hit with a line drive. Despite coming back strong last night, Johnny Damon has been hampered by nagging injuries and had to leave Wednesday’s game. The Red Sox are experiencing a low-point for sure, but that does not mean that their competition will not experience woes of their own. But time is of the essence, and the Sox need to be putting some wins up.
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3) Pitching Coming Around?
David Wells and Jason Johnson have each looked ok in their last few outings. Curt Schilling has been solid, and even Rudy Seanez and Kyle Snyder have been contributing. The Red Sox’ worst pitchers of late have been, in fact, some of their very most talented pitchers. Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Josh Beckett and Mike Timlin are all guys that we can count on being better over the remainder of the year than they have been over the last few weeks. If Boomer and Jason Johnson’s respective mini-resurgences are for real, then I think that we can reasonably hope for the rest of the staff to fall into place – particularly with Tim Wakefield’s return on the horizon.
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4) The Schedule
Yup, after Baltimore leaves town this weekend, the Sox have a brutal stretch. Three at home against Detroit, five at home against the Bombers, followed by three in Anaheim, Seattle and Oakland, respectively. But then the Sox then finish the season with 18 of their final 29 at home. Yes there are some challenging teams on the upcoming schedule, but in total the Red Sox play 29 of their final 49 games at Fenway Park, where they are 35-17 this season. They also have nine head-to-head tilts with New York remaining. This thing is very doable, and for the taking should the Sox be up to the task.
