This week, the Red Sox were swept by the Oakland A’s. This past weekend, they were 2-2 against the Seattle Mariners. This coming weekend, the Sox have a four-game series against the Yankees, including a day-night double header on Saturday. Added to the drama, Darnell McDonald, who was recently released by the Sox, has signed with the Yankees and is scheduled to play in the series.
After such a dreadful trip to the West coast (which I’ve become accustomed to since the Sox never seem to do well on the West coast), the Sox find themselves tied for last place in the AL East again. They are currently 7.5 games back of the Yankees, 2.5 games behind the Orioles, and a game behind the Rays. They are 3 games back in the Wild Card race.
Sure, the optimist in me is saying “Only 3 games back in the Wild Card race? They can pull that off! All-Star Break is next week!” But, the pessimist seems to be ruling my brain these days because all I can think is “The pitching staff did a great job on this road trip, and they only have 2 wins to show for it. Where’s the offense? Ortiz can’t do everything… and even he seems to be having some issues these days.”
As mentioned, the All-Star Break is next week, which will give this team a chance to catch their breath and go back out there for the second half and play like the team we know they are. However, last year is still a recent, painful memory, and I really don’t know if I trust this team. Our rotation is in shambles, we have back-up-to-back-ups playing outfield (though that may not be a bad thing at this point), Pedroia seems to injure/re-injure his thumb once a week, Gonzalez has a hitting streak going but no power, I don’t trust Punto offensively when he’s in the line-up, they have no real base-stealing threat, other teams seemed to run rampant on them (though, Salty does a nice job holding the runners for the most part), etc.
Yes, there are issues, and the Sox of old are not returning to “throw money at the problem” at the trade deadline. Anyone coming or going will either be to free up a position for a younger player (Lavarnway?), trading away multiple players for a starting pitcher, or a swap of relievers.
The Red Sox will not be fighting with the Yankees for first place this weekend. I think they’d be satisfied with a split of the series. I’d love to see this team come out with some fight and crush the Yanks on Friday night, but I don’t know how realistic that may be. I’m planning on discussing more of the series in a post tomorrow, but I thought I would put in writing what I’m sure most Red Sox fans are feeling at this point. Does the Yankees- Red Sox Series really matter at this point? My gut feeling is no because I think the Sox would have to win at least 3 of the 4 games to make a statement. If they can do that though, the season might finally be able to swing in the Sox’s favor.
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