ONE REASON to feel good today is the number of games remaining this season. The Red Sox play 6 more games while the Rays and Angels play 7 each. If the Red Sox win all 6 games, the Rays and Angels are out. If the Red Sox are 5-1 in these games, the Rays and Angels are out. If the Red Sox go 4-2 in these games, the Rays or Angels would have to win all 7 remaining games just to force a tie. If the Red Sox play .500 ball the rest of the way (3-3), the Rays or Angels would have to go 6-1 just to force a tie. If the Red Sox only win 2 more games (2-4), and with 3 more Beckett/Lester starts you have to think this is a good chance, the Rays or Angels have to go 5-2 just to force a tie. Even if the Sox can only muster 1 measly win the rest of the season, the Rays or Angels would have to go 4-3 just to force a tie. In other words, I still think the Red Sox will pull this off...
THANK THEO Epstein (god) that the math is on our side to at least reach the playoffs, because if this team is able to avert disaster, it is facing some serious trouble in the first round of the playoffs. Most teams with 9 game playoff leads are able to take September to rest some position players and set up their rotation so you can have your number 1 pitcher pitch the first game of the playoffs, number 2 pitcher pitch the second game and so on. Well, since the Red Sox decided to use September as an opportunity to test the limits of probabilities, they were unable to do either of these things. Putting aside that a lot of position players are injured and poorly rested, the rotation set-up is the real issue. If you look at the probable starters for the final six games, you will notice that Josh Beckett and Jon Lester start the final two games of the year. If these games are critical to getting to the post season then of course you want your two best starters going. However, in this event, that means that neither of them would be available to start Game 1 of the ALDS that takes place on September 30; Beckett would be on 2 days rest and Lester on just 1. So your Game 1 starter would be either John Lackey, Tim Wakefield, Alfredo Aceves or a just returning from injury Clay Buchholz (not Bedard because he would be on just 3 days rest himself). Basically, the Sox need to sweep the Yankees to put themselves in a strong enough position that they won't have to use Beckett and or Lester in these final two games...
CARL CRAWFORD was a home run away from the cycle last night. This was a highlight of what has been his best month of the season. He has had his highest OBP and SLG of the year (he's .002 away from highest average) this month and has raised his overall numbers to about what they were in 2008, a bad year that was followed by a good year and then a great year. He may have sat out the other day because of a stiff neck, but his performance clearly shows that he is not buckling under the pressure of a pennant race. In fact, in his career, September has been his best month and his September from last year, when he was in the middle of another pennant race, is one of the best months of his career...
X DAD SENT me the following e-mail last night: "1st time I've been embarrassed to be a Red Sox fan." This coming from a man who lived through Bucky F Dent and the '78 collapse, the team accidentally failing to tender a contract to Carlton Fisk and Fred Lynn, Bill Buckner and the '86 World Series, the Jeff Bagwell trade, Dan Duquette, Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in too long, and Manny Ramirez beating up an old man. Ya, things are ugly right now in Beantown...
FINALLY AN admission. After the Red Sox vomited away the chance to take a 3 game lead last night, I flipped over to the Yankees-Rays game shortly after Sean Rodriguez hit a home run to tie the game at 2. In the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees had the bases loaded and old man Jorge Posada at the plate. Posada is a Yankee lifer that nobody in Boston would ever root for. He doesn't even get the begrudging respect that players like Jeter and Rivera receive. But sure enough, there I was hoping for Posada to get a hit and, sure enough, he delivered with a single to plate the deciding runs and give the Red Sox a two game lead in the Wild Card. As he was running to first he pumped his fist and, I swear, as he did this I pumped mine. I felt so slimy. Cheering for the Yankees? This is what this season has come down to. I felt like Ace Ventura when he comes to the realization that Finkel is Einhorn. I plunged my face, chewed a carton of gum, threw up a million times, and sat under a hot shower crying for hours on end. So a special thanks to John Lackey and the rest of the Red Sox for making me feel like I just made out with a retired, cross-dressing, soccer-style kicker from Collier County.
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