Official Red Sox  

2008 Schedule

A month ago it looked like the Red Sox were poised to leave the Yankees behind and sit atop the American League East as soon as the Tampa Bay Rays realized they were that good.

Sure the Red Sox were taking on casualties at an incredible rate, but the team was still playing .600 ball. All of Boston was able to forget the loss of Barolo Colon, Curt Schilling, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Fenway Park could survive the injury of three starting pitchers who were put on the disabled list. David Ortiz was only going to be out 15 days.

The thing about Major League Baseball is that, more so than any other professional sport, any team could find a hot streak that can last half the season or a cold streak that could take a first place team to last place in one offseason.

The World Series is never out of reach until the middle of the season, and even then there have been well-documented collapses that have haunted struggling franchises like our very own Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs.

Right now Boston has lost a seen of the last 10 games and the division seems to be slipping away. The rotation may all return, but will they be the same? John Lester has been brilliant and Daisuke Matsuzaka has been pitching well since the debacle in St. Louis during interleague play.

The pitching needs to go much deeper than two. It is difficult to count on a knuckle ball pitcher like Tim Wakefield to be good the entire season. It is kind of like depending on a streaky shooter who can have great games, but shoots 40 percent for the season. You like him when he is falling back hitting a threes over a guy a foot taller than him, but you cringe when he misses the open 15-foot jumper.

The long baseball season is nowhere close to over yet, so there will be plenty more opportunities for Boston fans to freak out over a couple of series skid or become elated by a sweep of the Yankees.