Possible to Improbable

After their win in the opener of this weekend's three-game set with Tampa Bay, there were several rays of hope shining down through the gloomy skies over the Boston Red Sox season. Since then, however, two devastating losses have made most forget the possibility of reaching the playoffs and dwell on the stark improbability of the feat. Now 6.5 games out of the hunt with a day off today, the Red Sox will need to work some serious magic down the stretch. I had mentioned this series with Tampa would be not only very crucial but also very telling. It was both.

We learned a big thing or two about these Red Sox over the past couple of days. On the positive side, we learned that these guys have heart. They played like it was a playoff series. Adrian Beltre can hardly walk to first base without a severe limp due to his injured hamstring, but he doesn't care. He has vowed to play through that injury unless his hamstring "blows up." Guys are diving into first base head first. Victor Martinez is putting everything on the line to block home plate on more outfield assists from Darnell McDonald (team-leading 8 assists this year). Their pitchers have labored deep into their starts, and everyone seems to be giving it everything they have left in their tanks. But the simple, undeniable fact is that this team is nearly half-composed of minor leaguers and rookies. Guys that never in their wildest dreams thought they would see 200 at bats this season. Guys who never thought they would throw out 8 men from centerfield. Guys that never thought they would even get the chance to make a spectacular diving catch in the gap. And that's showing up big time right now on the offensive side of the game. Defensively, they're getting the job done. Our pitching is getting the job done. But 8 runs in 3 games isn't going to cut it against the best teams in baseball. Our three best pitchers went into the biggest series of the season and they pitched like our three best pitchers. They earned their salaries, like I said they would have to do. And that's why this was a very telling series. It was the most deflating blow that I've received to my optimism about this team. Our guys threw like absolute aces each night, and we came away with just one win. Lost a game in the standings as a result of this series. That is a bad sign to me.

Even if the Yankees or Rays play .500 ball the rest of the way -- a very hopeful thing to wish for -- Boston will need to surge into a streak of 23 wins and 8 losses (or better) to slide into the playoffs. Yes, we still play New York 6 times. Winning a chunk of those would certainly help drop the Yankees to that .500 mark. But it's going to be very difficult. It's imperative we go 23-8, but it's practical that we will need to do even better. And that's my biggest concern. I'm not sure about this team's ability to string together multiple wins in a row with such a depleted and inexperienced roster card. Like Tim Kurkjian said this morning, it's basically a miracle that the Red Sox are still in the hunt. They've had an amazing season considering the injuries they've been hit with. They're unlucky to be behind the two best teams in baseball in this division. But for the optimist, those are the exact reasons to hold out hope. Six months ago, before the season began, nobody would have given them a snowball's chance in hell of being 74-57 with the players they have lost for extended periods of time. Nobody. Well, they did that. And now, nobody is giving them a chance to make this postseason. I'm even pretty unsure at this point, too. For the optimist, though -- this group does like to prove people wrong. Let's just hope they can do it one last time.