Beckett Struggles in Big Loss

I'll be the first to admit that last night's loss to the Yankees really delivered a hit to my whole point about how a win would make everyone think the Sox were right back in it. The same people who wrote them off as being all done when Lackey lost on Saturday. Josh Beckett surrendered 7 earned runs in just 4.2 innings to put the Red Sox 7 games behind New York in the division. Life sucks in that regard. But make no mistake about it. You're still not going to get me to say this season is over. Not by a long shot.

First I'll just explain why it isn't over yet. Then I'll address some of the ridiculous comments I'm hearing in the media. The Sox still have 50 games left. They're 7 back of the Yanks and they play them 7 more times, including tonight's series finale. That's a tough deficit to make up... I'll admit it. But not impossible. The bigger thing to consider is the wild card right now. The Sox are 4.5 behind the Rays in the wild card with 6 games remaining against them. Tampa Bay has lost 5 straight and seem to be choking on their own home cooking right now. They've been getting completely blasted by the Jays the last few days. I don't even remotely consider it impossible to catch them. Granted, we will still need to outlast Minnesota in the wild card race. The Twins are currently tied with the Sox by record. If 15 more games pass by and we're in the same spot or worse, I'll start conceding the season. But not yet. No way. 50 games is quite a bit, if you ask me.

So let's talk about the media. They're all writing the Sox off, which I respect. But I was listening to 98.5 this morning. They've been placing the blame on the Red Sox front office for this self-proclaimed "bridge year." And when the fans took exception to that, they started saying that "run prevention" was the key to this season. And now Gresh and Tanguay are criticizing the Sox management for just feeding false hope into the fan base, saying that the front office "knew this team wasn't good enough to compete." Seriously? Do I need to remind you how many injuries the Sox have endured? And do I need to reiterate anymore how clear it is that they are indeed competing? They're still in the playoff hunt. That's competing. Besides, what do you expect Theo to say? Yea, sorry Red Sox nation... I think we kinda suck this year. That would work well. Run prevention? More like the #2 offense in the majors this year. Run prevention may have been the mindset before Beckett died and came back 4 months later, Dice-K was up and down with injuries constantly, Lackey started sucking his own dick, and Papelbon followed Lackey's examples in the 9th. Then it turned from run prevention to whatever you have to do to win the game with a rag-tag lineup of minor leaguers. How does that all fall on Theo and the front office? This has just been a ridiculously unfortunate year thus far, and their still in good shape considering the circumstances. That's the way I see it, anyway. Maybe I'm just being too optimistic, I don't know.

Either way, I'd say the Sox really need to get back on track soon. A win tonight would be nice, not only to get a game back and keep the division hunt alive, but also to get Jon Lester back on the winning ways. Lester has lost 4 straight decisions. If Boston is going to make a run soon, they will need their starters to pitch to their capabilities. I've been saying that's the X-factor, and I still believe it. If they all pitch like they can, the Sox will make a big push at the postseason. That push starts tonight, we hope.