Back on June 15 I wrote a piece entitled "No worries" over the fact that the Sox were defending champs but 3 games out of first place against the Orioles. That turned out somewhat prophetic as shortly there after that the Sox went on a tear and the Orioles tumbled and are now 16 games out of first place.
It was written while still basking in the glow of last year's dramatic come from behind win against the Yankees in the league championship and then the dismantling of the Cardinals in the World Series.
Well here we are nearing the end of the season with 16 games to go and after going into the old ball yard last night to see the Sox against the Oakland A's I can tell you there is a whole lot to be worried about. While the Sox still maintain a game and a half lead over the Yankees it would only be described as a tenuos lead at best. In fact based on the club I saw last night it would not surprise me that by the end of the week end the Sox are trailing the Yankees.
Right out of the box Curt Schilling got whacked around giving up 3 runs in the first two innings. He looked eminently hittable as he didn't break 90 mph on any of the pitches and they all seemed to be right over the heart of the plate.
In the mean time Blanton for the A's looked like the second coming of Cy Young holding the listless Sox to 3 hits until late in the game. The Sox did manage to break through with a run in the 6th inning to make it a two run deficit but Oakland quickly put any come from behind victory ideas a thing of the past by capitalizing on continued horrible fielding by Edgar Renteria and questionable managing by Terry Francona. Renteria dropped back into short centerfield to take a pop fly ball over his shoulder, however the ball hit directly in the middle of his glove and dropped to the ground. A very generous scorer ruled it a hit. Schilling now gets a little rattled as the home plate umpire blows three close calls in a row and walks Eric Chavez. Of course, former Red Sox malcontent Jay Payton then drives home a run with a hit. Mike Myers relieved an angry Schilling and got the final out of the inning.
The Sox showed resilience and bounced back to get another run to again cut the deficit to 2 in the bottom of the seventh but Oakland immediately scored 2 in the top of the eighth to put it away.
Myers started the eighth to pitch against a lefty and he gets Dan Johnson on a strike out but for some reason Francona leaves the lefty in to pitch to right hand hitting Nick Swisher who after going down 0 and 2 then whacks a double. Chad Bradford came in to relieve and promptly allowed two hits to account for the final score.
While this was going on the Yankees rallied from five runs down to defeat Tampa. One can only think that Lou Pinella is thinking he has a shot to replace Joe Torre up in New York. With a five run lead Lou keeps his pitcher in to allow a grand slam and then a few more runs before he even warms some one up in the pen. Maybe he thinks George might appreciate the help.
Witnessing one bad game should not strike fear in my heart except that the team up close simply does not look that interested. Renteria is very shaky at short and is now leading the league in errors. With the exception of Bill Mueller and David Ortiz, everyone else seems to be slumping at the same time.
The bull pen is positively scary. Timlin has been effective but can he be the big time closer in crunch time? Keith Foulke is not going to be making any miraculous come back soon and if we are relying on rookies Jonathan Papelbon or Craig Hansen to make an impact then we are dreaming.
The schedule seems to favor us as we have ten of the 16 remaining games at home facing the A's, Orioles Devil Rays and three with the Yankees. The Yankees have 17 left of which 10 are on the road playing Baltimore 8 times Toronto 6 times and finishing with the Sox in the final three game of the season in Boston.
The season will almost certainly boil down to the deciding three games in Boston. Could it have happened any other way? Would you want it to?
