Booster seats

Concern? Please.

If anything, this past weekend should have provided Red Sox Nation with a jolt of confidence and bravado-filled swagger. Yes, the Red Sox ended up dropping two out of three to the hated Yankees. Yes, instead of putting a nail in New York’s AL East hopes, Boston lost a game on its lead, which is now down to three. And yes, Randy Johnson did prove yesterday precisely why any team would be crazy to bellow, “Bring ’em on” when referring to the New York Yankees come October.

But here is what we really should have taken away from this weekend in the Bronx: While we’re still not so sure what the Yankees can bring to the table, for the first time all season we can look at the Red Sox and call them bona fide contenders for their second straight World Series title. All of a sudden, consider them the favorites in the American League. Just like that.

Instead of bemoaning the loss of one mere game in the standings, Red Sox fans should instead be ecstatic today that Curt Schilling, the ace of old, not the 2005 version of whatever we’d seen since, showed up on the Yankee Stadium mound under glorious skies Saturday afternoon. Finally, Schilling came through and pitched more to the tune that everyone expected him to. On Thursday afternoon, Johnny Damon said in an ESPN Radio interview he wasn’t sure what playoff game Schilling should start, tabbing David Wells, Tim Wakefield, Matt Clement, and Bronson Arroyo to go 1-4. Schilling was an afterthought, tossed to the side based on his struggling and uneven performances of the entire season.

And now? Game 1. Just like that.

Wakefield, who proved even more dominant yesterday against the Yankees, was ultimately outdueled by Johnson, yet sent a message to the baseball world that the Red Sox might, actually, honest-to-goodness, have pitching come October, an aspect of the game we’ve been harping on them for having a lack of for the better part of five months. All of a sudden, unbeknownst to Damon, David Wells has likely gone from your No. 1 to your No. 3. Matt Clement would be No. 4, and Arroyo to the bullpen. Maybe you like the Angels or White Sox’ staff better, but I’ll take my chances with those guys, especially coupled with the best offense in baseball, which admittedly took the afternoon off yesterday, courtesy of the Big Unit.

All it took was eight innings Saturday for the Red Sox to be seen in an entirely different light. With a good Schilling, we might have the St. Louis Cardinals whining about their Quincy accommodations again next month. With the Schilling we’d been accustomed to seeing lately, it might have been a short month for the local nine.

It’s almost become a cliché in these parts that the Red Sox won’t succeed unless they have a healthy Schilling and Keith Foulke. Well, don’t look now, but Foulke has looked pretty good in the couple times he’s hit the mound since his return to the team. Don’t look now, but Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Timlin, Foulke, Jeremi Gonzalez, and Mike Myers have combined to toss seven shutout innings over the last week, solidifying a bullpen that has been anything but dependable this season. Don’t look now, but Boston may be finally be strengthening itself in its major area of concern.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are three games out with 20 to play, including three on the final weekend of the season up here in Boston, a series that could make or break their playoff lives. They remain 1 1/2 games behind the Cleveland Indians, who continue to play inspired baseball, winning their seventh straight yesterday, and could prove as difficult a challenge for the $200 million bust as the Devil Rays have proven head-to-head. The Yankees have beaten the sorry Rays just five times this season, and head to Florida starting tomorrow for a three-game series. Who in their right mind would have thought the Devil Rays would have been the difference between making the playoffs and sitting home for the Yankees?

Then again, many might say that the intriguing case of the once again bulked-up Jason Giambi may be the only thing that has kept the Yankees in the hunt. Giambi’s resurgence this season — he provided the only run of the game yesterday, a cheap-o home run to right field — has been curious, as has his increase in body mass. Human growth hormone and Giambi’s name have been linked more this summer than Brad and Angelina. When New York beat writers got on him, asking Giambi questions about possible HGH use, what do you know, the home runs slowed down. When the questions stopped, the home runs came back.

While nobody is going to point fingers at Giambi without the proper smoking gun, it is more than a valiant turnaround, in that Giambi is a resurgent hitter as he reaches his mid-30’s. He is doing things he never did prior, when he was the AL’s most feared hitter and most likely on steroids, a matter he admitted to a grand jury last year. Earlier this season, the Yankees wanted to send him to the minors. When you’re in the dumps of your career, you’ll do most anything to return to glory, no?

Even so, even with a possible cheater keeping them afloat, it’s over in the East. The Red Sox needed to win just once over the weekend in New York to prevent panic in New England, a feat they accomplished. As Chris Snow points out in today’s Globe, if the Red Sox go just 10-10 the rest of the way, the Yankees would have to go 13-7 to tie them. That’s possible on New York’s part for sure, but there’s no way the Red Sox are going to go .500 the rest of the way, particularly when 11 of their remaining 20 games are at home. A 5-4 record on the road, and an 8-3 mark at home is a more realistic prediction for the Olde Towne Team, which would force the Yankees to go 16-4. A tall order for certain.

The Indians have won seven in a row, and with the Yankees in Tampa, could put a stranglehold on the wild card this week. The Red Sox just dropped two out of three against their fierce rivals, and at no other time this season have they looked so promising.

The magic number is 18. Any combination of Boston wins and New York losses equaling 18 will give Boston its first division title in a decade. It could have been 14 with a weekend sweep, leaving the Yankees alive in theory still.

On Saturday though, they discovered another magic number when No. 38 came out of the moth balls to return to glory past, and give Boston’s championships hopes more life than they’ve had all season long.