Scheduling conflicts
They limp. They win.
In Nava they trust.
The Red Sox finished the first half of a bumpy, yet thorougly enjoyable 2010 season yesterday with a 3-2 win in Toronto, thanks to a lineup that consisted of Darnell McDonald, Eric Patterson, Bill Hall, Daniel Nava, and Kevin Cash.
Ever think Terry Francona takes a moment when filling out his lineup card these days just to ask himself, “What the @#%&?”
Considering the Red Sox finished the first half only three games off the pace set by the 2009 club – which brought the best record in the American League (54-34) into the All-Star break – is of course nothing short of remarkable. Despite all the injuries, David Ortiz’s slow start, and a bullpen that Francona might as well have managed with a Rubik’s Cube, the Sox, at 51-37, are just five games off the pace set by the Yankees in the AL East, three games in back of the Rays for the wild card.
All this with former Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Clay Buchholz, Manny Delcarmen, Jeremy Hermida, and the ghost of Jed Lowrie missing significant playing time.
They shouldn’t just award the Manager of the Year Award to Francona, they should name it after him.
But here’s where the fun begins. While the team can expect its walking wounded to filter back into Fenway one by one, beginning, it seems, with Buchholz and Beckett, their presences are no more a relief than a necessity considering the brutal second-half schedule that awaits.
After kicking things off with the first-place Rangers, who bolstered their playoff possibility by adding ace Cliff Lee on Friday, the Sox hit the West Coast (this should be some fun travel the next fortnight for the Anaheim-bound All-Stars, eh?) for 10 games before returning to face the Tigers and Indians at Fenway, then the Yankees in the Bronx.
In all, 10 games remain against the Yankees, six against the Rays. That’s 22 percent of the remaining 74 games against your direct division playoff competitors. A total of seven showdowns with each of the Rangers and the current AL Central-leading White Sox remain. Mixing in the Tigers and Angels, the Sox face 39 games against teams in playoff contention, 53 percent of the remaining slate.
As if that weren’t enough, the team faces a downright unfair stretch in mid-September when it faces another West Coast trip, this one a six-gamer through Oakland and Seattle, a reprieve with three each against Toronto and Baltimore, then a likely make-or-break end of the season week-plus that will see three in the Bronx, four in Chicago to play the White Sox, then the season finale trio at Fenway against the Yankees.
All hands on deck?
Of course, it was a year ago around this time that the then-first place Red Sox faltered coming out of the break, losing 14 of 21 games, surrendering the AL East lead to the Yankees by Aug. 1, then getting downright embarrassed by their rivals the first week in August during a four-game sweep with steroid accusations swirling around Ortiz. Fun times.
This banged-up crew can ill afford such a start to the second half. Otherwise, instead of bolstering his team’s outfield and bullpen, Theo Epstein may be forced to make quick decisions on guys like Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre, players likely not meant for Boston in 2011, and guys who might be attractive to a team making a legitimate playoff push.
That’s why this month, and the returns of the injured are imperative for this team, which has already overachieved to the point where they’ve got people believing that with the right personnel returning, they might be able to do the same when it’s most needed.
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