For the first time since April 21st, the Boston Red Sox find themselves not in a playoff position after falling 4-3 to the Texas Rangers yesterday afternoon. The Rangers hold the lead in the wild card by a ½ game over the Red Sox who also trail the Yankees by 7.5 games in the AL East.
So it begs the question, is it time to panic?
No it’s not time to panic just yet. There’s still 45 games left to play in the season and anything can happen. For all intents and purposes, the Red Sox are realistically playing for the wild card spot unless something major happens to the Yankees. A sweep of the Yankees this weekend at Fenway could change things and make the race a little closer.
Sure the Red Sox aren’t playing their best baseball right now but there’s a long way to go. I’ve heard and seen a lot of chatter about how much the Red Sox missed Kevin Youkilis this weekend because of his 5-game suspension. Yes they missed his offense but if he had appealed the suspension, he ran the risk of missing the Yankees series this weekend. While every series is important, would you have rather had him for this weekend or the Yankees?
It’s definitely more important to have his bat in the lineup this weekend then it was this past weekend. They’ll get his bat back in Toronto tomorrow night and we can only hope he sparks the offense.
The concern right now is the starting pitching. After Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, there’s not much. Junichi Tazawa definitely looked a little out of his element yesterday. Brad Penny has sucked since the All-Star break and it wouldn’t surprise me if he was the one to go when Tim Wakefield returns from the disabled list. Clay Buchholz has been great his last three starts, it’s just unfortunate t hat he’s run into the other teams’ ace. Of course, he’ll be facing Roy Halladay in his next outing so it won’t get easier.
But another solid effort from Buchholz could go a long way in this race as the season winds down.
Links coming up after a 10 second pause for station ID on the Red Sox blogging network.
The Terry Francona Motivational Speaker Series [Surviving Grady]
A significantly different result [Boston Globe]
Pedroia switches on the power booster [Boston Globe]
Red Sox not wild about their results [Boston Globe]
Road worriers [Extra Bases]
For Sox, time is fading fast [Tony Massarotti – Boston Globe]
Five Things We Learned: Red Sox Find Danger in Shallow Texas Waters [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
Pitching help in pipeline for Red Sox [RedSox.com]
Sox hope Youkilis can spark offense [RedSox.com]
V-Mart contributing in a variety of ways [RedSox.com]
Smoltz release likely [Clubhouse Insider]
Wild-card lead is gone, as Boston is left grasping for answers [Providence Journal]
Tazawa, put in tough spot, can’t cool off Rangers’ hot bats [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Baldelli ready for second rehab stint with PawSox [Providence Journal]
Record A Concern [Hit and Run with Dan Roche]
Varitek’s Struggles Continue on Both Sides of Ball [NESN.com]
Red Sox’ Season Quickly Taking on Water [NESN.com]
Losing Red Sox play it cool [Boston Herald]
Wake-up call nearing [Boston Herald]
Junichi Tazawa lacking control [Boston Herald]
Rangers boost confidence [Boston Herald]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if the enemy papers are more your flavor, you can check out the Dallas Morning News and Ft. Worth Star-Telegram websites.
