Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Settling Into Second?

The pregame question on Comcast Sportsnet told fans that the Sox were to play the Twins 6 times in the next 10 days. What would be their record?

Well, the Sox started off on the wrong foot. The Sox dropped a game to the Twins in the worst fashion. I was at a restaurant and could only see the score from afar yesterday. “It’s either 2-1 or… 6-2” the person across from me concluded after some serious squinting. In reality, things were much, much worse. It was the 5th inning and Tony Pena was on the mound. On our way out, we realized that the score was 8-3. By the time I made my way home and turned on the TV, the score was a heartbreaking 12-5.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a tragedy. The offense rebounded from their bad weekend in Maryland, and scored 6 runs by the end of the game. And one bad outing from Freddy isn’t the worst thing that could happen among all his wins- many, many more wins than I had expected.

But the results are a tragedy because the Sox were bumped out of first place. And the next few days won’t be any easier, because their schedule is filled with their AL Central foes. 5 more with the Twins. The Tigers are coming to town. The Sox are not faring too well against their division rivals. They are 20-22 on the season. I feel like we are losing in the first round of the play-offs.

The key here is not to panic. The front end of the rotation is headed to the mound, and if the offense scores around 6 runs during every game, things should be fine. Of course, if the team as a whole hits the panic button, the Sox could easily slip back into their 2nd or 3rd place grave.

It seems that the Sox are hunting for a batter that they could claim off waivers. Chuck Garfien seems to be hinting toward Manny Ramirez. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but I do occasionally let myself daydream of what his bat could do for our lineup. I also still think Kenny might go back in time and revive Jermaine Dye from his sedentary grave. Any other predictions about what Kenny might do? What free agent could be headed our way? What does the future hold?

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