Fenway Bound

Gone Fishin' at the Trop

Taking two out of three games against the Red Sox did a lot for the Tampa Rays last week. Nevermind that the Sox gift wrapped the pivotal middle game, and were outplayed in the finale. The Rays were well on their way to an AL East title by winning at Fenway and putting distance between themselves and the Sox.

But when all was said and done, we were right back where we were a week ago with the chance -- one last chance -- to capture the AL East against the division leaders. To do it, we've got to sweep, plain and simple.

Sure, two out of three would be great. We would leave Tampa in better position than we came. But it would be awfully nice to go to Tornoto two games clear.

Not only would we be in the drivers seat for the division, but the Rays would hit the panic button. For them to lose the division now would be catastrophic from a confidence standpoint. Plus, it would put them up against the Angels in Anahiem. And that's not a good thing if you're Joe Madden.

On the other hand, the Sox would have to play the Twins or the White Sox. Both teams we've beaten this year. Both teams we should be able to plow under and get to the ALCS.

and if you'd told me that we could get to the ALCS without Manny, without Buchholz, without Schilling, at the start of this year, I wouldn't have believed it.

These three games are important for another reason. If the Rays sweep, they have a clear shot at home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Same goes for the Sox, although we need to rip off a couple of wins in Toronto as well. Either way, both of us need the Angels to fall off if we're going to go into the postseason with all the cards to play. That's the real high stakes in this three game showdown.

Lester Gets It Done

I think it's about time to admit that Jon Lester has defied all the critics -- myself included -- and broken out this year.

Lester (15-5, 3.15 ERA) wasn't supposed to be this dominant. When the Sox were considering trading him for Johan Santana, I was all for it. He was a feel good story, had a couple of solid outings, won the clinching game of the World Series, but there questions about his consistency and whether he could ever be a front line pitcher.

Here we are, closing in on the final two weeks of the season, and Lester has gone toe to toe with Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte, rookie sensation Nate Blackburn, Scott Kazmir, need I go on?

He's the antithesis of Clay Buchholz. The odds were, starting the season, that Buchholz would rack up 10-15 wins and Lester would struggle to put up steady numbers.

Look where Buchholz is now, and look where Lester is -- on the cusp of being a major player in the Sox 2008 World Series drive.

And let's not forget about that no hitter.

Devil Guppies After All

Remember all the talk about how the Devil Guppies are for real and that there was no possible way they could squandor a five or six game lead?

I mean, they beat the Anahiem Angels. They guaranteed themselves a .500+ season. They appeared poised to go down as "Baseball's Greatest Story Ever" simply by making the playoffs.

And then there was that three game sweep the Jays put on them. And the series loss to the Yankees. And last night's goose egg against Jon Lester.

All the while, the Red Sox have been lobbing off games faster than McCain has made up ground on Obama. They rallied from 4-0 to beat the Os last Wednesday. They've lost one game in the past week. They've pitched. They've hit. They've overcome injuries to Drew, Youkilis, Lowell, Beckett. They've proved why they are the World Champions.

The Sox are essentially a Tim Wakefield knuckleball out of first place fellas. A Tim Wakefield knuckleball and the Rays/Guppies would be making cameos in those "Legal Seafood" commercials that run on NESN all the time.

Now I know the Sox have a tough road ahead of them. They got four against the Jays, three in Tampa, but the Gups got a set in New York, and Skid Row Joe might be playing to save his job, so you could see an AL East blowout if Boston stays hotter than smoked smelts!

Red Sox Hitting Their Stride

Is it just me, or are the Red Sox hitting their stride at exactly the right time?

They went into a nine game road trip with their backs to the wall. The Ozzies and the Twins were tighter than a Papelbon fastball. The Rays were running away with the division. Injuries were piling up everywhere, and the Sox looked like they were going to hit the golf course early this year.

And then they go to Baltimore, Toronto and New York. They go 6-3. They chalk up gobs and gobs of runs. They gain ground on the Twins, they put themselves a couple games clear in the wild card chase, and almost forget about the Gups and their miracle season.

The injuries keep piling up. Beckett gets scratched from another start or two. He might have a bum elbow. He's pushed back another week. This going into a Wild Card Showdown with the Ozzies.

So naturally, Daisuke comes on and pitches eight shutout innings in his best performance of the year. The following night an unknown stiff comes up and gives Francona five. Bango! The Sox have taken two of three.

Even Sunday's loss -- a game the Sox should not have lost, given all the men left on base -- seemed like a blip on the radar.

And sure enough, last night Francona's men took on the Os, picking up where they had left off a couple of weeks ago.

Youkie was back from the sickbed. Coco was back from the sickbed. Pedroia grabbed a couple more hits and a pair of game changing RBI. Varitek clobbered another homer. Jeff Bailey cold cocked a homer!

Paul Byrd gave up a pair of gophers, but otherwise pitched extremely well, even though it looked for a time the Os were going to hang a loss on him.

And now, look at the standings, and you'll see two things:

1. The Gups have likely won the division.
2. The Sox have likely won the Wild Card.

Let's be perfectly blunt. The Sox aren't going to make up 5.5 games any more than the Twins are going to make up three with 25 remaining.

Sure, the Sox have six against the Gups. Sure, we could shave a few games off the margin. But the Gups have done enough to get to the playoffs, as bizare as that sounds.

And the Twins/White Sox? They better focus on each other rather than worrying about beating us out for the Wild Card. Neither of 'em is going to make up three games, especially if we reel off wins the way we have been for the past two or three weeks.