A Win, and a Loss

When it comes to the Sox, you may have noticed I’m more of a glass half full sort. My general belief is that the law of averages is still in effect, and a good team will be a good team. A bad team will be a bad team. It’s that simple. Playoff team vs. good team? That’s just a win here or there. That’s nothing to stress over. If you’re going to worry all year if the Sox can win 97 games as opposed to 95, you need a lot more help than reading this blog will provide.

So, I choose to focus on the fine performance by young Mr. Buchholz last night. He was throwing BB’s at the Twins hitters. He’s actually been stringing together some great starts lately. He’s a nice addition to the starting rotation. Now all we need is for the other pitchers to remember that they’re supposed to be better than he is, so they’ll start pitching like it. But, Clay was efficient with his pitches, which was huge. He was able to give the bullpen some much-needed rest. It was all I could have hoped for, and more. His trade value must be sky high right now. Time to move.
It was also nice to see Ortiz go deep once again. I don’t know if I want to say he’s back to his old self. I don’t see a 45 home run season for him or anything like that. But, could he be becoming the DH a playoff team needs? Absolutely. He’s 8 homeruns ahead of where he was last year. If he can finish this year like last, he’ll be a great help to the team. I wonder if performing well against the Twins ever gets old for him.

Of course the elephant in the room is the Sox ace. Josh Beckett found himself on the DL with an icky back. I guess it’s a good thing that the Sox have Tim Wakefield waiting in the wings. Francona always said things would work themselves out. I’m guessing that he was hoping it would work out a little differently that losing Beckett. But, Wake can hold the fort for a couple weeks. It just needs to be only a couple weeks. If Josh can come back from his time off rested and ready to dominate, it will be well worth the DL stint. He looked to be on his way to finding his groove again. Hopefully he just picks up where he left off.

Really almost a must win to close out the homestand. I know, I know. No such thing as a must win in May. But, the upcoming road trip is a killer. If I have to go into Philadelphia and into Tampa Bay, I want to do it on a three game winning streak. At least then, even if Philly sweeps you, you’re still on a .500 stretch. Just sounds better.

Although, not as good as a 5-game winning streak.