Here we sit a day after the Memorial Day holiday, and the
Red Sox find themselves all alone in first place.
Huh?
Where exactly did that come from? What on earth does it
mean?
I think I need to fall back on what I said at the beginning
of the month. I didn’t know how to predict results based on “better than
average” and maybe, just maybe, the whole league tops out at “better than
average.” There’s no more waiting to see how they fare against good teams.
They’ve faced all the good teams they’re going to see. We’re two months into
the season at this point. The “small sample size” argument is starting to go
away. Are we now supposed to wait and see where they are on the Fourth of July?
Labor Day?
Or is the whole league in the same boat. It’s going to come
down to execution on a nightly basis. How your starting pitching matches up
with the other starters on a given night. Do you give up six runs on a night
where you score seven, or five?
The Sox are currently on pace for about 100 wins. Are they a
100 win team? I guess I have no idea. I wouldn’t think so, but I don’t know
what else to call them either. They remind me of last year’s Orioles, or
Giants. Nothing exciting about any of them. But, they just happened to come out
on the winning side of more close games than not.
Is the rest of the season going to come down to chance? It’s
very possible. They have three more games against Texas. Are they rainy games
where a team wins based on an errant throw? Do they face the Yankees on a day
that Rivera saved a game the night before, and is unavailable? Do they miss
Felix Hernandez when they go to Seattle? Does NY? Does Verlander face them?
Kershaw?
That’s what’s going to do it. How to the specific games
fall? How does everything work out once it’s done? A few percentage points in
their favor may make the difference in the end.
It’s gonna make for an interesting season.
I am not surprised the Sox are doing well. With Lester and Buchholz pitching well, they will contend. Lackey has been what we all kind of hoped for when he came to spring training a slimmer pitcher. Dempster has been good, bad and in-between, which is what to expect from a mid to late rotation starter. And the hitting has been very adequate. Good timing for Nava to have a career year (hopefully). What surprises me is that the Yankees, with their age and injuries, are still winning so much. Their numbers aren't great and CC is struggling yet they keep rolling on. I suspect though (hopefully) that their numbers, age and injuries finally catch up to them and they fade. Or perhaps they see each other in the playoffs again...it went well the last time that happened.
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