At The Crossroads

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Confucius

When the 2007 season is over, I believe we will look back at the Lost Weekend of August 10-12 as the turning point of the season. The Sox have suffered through two devastating giveaway-losses that exposed the club's offensive impotency, head-up-their-butts baserunning, and shaky defense and showed the first cracks in a heretofore outstanding bullpen that Theo supposedly made stronger.

This could be the beginning of the end or simply a speed bump along the way to an exciting postseason. As we sit at the crossroads today, though, the question remains: Which way will this season now turn?

Watching the Sox play another life and death game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tonight has done little to assuage the pain of the Lost Weekend. Yes they won, but again, it was the same old story. Great pitching and no timely hitting and scary baserunning. (Julio "Loose Cannon" Lugo would have been thrown out at the plate in the first inning if the catcher had held on to the ball. Please tell me why that play was even close with Papi belting it to the deepest reaches of Fenway?)

Despite the ongoing frustration of watching this passionless bunch, I still think they are going to hold on to their lead and take the AL East. They can't play much worse then they have and they are heading into a much softer schedule and they still have that four game lead.

Last year at this time, the Sox and Yanks were in a virtual dead heat with New York one game up on the Sox with a 68-46 record to the Sox' 68-48 mark. From there, the Yanks went 29-19 to finish with 97 wins. The wheels fell off for the Red Sox from there, led by the five game sweep by the Yankees. With injuries piling up, the Sox went 18-28 in the last seven weeks and finished in third place with 86 wins.

That is not going to happen this year.

I have always preached to Kevin in New York and Corey in College that pitching wins championships. The Sox have the better pitching, GAGne notwithstanding. That will prove to be the difference in the end.

That said, here is one man's list of things that should be done in order to maintain the lead and capture their first AL East crown in 10 years.

1. Enough with the resting of the regulars. I have had my fill of Wily Mo and Eric Hinske, thank you very much. Tito has managed this team well to this point, making sure that everyone has gotten a blow along the way. They are rested enough. This team is not deep enough to have the regulars on the bench. Suck it up and play the last 44 games. Tonight's lineup should convince everyone of this. Lugo- Youk - Ortiz -Ramirez - Drew -Lowell -CORA -MIRABELLI -HINSKE! You're kidding me right? This is a potential World Championship Linuep? Yuk. It's time for the A-Team, all the time. Oh and by the way, Tito, when you want to get Cora in for a game, the guy you sit down is JULIO LUGO (.235), not rookie of the year candidate Dustin Pedroia (TEAM LEADING .326)!

2. Bring up Jacoby. This team might as well be playing in button down shirts for all the enthusiasm they are showing right now. They are playing with as much passion as tax auditors. They are dragging and they need a shot of adrenaline. That should come in the form of the speedster Mr. Ellsbury at Pawtucket who happens to be hitting .459 since coming back from his injury. Tell me he's not an upgrade from Pena or Hinske. Let's cut the crap and get this done NOW!

3. Back to basics. If you're going to win with pitching and defense and a popgun offense, you better have good pitching and defense and treasure each baserunner like gold. The pitching has been there (again pre-Gagne). But the Sox have been playing defense and running the bases as if they are blindfolded. Lugo blowing a sure double play ball and Drew kicking one away in the eighth on Friday are just the most recent examples. And the baserunning has been horrible. Ramirez simply is stupid or doesn't give a crap, either one is potentially fatal. And Luis Alicea may have to put a rope around Lugo to prevent him from getting picked off. (He has done that trick FIVE TIMES so far this year.) Tito doesn't knock his players in public, something I happen to agree with. However, hopefully behind closed doors he is reading them the riot act and explaining in loud detail that they have to get their collect heads out of their anal canals.

4. Let's not fix what isn't broken. Sean McAdam had it right on Sunday night. Tito should go back to Oki in the eighth and Paps in the ninth. Let Gagne work out the kinks in the seventh. If he resumes the form that brought him here in the first place, then we can look at giving him more important innings. Trying to force him into situations that were successful before he got here doesn't make sense.

5. Repeat after me, Tito, SMALL BALL. I said this weeks ago. This offense is anemic. It is not the slash and burn power line up of 2003 or 2004. This team scores runs as often as Youk combs his hair. Every run is precious. Sunday in Baltimore is a classic example. Runners on first and second, one out Hiske up. Pop Up. Runners on first and third no outs. Hinske, double play back to the pitcher. If he is going to make an out or two anyway, how about a sacrifice to move the runners along at least. As Kevin in New York points out, can Hinske even bunt. Hey, I know a kid in Pawtucket who could probably get it down. Might beat it out as well. See #2 above.

6. Let's playoff for the number five spot. As I've said before, we can't afford many more Jon Lester 400 pitch outings through five. Clay Bucholtz is coming up to pitch in one of the games Friday. Let's see how he does. Let this be a winner take all championship for the number five slot. Let's look at how Lester does against the Rays on Tuesday and compare that to how Clay does against the Angels. Better man wins. If Lester is not ready, he's not ready. No shame in that. Go back down and get ready. He has a long future ahead of him in a Sox uniform. It just may not be this season.

There you have it. The blueprint for success. Don't panic. They can do it. They just need to right the ship and play solid ball the rest of the way.

The Magic Number is now 41.