Home Cooking Not Good for Sox

After spending 10 games on the west coast, the Red Sox finally return to Boston for a 3-game set with the Detroit Tigers. The Sox entered the night 6 games back in the AL Wild Card, bordering on falling out of contention unless they can put together a run. Unfortunately, Jon Lester was not sharp, allowing a career high 11 hits and the Sox fell to 6.5 games back of the Rays after their 6-5 frustrating loss. After making a late push thanks to a David Ortiz grand slam in the bottom of the 9th, the Sox have certainly entered the danger zone.

Optimism: Sox were 9-1/2 games back of Yanks in ’04 (in 2nd place) after 103 games (56-47) and were 42-17 rest of way. 58-45 if lose tonight – Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe

As Nick Cafardo pointed out on Twitter earlier tonight, the Sox are certainly not eliminated and won’t be for a while. The optimism is great, but the concerns are also plentiful. The likelihood the Sox go 42-17 the rest of the way is not tremendously high and the way the Yankees and Rays are playing, it isn’t even a guarantee if they win 50+ games from here on in. A 95+ win season is a playoff spot in most divisions, but the AL East always demands more.

Now that the Yankees also appear to be bolstering their offense with the acquisition of Austin Kearns and Lance Berkman, they are looking more and more like the team to beat in the AL East. I have a ton of respect for the Rays and think they are having an impressive year as a team, but head-to-head with the Yankees, the Bronx Bombers are just too powerful. A lot can happen in the remaining 59 games, but as of now, a lot has to happen for the Sox to make the playoffs, including some help from the 2 teams above them in the standings.

The question I keep asking myself, is when is this streak going to start? The Sox maintained the gap on their 10-game road trip, but didn’t make any significant surge. They have 6 more home games before 10 on the road, so the path only gets tougher as they continue into August. If they expect to make a move (up the standings), they need to get on a streak and hope the Rays or Yanks struggle, which is certainly easier said then done. This is when internal team leadership needs to stand-up and push these players as much as possible. It’s now or never time for the Sox.