A Perfect Storm?
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by Nejoshi
Everyone knew the Yankees would make their move; the thing everyone was waiting for was Red Sox response. Boston has proven to be tougher than anyone gave them credit for.
It seems that no one can panic like Boston can and they were for awhile. Alex Rodriguez got hot again, the pitching started to get better, and all of a sudden New York was in the Red Sox rear view mirror. Throw in a couple of dubious performances from the boy wonder Eric Gagne and it seemed like the sky was falling.
Naw, not in Boston where the Red Sox have won six of their past seven, including a dominating sweep of the Chicago White Sox where they outscored Ozzie Guillen’s group of underachievers 46-7 during the comprehensive four game sweep at U.S. Cellular Field. A quick point about the White Sox: Can you believe that this team won the World Series just two short years ago? Here’s a better question for all you pigskin faithful: Are the Bears headed towards a similar demise?
There are a lot of reasons to feel good if you’re a Red Sox fan. The lead over the Yankees has ballooned to seven and a half, and the lumber is finally starting to put an end to the power outtage. David Ortiz had been having a very un-David Ortiz-like season, struggling to match his 50 home run annihilation of opposing pitchers from 2006.
Manny Ramirez has had similar issues all year long, and is in danger of missing out on 25 home runs for the first time since his rookie year during the strike shortened season of 1994. Even more impressively, Ramirez topped 30 homers each year from 1995-2006, with the exception of 1997. The guy is a machine that hasn’t been operating correctly this year.
Despite their struggles for most of the year, Boston didn’t sniff second place. Why? The simple answer has been great pitching. But, now that great pitching is finally starting to get some support from Ortiz, I mean the real David Ortiz. The man has started to find his stroke offensively, hitting three out while knocking in seven over the last three games of the White Sox. Big Papi could not have possibly picked a better instant to hit his groove.
An upcoming series with the Yankees in the Bronx, a place where Ortiz has ruled like a king, lies ahead. Boston can essentially put the nail in the coffin of the AL East race with a solid series. Ortiz is hitting .400 for the year at Yankee Stadium with a home run in eight at-bats, but Yankee fans still have nightmares of Ortiz’s heroics from the 2004 ALCS. You can pretty much call it the perfect storm for Boston.
Oh ya, Boston has its go-to trio of Matsuzaka, Beckett, and Schilling hitting the mound. As if this series needed any more hype.
With this much going for them, the Red Sox need to jump on the Yankees while they are down. All the pieces are hitting their groove to make it happen, but we all know that the Red Sox will make it as difficult as possible to bury the Yankees. At 80-51, they still have baseball’s best record and most comfortable division standing, but they really need to play this series like they have to get 100 wins in order to make the postseason. Taking down a veteran team like the Yankees on the road requires that kind of killer instinct. The world waits whether or not Boston has that kind of killer instinct.
Think that series is good? Well that three game series doesn’t start until Tuesday, but this week the MLB is loaded with divisional match-ups featuring the two beat teams. Only the AL Central will not feature a series showcasing its top two teams, so we will find out considerable information about who will start to stand out in this mess of playoff possibility.
