Baseball Musings: Time to Panic?

August 08, 2007

Time to Panic?

The Angels defeated the Red Sox last night:

While San Francisco cheered last night, and much of baseball booed, the Red Sox simply tried to find a way out of the fifth inning. But they couldn't escape the pivotal, five-run fifth for the Angels, or the nervousness back in New England that came with the Sox' 10-4 loss to Los Angeles. Just as the wait for Barry Bonds to break Hank Aaron's home run record came to an end, the anxiousness of holding off the Yankees officially began.

The Globe sounds a similar note:

As a reluctant but necessary witness to this teeth-gritting spectacle, Terry Francona might have been expected to rise slowly to his feet, push his hands into his pockets, adopt a sour expression, and confine his remarks to a prepared statement in which he said, "In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty."
But since Bud Selig had already used that routine watching Barry Bonds last weekend, the manager was on his own last night to reflect upon the numerous transgressions committed by the Red Sox in a 10-4 beating by the Angels, one that had Boston fans wishing their vehicles were not equipped with rearview mirrors.

The Angels used power, small ball and Red Sox miscues to to score five runs in the fifth, turning around a two run lead by the Red Sox. The problem with trading for a late inning reliever to help your team is that sometimes the team doesn't get to the late innings with a lead.

At the end of play on May 29th, the Red Sox sat in first place, 36-15. The Yankees were 21-29, 14 1/2 games behind Boston. That number screamed 1978. The next day A-Rod distracted the new Toronto third baseman on a pop-up, and the New York comeback began. The Yankees are 42-21 since that time, while Boston played a little above .500 at 32-30. Sometimes a good team plays .500 the rest of the way and still gets caught. That hasn't happened yet, but Boston turned an eastern division rout into an exciting pennant race.

Posted by David Pinto at 11:09 AM | Division Races | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I disagree with the idea that the AL East is an exciting pennant race. The Yankees took advantage of the soft part of their schedule while the Red Sox have been playing better teams.

I never thought the Red Sox were 10 games better than the Yankees, and I expected the lead to dwindle somewhat. With less than 50 games left in the season, 5 games is still a significant division.

The Yankees have no margin for error and the Red Sox have a lot of games against bad teams left.

Posted by: Tom at August 8, 2007 12:08 PM

It's true that the Yanks have a tough August ahead of them, while the Red Sox get to breathe a little easier. But the July schedules were more similar than they're made out to be -- remember that the Yanks played two tough series right before the all-star break -- the Red Sox play most of this month on the road, and the September schedule lightens back up for the Yanks. 11 games against the beasts of the Central won't be fun, but the Yanks close with 19 of 22 against the second division (and the other three against the Red Sox). Expect a huge run at the end, too.

Posted by: Dan at August 8, 2007 12:42 PM

I just think the closeness of the race is being way overblown and the history of the teams is making people lose a little perspective. It's not as if the Red Sox have been playing terrible. It's more that the Yankees have been playing great.

It's true that the Yankees close against some bad teams, but the Red Sox spend a huge part of September at home. I have felt since May that the Yankees are playing for the Wild Card and I still feel that way.

I could be wrong, but I'd be shocked if the race even ends up close.

Posted by: Tom at August 8, 2007 01:06 PM

As long as the Red Sox have Tim Wakefield to lose big game after game when they need a win, the Yanks have a chance. Wakefield should have been reduced to middle relief after he gave up 6 homers vs Tigers in '04 (yet won game). Francona consistantly lets Tim give up 6/7 runs and game is beyond salvage. Tim is a great teammate, good for Boston charity events, and such, but he is not a big game pitcher.

Posted by: Bob S at August 8, 2007 01:32 PM

Yup, Tim sucks. I mean, an above league average pitcher for $4 million per year. A guy that eats up 200 innings a season. Get over yourself. He might not be the same guy he was five years ago, but that doesn't diminish the fact that he consistently eats up innings for the Sox and delivers above-average performance. He's a #5 kind of guy, so how can you expect #1 or #2 performance out of him?

Posted by: Matt at August 8, 2007 01:55 PM

In my eyes no ball player sucks. Wakefield eats innings because Francona lets him do so and he could eat innings as a middle reliever. If Wakefield pitched for his first team, the Pirates, instead of good Sox teams since mid-90s, his career would have ended several seasons back. In the past 11 seasons he's had 6 ERA over 4 & 3 ERA over 5. That is not good pitching.

Posted by: Bob S at August 8, 2007 08:44 PM