The Sox, are they done?

[Lost in Space]

Right so I'm a Sox fan, and this is a very depressing time for the Sox and I am losing hope. Does anyone see us making the playoffs, i mean swept by the Yankees

[SMELL_FEAR]

Yes i think we are all done,are pitching is just not there.The baseBall gods are not helping us at all.
P.S. I SO FEEL YOUR PAIN.

[mdpuff01]

I'm from Boston so maybe I'm being a little too optimistic but I think there's hope. First off, their pitching is horrible (signing Beckett to that extension was unreal but that's another story) but for the most part the teams they are competing with don't have much pitching either. The Yankees' starters didn't fair much better this weekend than the Sox starters did. The White Sox have been struggling all year. The Twins are the only team with quality starters that are competing for the Wild Card but they took a hit when Liriano went down.

Secondly, the Sox got swept but it wasn't a bad sweep. They were in every game after the first one, had a couple leads, and blew them. What it came down to was the Yanks were able to make the bigger plays this time around (was it just me or did it feel like Jeter was at bat every time the Yankees needed a hit?) but there's still hope because that lineup is fierce, they still have the best 3-4 hitters in the all of baseball, and Papelbon (even though he blew a save Sunday) is still lights out.

The Sox just don't match up well with the Yankees for a couple reasons but here's the main thing: the Sox have terrible middle relief, and the Yankees wear down your starters. Schilling shut the Yankees down early, but he still threw over 40 pitches through 2 innings. The Yankees get on base, take a lot of pitches, and fight off pitches they can't work with better than any lineup I've ever seen (evidenced when Beckett walked 9 batters). Not many pitchers are gonna be able to go more than 6 innings against them, putting a lot of pressure on setup guys that the Sox don't have. But against any other team, Beckett won't walk that many people, Schilling will last longer, and Papelbon can make a 2 inning save without throwing 45 pitches or whatever it was. They can rally to win the wild card (especially if the White Sox and Twins beat up on each other) but they can't catch the Yankees. The Yankees leaped ahead of them with their deadline moves (particularly for Abreu... incredible move) and they're just a better team at this point.

[DarkKnight81]

FYI for those of you who think you have NO chance and you're out of it, there is about 40 games left in the season. You're down by 6 1/2 games. Thats a 3-4 game swing. So no, Sox arent out of it by a long shot. If they keep playing this way then yeah, go home, but for now there is still hope.

[cletus66]

After 2004 I will never count the Red Sox out until they are mathmatically eliminated. But their season is definitely on life support. The only way the Sox are gonna have a chance is if Varitek comes back and helps to right the pitching staff. At this point I would say their best chance is going to be the wild card as usual but it is going to be an uphill climb to get there.

[mdpuff01]

I just read a stat that blew me away and made me rethink my optimism. If you take away interleague play, where the Sox are 16-2, and games against the Orioles, where the Sox are 11-1, the Sox are 11 GAMES UNDER .500 AGAINST EVERY ONE ELSE.

That said, I have a hard time believing they have the consistency to overtake the Twins or White Sox for the wild card. This is good though because the Red Sox need a reality check. After winning the World Series, they lowball Pedro and Damon, make some signings that turn out to be awful (Josh Beckett and Coco Krisp particularly) and fail to make any serious deadline moves. They have the financial resources, but aren't willing to gamble like other teams. The Yankees have a bloated payroll, critics were making fun of how ludicrous it got, and they still went out and got Abreu and agreed to pay all of salary. Yeah, it's a financial killer, but it looks like it put the Yanks lineup over the top. The Sox sat on what they had instead of going after any one because they didn't want to spend more money when they can easily afford to take those chances. It's a shame. I hope they heat up but I didn't realize how average this team really is...