So This Is What Quicksand Feels Like

You don't even know where to begin. The Red Sox lead over the Yankees in the AL East is down to 1.5 games and only one in the all too precious loss column. And I don't even know what to think.

I'm mad. I'm really mad. I'm so mad, that I'm almost not mad. Anyone who watched the last six Red Sox games should know what I mean by that. They are playing terrible baseball right now. And I don't care how many games are left or who they are against, it's not good right now. The optimists will point to the fact that the Red Sox have nine games left, plenty of time to get their act together. Sure, that's a true point. But the thing that should bother Red Sox games is the fact that they are playing with no real signs of urgency. I don't care that last year the Cardinals were playing terrible heading into the playoffs and marched to a World Series title. That's the exception. If the Red Sox continue playing this bad, and limp into the playoffs (which with the help of the Tigers slumping play is the worst case scenario), it won't matter. I guarantee they won't win the World Series.

The optimists also point to the fact that the Red Sox have an easy schedule left. It's three this weekend in Tampa, then back home for two against Oakland then four against Minnesota. All three teams will be watching the playoffs from home this year or from their respective country clubs. Guess what? Toronto's going to be right with them, and they just swept the Sox. My point is this: The Red Sox shouldn't be worried about who's on their schedule or even what the Yankees are doing. The Red Sox should be worried about playing better baseball. Now.

The weather's getting a bit cooler, the air smells a bit more ripe, and the leaves are slowly but surely turning from bright green to autumn shades of red and orange. That of course means, it's time for a Manny Ramirez saga. Where the hell is this guy? It's pretty obvious that the Red Sox don't have a great line-up. And that's with Manny in it. With him not in it, it's even worse obviously. The Sox are 10-12 since Manny went down with his tender oblique and 7 of those 12 losses have come by two runs or less (Thanks to Dave D. for that stat). Meanwhile, David Ortiz has found his kryptonite in the form of a bum shoulder and knee, but the guy just. keeps. grinding. Take notes Manny. It all comes back to that urgency thing...

I'm not even going to get into the fact that Terry Francona is managing like it's March 19, not September 19, Eric Gagne officially sucks, Jonathan Papelbon is apparently human, and JD Drew, well is still JD Drew. On a positive note though, JD hit his 9th home run tonight, which still gives him an outside chance at 14, which would equal a homer per million dollars he's getting paid this year.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not throwing this season away (although with the Packers playing the way they are, it's becoming more tempting). I'm still with this team. I think when they're playing good baseball, not many, if any teams in baseball can hang with them. The only problem is, they picked the absolute worse time, in the midst of a pennant run to play their worst baseball. Here's hoping that changes soon...

PS - To make matters worse, the Sox have shut down Hideki Okajima indefinitely. Neat-o.