Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"August 31, 2001
Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"
August 31, 2001
|
Jim Fox |
Beginning tonight the battle for supremacy in the American League Eastern Division enters a critical stage.
Seven of the next 10 games the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees play are against each other.
Those seven games may ultimately decide the division title.
The Yanks held a four-game lead over the Red Sox heading into Tuesday night’s contests.
Boston also stood three games off the pace set by the resurgent Oakland A’s for the AL wildcard race.
Either title will suit Boston and its legion of fans. The bottom line is making the playoffs.
With the return Sunday of BoSox hurler Pedro Martinez to the fray, many in Red Sox Nation regained hope.
His return may not be the answer. Enough other Red Sox players are still on the mend that one man isn’t the solution anymore.
The first problem Boston must overcome is the tough stretch their schedule presents from now until Sept. 10.
Beginning Tuesday until then Boston squares off with the Cleveland Indians six times. If they can hold off both the Indians and Yankees, then they enter a relatively easy stretch where they will face only second-division clubs such as Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Detroit over the final 20 games of the season.
Beginning Tuesday, New York started a 13-game stretch against Toronto and Boston. The only other team above .500 the Yankees face the rest of the regular season is the Chicago White Sox who are barely above the mark.
Boston, however, must slog through two of the three AL division leaders before hitting a softer part of their slate.
If Boston can handle NY, hold off Cleveland and pummel the rest of their schedule, late September will become very interesting. But that may be a bit too much to ask of a team that just fired the manager that dragged them through the season using every trick in the book to help an injury-depleted team hold onto first place into late June.
Now the job falls to former pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, to overtake the three-time world champs over the next four weeks.
The Red Sox can do it, but here are a few reasons why they may not:
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The BoSox need all hands on deck as the season heads into the home stretch. Pedro is back and so was Nomar Garciaparra, but that’s not enough. Boston’s tailspin began when Nomar returned.n
They need Manny Ramirez’ potent bat in the lineup every day. If he isn’t healthy the rest of the team won’t be able to make up the difference. Rolando Arrojo and Brian Daubach need to get healthy to help bolster the team as well.n
It doesn’t look like Jason Varitek, Bret Saberhagen and John Valentin will be able to contribute anything more this season and that will hurt.n
The key all along is pitching. I’ve said most of the season that Boston’s pitching would eventually fall apart and to a certain degree it has.Boston seems to have as many injuries as always, while the Yankees pitching, at least, is getting healthy with the return of Orlando Hernandez.
The Red Sox are still in position to control their own destiny.
If they can take at least five of the seven games from the Yankees between now and Sept. 10 the rest of the season will involve some serious scoreboard watching by both Red Sox and Yankees fans.
The question is: Can Boston get healthy enough to finish baseball’s 162-game marathon?
