Sink or Swim

I've come to the point where I blog only when I feel like I have something to say. Lazy, maybe, but it's a long, 162-game season and the way the Sox have been playing in the second half, save for a few bright spots (last night's game, for one), has been uninspiring, to say the least. They are still in the lead for the Wild Card, however, and that's what this blog's about.

From tomorrow's game forward, this team needs to play hard, play smart, and just plain PLAY BETTER! Watching the Little League games is more fun than watching the big boys play lately. On that note, congrats to the Peabody, Mass. team for advancing to the Little League World Series. They could seriously teach their Red Sox heroes a little about clutch hitting. The offense needs to produce consistently. The starters need to do a better job at holding runners on and pitching more economically. The same can be said for the bullpen, who may have been playing over their heads in the first few months of the season, especially Delcarmen and Ramirez. Defense needs to improve too.

I'm not offering this as an excuse, but all the roster shakeups of late can be rough on team chemistry. When you don't know who will be playing where from game to game, how can you be expected to play as a team? Adam LaRoche was a Red Sox for, like, five minutes, as was Chris Woodward. Their teammates get to know them and then they're gone. Shakeups can be a good thing, but there's something to be said for too much of a good thing. Who's on first? What's on second? I don't know who's locker's next to mine now... You think Tito and Millsy will go on the road with an Abbott and Costello bit anytime soon?

It's time for the 2009 Red Sox to show the rest of the league and the fans just who they are. Are they the 2006 (or pre-2004) team who folds it up early and hits the links in October? Or are they the 2005 team, who makes the playoffs, but gets their clocks cleaned once they get there? Perhaps last year's team, who came one win short of the World Series. It looks highly unlikely that they are the 2004 or 2007 teams who went all the way, but just about anything can happen in the game of baseball. Sink or swim, boys (and that includes the ones that run this show).

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!