Birth of A Win Streak

      Something beautiful happened on Memorial Day Monday.   The Red Sox woke up from their coma and remembered that they are the defending World Series champions and that they were capable of winning baseball games!  They put their catastrophic 10-game losing streak behind them and started a much more pleasant streak at the expense of the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves.    The beginnings of their emergence from the darkness were like anyone awakening after a long slumber, disoriented and confused (courtesy of a patented 2014 Clay Buchholz performance) but they came back from the 5-run hole to defeat the Braves 8-6.  

       Riding some momentum for what looked like the first time this season, they rode a solid, if unspectacular Lester start and a 4-run 7th inning to a second victory.   Coming home to Fenway after two games that were encouragingly reminiscent of the 2013 team, they gave John Lackey 3 runs more than he needed after shutting out the Braves over 6.1 innings with 9 Ks.   It was their first shutout of the season.  Their winning streak now stands at 3 games, their longest so far in 2014.  

       They have a chance to sweep the Braves tomorrow night and extend their winning streak to 4.   However, with Jake Peavy on the mound, that might be a tall order.   Still, if the Red Sox are going anywhere this season, they will need to dig out of the hole created by the 10-game losing streak  sooner rather than later.   These past three games have been a ray of hope, but there is much work to be done to get back into the division race.    For that to happen, the back of the rotation needs to start pulling its weight and the offense needs to avoid any more prolonged slumps.  

      For the record, I am not expecting the Sox to repeat as World Series champions.   At this point in the season given what has happened, my expectations for them are simply to contend for a playoff spot and play relevant games in September.   If they turn things around in June, I would like to see them make a trade or two at the deadline to upgrade their starting rotation and/or the outfield.