The last three games, of course, will be close encounters of the most intense kind, a head-to-head smackdown between the Sox and Yankees, which is shaping up to be a winner-take-all proposition, with the loser possibly missing the playoffs altogether because of the surging Cleveland Indians.
''This year, the playoffs started two weeks early, that's the biggest difference, right?" said Henry, even before Camden Yards was transformed into Fenway on the Chesapeake by thousands of red-clad Sox fans.
Henry empathized with David Ortiz's lament that the Sox had not put away the Yankees when they had the chance, when the Bombers were playing as badly as they have in the last decade.
''If we had been as healthy this year as last year, I would [be frustrated]," Henry said. ''All teams have injuries, but when you lose the guy at the front of your rotation [Curt Schilling] and the back-of-your-rotation closer [Keith Foulke], it's not easy this day and age to fill those spots. Imagine if the Yankees lost [Randy] Johnson and [Mariano] Rivera or they had 6 ERAs.
''So, I can't be totally unhappy with having to fight to the finish. I was probably overly happy two weeks ago when we weren't."
By his own admission, Henry has kept a lower profile this season. It was important to be out front, he said, when the club was first sold, to integrate himself in a community inclined to look upon the new guys as carpetbaggers of the worst kind.
Winning a World Series last year, not to mention all the charitable ties the Sox forged with the community, went a long way toward transforming that image.
''Larry and Theo [Epstein] know what they're doing," he said. ''There's no reason for me to be that visible."
Henry, who spoke briefly with Terry Francona in the dugout before the game, also offered words of support for the Sox manager. Francona, who is trying to survive with a bullpen short on manpower, has come under fire in recent days for his decision not to rely too heavily on the rookies, Jonathan Papelbon and especially Craig Hansen, who is just three months removed from college.
