You think this was easy? I don't. Somebody tells you before the year begins that Big Papi will miss 50 of the first 155 games; that J.D. Drew will miss 48 (well, that one you might have bought); that Mike Lowell would miss 43; that Jason Varitek would have a paltry 33 extra-base hits and a .365 slugging percentage; and that, oh yeah, Manny RamÃrez would scandalously weasel his way out of town, you're thinking "wait till next year," no? Well, I would've.
Then throw in no Curt Schilling all year and Clay Buchholz, his presumptive heir in the rotation, submitting a messy 2-9, 6.75 season, capped off by Okey-Dokey having a very topsy-turvy year, and you're thinking, "Hey, can't win every year," right?
Of course.
But somehow, some way, they're getting in. They're one more victory or Yankee loss from officially securing a berth, and Francona has to see what transpires the rest of this week. Winning the division remains the goal. Forget the pride factor. Francona would much rather open here with two against Chicago than out in Anaheim with two against those annoying Angels, who have been a puzzle for his squad this year, but as long as he's playing in October, you won't hear any moaning from Francona.
Yes, I realize the Red Sox aren't the only ones who've had adversity. Tampa Bay deserves all the praise anyone can muster for surviving the loss of Carl Crawford, who has not played since Aug. 9, and Evan Longoria, who was on his way to being a runaway choice as American League Rookie of the Year when a pitched ball broke his hand Aug. 7. But Joe Maddon, who can start preparing his AL Manager of the Year acceptance speech (perhaps there'll be a good tip on an affordable quality Shiraz), kept the Rays chugging along. Never forget that after stumbling into the All-Star break with seven straight losses, the Rays compiled the best record in the league over the first six weeks of the second half.
