Catch Up

Well, I haven't really been keeping up with my blog like I would've hoped earlier on; it's quite a bit of work and I sort of gave up on it for a while due to a lack of audience.  I've decided recently to continue my work periodically - maybe, once every series or so?  I don't know...we will see.

Anyway, since I've last left off, July has been a very busy month for a lot of teams such as the A's, the Angels, The Twins, etc.  However, many other teams have lost their grasp on contention such as the Yankees, the Rangers and arguably the Red Sox as well.  I know we were all hoping for a great July run from the Sox to bounce back and get back up where they should be - first place.  But, with baseball being such a non-advantageous sport, it is virtually impossible to dominate in such a small window of time. 

Boston currently ranks fourth in the AL East (for all of you people who do not know) right above the struggling Blue Jays by a game and below the struggling Rays by two games.  After an up and down July for the Sox, I was happy to see them finally get in the groove as they ended the month by winning both the Yankees and Tigers Series - two of the best teams.

But, come August, they almost get swept by the TWINS???  Ugh, when Aceves let up that Go-Ahead three-run homer to Joe Mauer in game three I thought I was going to throw up.  I mean, I know the Twins are finally starting to pick up their crap offensively but my God, we should have swept them like dirt under a rug.  That being said, a two game winning streak isn't anything to necessarily be happy about - granted, they did crush the Rangers last night in probably the best offensive game I've seen the Fantastic Four hit in all season (Ellsbury, Pedroia, Crawford, Gonzalez) but we knew all along that they were capable of that.


However, the starting pitching for the Sox I still find inconsolable; Lester and Beckett, two of the greatest pitchers in the game, have slumped to a point that left bad tastes in a lot of Bostonian mouths.  At LEAST Bucholtz has come around to become the number one pitcher - at LEAST Cook finally found his groove to shut down one of the greatest offenses in baseball to just one run - at LEAST Franklin Morales can stay calm and humble on the mound to get decent results.  Lester debuts tonight against Ryan Dempster, the recent pickup of the Rangers, in an epic pitching duel.  With the way the Sox have been hitting, I don't see why they would have a problem tonight unless Lester really you-know-what's the bed. 

I don't think this season will end particularly fantastic for the Red Sox, but they certainly can turn their course around in two months to AT LEAST clinch a wildcard position if not take the division title; we saw Tampa Bay do that last year in what said to be the most epic regular season last-day in baseball - if not all sports - history.