Can They Make It?

I wrote that the Red Sox still have a chance and here’s my reasoning. The Red Sox are currently and injured team, they have holes in the lineup that will be filled soon (hopefully). Even so, people are saying “Bridge Year” but the only reason people say that is because the Sox aren’t doing well and why aren’t they doing well? They are an injured team. What I’m saying is that they have a great team when healthy and they will be healthy from August to September and ready in October. Right now we are seeing a lineup of Scutaro, Macdonald, Ortiz, Youkilis, Beltre, Drew, Cameron, Hall, and Cash, imagine a lineup with Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Martinez, Youkilis, Beltre, Drew, Cameron, Scutaro – sounds pretty good. Also everyone hates the pitching, well I did to but here’s the thing, Beckett was injured when he played and looking at last night’s performance seems on track, Lackey is turning things around and being the guy we paid for, Matsuzaka has been good, Buchholz and Lester have been aces and Wakefield is going back into the bullpen. The Sox are 7 games out of 1st place and 4 games out of the Wild Card; with a healthy team I won’t be surprised if they are playing baseball in October. If there were fewer injuries this year then the Sox probably would be right behind the Yankees, but the team is coming back and ready for the playoffs. One area that is a concern is the bullpen, the Red Sox currently have four good pitchers in their bullpen, the problem is two of them can only go one inning at a time, Wakefield may add some stability and long relief but if the Sox want to be a force in August and September and secure a playoff spot they need another relief pitcher, and one who is very good at that.