Nice Win, But Work to be Done

Time and time again in his career, Josh Beckett has come through in big games, and while the season wasn't exactly on the line tonight, things weren't looking too great for the Red Sox and they really needed a great start from their best righthanded starter. 

And Beckett, true to form, did not disappoint.  He held the Rays to three runs (two earned) over six innings, struck out seven against only one walk (intentional) and outdueled fellow big game pitcher James Shields to earn his thirteenth win of the season.  The bullpen picked up where he left off, as Alfredo Aceves, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon whiffed eight Tampa Bay Rays for the final nine outs and preserved a narrow 4-3 lead.  The win ended a six game losing streak to their Florida nemesis and was just the team's fourth victory in its last fifteen games.

Josh Beckett returned from a sprained ankle tonight
against the Rays and stopped the bleeding

Boston just needed a win in any way, shape, or form this weekend, and they got it tonight.  Didn't matter if it happened tonight, tomorrow or Sunday.  Multiple wins would be nice, obviously, but one victory was a necessity.  It might turn out to be the most important game of the season.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  No matter what happens this weekend, we can't guarantee Soxtober  even if coolstandings.com gives Boston a 95.8 percent chance to make the playoffs.  Forget about the final ten games of the regular season, when the Rays will face the Yankees seven times while the Sox get the Orioles for seven.  The Yankees will be resting their regulars and aligning their rotation for the postseason, so you can guarantee they won't be making a hard push for 100 wins (they currently have 90).  They're not going to roll over, but they won't be playing at full strength with Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher still dinged up and likely to get some breathers.

The last place Orioles are depleted, too, but they'll be playing for personal pride and to avoid losing 100 games.  Their pitching is ineffective but they can still swing the bat with J.J. Hardy, Mark Reynolds and the red-hot tandem of Matt Wieters and Vladimir Guerrero in the lineup.  And if you think Boston can just walk all over Baltimore, go ask the Rays how they dropped two of three in Camden Yards earlier this week.  Nothing is guaranteed, especially in a playoff race.

The way Tampa's had our number the last few years I'm just hoping for a series split, which would maintain Boston's comfortable four game lead.  If the Rays rebound to win their two remaining games with the Sox this weekend, then Boston's advantage will be halved to a slim two game lead with ten to play, and David Ortiz and company might go into full-fledged panic mode.  The Rays will leave town in a state of euphoria, brimming with confidence and walking with swagger, while the demoralized Red Sox will be left shaking their heads and wondering how in the world this could be happening when the Wild Card race was all but over two weeks ago.  While the Rays sprint to the finish line, Boston need crutches just to limp there.

Tampa Bay already got off to a great start in this do-or-die series by bashing their way to a 9-2 win last night against poor Kyle Weiland (still winless in the bigs), and the James Shields-Josh Beckett duel went back and forth before Boston squeaked out a crucial 4-3 win.  Boston has a good chance to win again tomorrow on national TV (Sox on Fox) when Jon Lester takes on Jeff Niemann, but Lester struggled mightily in his last start and Sunday's matchup favors the Rays, who will be throwing David Price against the newest member of the 200 (21 of which have come at Tampa's expense) win club, Tim Wakefield. 

But I'm not taking anything for granted, not when Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and Matthew Joyce are en fuego and their starting pitchers give them a chance to win every night.  Not when Boston's potent offense has been hit-or-miss lately and the bullet-riddled staff has the worst ERA in the majors so far in September and Daniel Bard suddenly can't get anybody out (although he did toss a scoreless eighth inning tonight that will hopefully get him back on track).  Not when Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew, Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, Erik Bedard, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Bobby Jenks are wounded.  And certainly not when this team is finding a way to finish the season even worse than how it started.

So I don't really care about the schedule that favors the Red Sox, because the bottom line is this; the Sawx won big tonight but still need to put their foot on the gas.  Otherwise the unthinkable might happen; October baseball could be played without them.