Don't Reach For The Panic Button Just Yet

It looks bad this morning, real bad. The Red Sox lost an ugly game to the Devil Rays while the Yankees came from behind to beat the Orioles. The A.L. East lead is down to just a .5-game. The Sox can't get any consistent pitching, they do not field (what happpened to Renteria?) and other than Big Papi and Johnny Damon, the boys can't hit either. But I'm not worried. Not yet anyways. The fact is that the Red Sox are still in first place, no matter how tightly they are holding on. They do have a favorable schedule (two more in Tampa, three at Baltimore, four at home versus Toronto and then three at Fenway against the Yanks) -- no matter how much they have struggled with the A.L. East this year (31-31). The Yankees have an easy schedule as well but the difference is that they close the year on the road while the Sox are at home, where they are 50-24 this year (New York is 38-36 on the road). I also believe -- and this is nothing more than Red Sox optimism -- that the Boston pitching, defense and offense will pick up over the last 12 games. I think that Curt Schilling, David Wells and the youth in the bullpen (Craig Hansen, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny DelCarmen) will carry this team through October. It stretches my imagination but I am still holding out hope that Renteria will make some important plays at shortstop down the stretch instead of booting routine ground balls. And it is rational to believe that Jason Varitek, Manny Ramrez, Trot Nixon and at least one first baseman (Kevin Millar or John Olreud) will get hot for the next month. On the flip side of that, I don't think the Yankee pitching -- with no days off the rest of the season -- will hold up. The bullpen is tired, Mike Mussina and Jaret Wright are hurt, the Big Unit is old and creaky and Chien-Ming Wang and Aaron Small can't be expected to carry the Bronx Bombers to the playoffs. So call me crazy, I still like the Red Sox chances to win the A.L. East. I reserve the right to change my mind (especially if Schill loses to Tampa Bay tonight) but for now, pencil in Boston as a playoff team.