Sox Wake Up

After an unforgivable 12-inning loss to the Oakland A's last night, including April appearances by Chris Carter and Gil Velazquez, the Boston Red Sox fell to 2-6. Yes, this is almost the exact same team that was 27 outs away from the World Series six months ago.

Now, being the self-proclaimed biggest BoSox fan in the Pacific Northwest, I'm here to tell the fans of the Sox and the rest of the American League that it isn't quite time to panic and Boston is fine. And I'm not just saying that because Tim Wakefield brought a no-no into the 8th inning this afternoon in an 8-2 blowout, salvaging the final game of the series in the Bay Area.

Boston certainly has their fair share of obstacles to overcome early. Josh Beckett will miss a start due to suspension for throwing a heater in the general direction of Bobby Abreu's head. Daisuke Matsuzaka was placed on the disabled list because of arm fatigue (I don't understand the necessity of the World Baseball Classic at all, but I don't want to place all the blame on the event for injuries. Can't we figure out a way to incorporate the pros into the Olympics and call it good?). Julio Lugo is out for about a month and John Smoltz is still recovering from surgery

As far as players who aren't suspended or injured are concerned, Jon Lester hasn't been effective at all in two starts (though last season, his April ERA was his second worst month). David Ortiz is another notoriously slow starter, who hasn't hit for a higher average in April than his end-of-the-year total since I was a sophomore in high school. The reigning MVP hit .182 in April of 2007 but finished at .317 in his Rookie of the Year campaign.

Finally, don't forget that Terry Francona still runs this team. No, I don't like this.

So why panic? The bullpen has been awesome, save for Javier Lopez, who elicits more "Well this isn't going to end well" reactions from me than the Heathcliff Slocumb era did, and Hideki Okajima, who is still a solid lefty when used correctly. Ramon Ramirez, the return for dealing Coco Crisp, has been lights out, Jonathan Papelbon is money and Delcarmen is quickly turning the Manny being Manny moniker into a much more welcome saying. Yeah, Takashi Saito and Justin Masterson have been shaky, but both will be clutch relievers for the Sox.

In the lineup, Mike Lowell has been healthy in his return from hip surgery and is leading the team in RBI. Jason Varitek has shown signs of rebounding from the worst offensive season by a catcher since 1844, despite hitting just .200 thus far. Jason Bay is better than Manny Ramirez (yeah, I said it) and Kevin Youkilis is off to a scorching start (.472 average). Sure, he can't keep that up, but in the meantime, he's helped keep the stalling Sox offense produce.

Finally, the rotation is still one of the League's best, as Brad Penny impressed in his AL debut, Wakefield has looked as good as he has in the last several years and the top three will be there by season's end, barring any lengthy setbacks. Even if one was to go down (yeah, Dice, I'm looking at you), Clay Buchholz, the youngster who threw a no-hitter two years ago, is waiting in the wings.

Boston is fine. With the Baltimore Orioles down 10 to the future AL West champion Texas Rangers (and by future, I mean closer to 2020 than 2010), the Sox will only be down three games in the division. Big deal.

So relax, don't freak out on a day-to-day basis like Boston Dirt Dogs and prepare yourselves for an exciting AL East race between the Sox and their bitter divisional rivals.

And no, I'm not talking about the Yankees.