By Chris Cue
Sept. 10, 2009

     I have a few feelings on where the Red Sox are headed and they’re not all rosy…….call me a
typical Red Sox fan, but I have some doubts. However, I also see things
to be encouraged about. I won’t belabor this with stats because they
are out there for all to see if interested, but mostly I won’t do that
because I usually watch and set my expectations based on my gut
feelings. They’re not always right (using stats to predict the future
isn’t either btw), but they are what they are.

Here’s what my gut is telling me.

     If
I had to equate where we are this season to season’s in the past, I’d
say I feel more like I did going into the final stretch of 04 then I
did going into it in 07. To be honest, I never thought we’d get past
the Yankees in the playoffs of 04. I’m not sure how many people who are
being honest with themselves thought we would, but if you remember back
then, you’ll remember that nobody was playing better ball going into
the playoffs than the Yankees…..much like this year.

     Now,
I’m not saying that a repeat is about to happen for us. I’m just saying
my gut tells me the same things it did in 04 and it wasn’t
pretty….(but turned out nicely 🙂 Let’s just say my gut tells me we
have a good sized hill to climb in order to make it to the final dance
this year. I didn’t feel that way in 07. Back then, I had all the
confidence in the world heading into the post season….much like I’m
sure how Yankees fans feel now. My only fear back then was that the Sox
would once again fall down when it mattered the most (see pre 2004 post
season play by the Sox and you’ll know what I mean).

     This year,
we’re obviously not breezing into October ball. We’re in the “fight and
scratch your way” mode. But I try to remember that’s not such a bad
thing. We’ve seen teams breeze into October only to fall on their faces
because they either were too well rested or began to take too much for
granted. I’m assuming that neither of those issues will be problems for
us this year……if we make it.

     The one thing we have going for
us right now is we’re not in the position to hope someone else fails so
we can improve……been there….. done that…..hated it. We have a 2
game lead, but let’s not take that for granted. In fact, I would be
surprised if the Rangers don’t make up at least one game….possibly 2
while we fight the Rays and Angels and they play Oakland & Seattle.
The key for us is going to be beating the teams we should (BAL, KC, TOR
& CLE), and winning AT LEAST one of the series against teams that
could give us a run (TB, LAA & NYY). I think if we do that, we
should come out ahead of the Rangers and once in the playoffs…..

(c’mon, say it with me)

Anything Is Possible!