The Boston Red Sox began a three-game series in Oakland against the first place Athletics Monday night. The Sox trailed the New York Yankees by 6 ½ games in the A.L. East and the Minnesota Twins by 5 ½ games in the Wild Card going into Monday night.

The 6-16 record that the Sox have compiled in the last 22 games means one thing: the Red Sox have to perform extremely well this week against the A’s and also this weekend, when they play a four-game stint against the Toronto Blue Jays. Boston has been beaten, battered and butchered since the All-Star break, and Manny Ramirez’s knee “problem” isn’t exactly helping their cause.

The Sox, however, have a chance to gain ground this week considering the Yanks have to play three against the Central-leading Detroit Tigers and three against the Wild Card-leading Twins this weekend. The Yankees didn’t exactly play well on the West Coast, to say the least, especially Alex Rodriquez, who suffered from a virus and then made New York fans sick by going 1 for 15 with 10 strikeouts against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who have officially become the Yankees’ worst nightmare (A piece of advice for Yankee fans – root for the A’s to win the West!)

New York went 2-4 on the trip, but so did Boston, who beat Anaheim two out of three and then proceeded to get swept by the cellar-dwelling Seattle Mariners, who started two rookies.

The Red Sox may be severely crippled by injuries and possible infighting (note the recent stirrings by Ramirez and Curt Schilling, who has called out his teammates recently), but they have to make an attempt to come back.

SOURCES

The Hartford Courant. Sports section. Monday, August 28, 2006.

Kevin D. Roberts

2006 Graduate - University of Connecticut - B.A. Journalism/Political Science

Torrington, CT 06790