Upon a dwindling lead

22-0. the number glares at you. Its surrounded by statistics noting, "the worst loss in franchise history", "the most lopsided shut-out ever"...etc. Words like embarassing, travesty, and disgusting blanket the papers and websites. The Red Sox are baseball's hottest team, now standing a mere 3.5 games back in the AL East, and they still have 6 games against the Yankees which can place them on top for a divisional crown. The pitching has been awful, with starters struggling to make 5 innings, much less actually earn a win. The bullpen is overworked, and cant possibly hold up to the amount of innings they are being asked to work ( Rivera, Quantrill and Gordon being the top three in innings worked in the AL pens). Sheffield is ailing in several body parts, A-rod cant hit with RISP, the sky is falling, and Chicken Little is going crazy!!!

Now lets take a step back. Lets take a deep breath, and look at things again. The Yankees just finished a 7 game road trip 5-2. They still own the AL's best record, and a lead in their division. They play only 2 Plus-.500 teams the rest of the way. Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Baltimore are all over the September schedule. Mussina and Brown are still rounding their way back into form, and El Duque is gaining steam. Esteban Loaiza has sucked, I won't tap dance around that one, and I dont trust him going into war for us. Leiber is sketchy at times, and a cause for concern as a top playoff guy. I dont believe Vazquez is as bad as recent outings have shown, and I would put him out there as a 4.

Boston has a tough road ahead; even if they are borrowing a page from Oakland of the past few seasons, does any fan, even those who live and breathe Red Sox Nation, actually believe that this team wont disappoint? Can any team, that is flawed as the Sox are, remain this hot? Pedro and Schilling are who they are, but you are gonna say Arroyo, Timmy Junk-ball, and Derek Lowe are any better than the Yankees 3-5? I'll take Duque, Vazquez and Lieber/Loaiza over that group, and I'll run 3-on-3 at the top as well.

Let the panic-button pushers push their buttons, Ill copy and paste this post in a few weeks when the bandwagons on both sides are shaking from all the people jumping off one, and onto the other.