With a deficit of eight games in the American League East and five games in the wild-card race, the Red Sox head to Anaheim to take on the Angels in a three-game series at a critical juncture of their season.
A losing series would make the hill that much steeper, while at least two wins in the set would send Boston home on a better note.
In order to achieve the latter, here are a few keys:
No Offense
What's wrong with the Red Sox' attack? For several weeks the major league leader in runs scored, Boston has seen injuries at some key spots and slumps at several others to cause the offense to grind to a halt.
The club scored a total of five runs from Friday to Sunday and has been held to four or fewer in 11 of the last 12. It is hitting .228 since the All-Star break.
It was the offense that carried the Sox for stretches earlier in the season. Currently, it's dragging them down.
Victor, Victorious?
The best result of this current 3-4 road trip is that it has seen the returns of several injured players, most notably starters Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz. But if Victor Martinez can return in this series, as is the hope, it will have an instantaneous effect.
As mentioned already, the offense is in dire straits. Part of that team-wide slump is a less-than-impressive effort by the replacements for Martinez.
The four catchers who have played since Martinez broke his left thumb have combined to hit .162 (12-for-74) with two RBIs since his injury, and those two RBIs came from Jason Varitek just before he broke his foot in late June.
Revenge Factor
As evidenced by their acquisition of Dan Haren on Sunday, the Angels are prepared to put behind them a rough start to the season and make a full-fledged bid for a fourth straight postseason berth.
Part of that tough stretch to start the year was a four-game sweep in Fenway Park that dropped Los Angeles to 12-18.
The Angels have owned the Sox at home of late (9-3 over the last three years), and perhaps a desire to even the score in 2010 will give them some extra motivation.
