It was a good weekend, no doubt, but it is the next week that could come to redefine the 2011 season.
Provided the weather allows the Red Sox to actually play baseball this week, they have a chance to gain major ground in the AL East, and a chance to make the whole "getting to .500 struggle" a thing of the past, rather than a constant reminder of the slow start to the season.
It begins with a two-game set at Fenway versus Baltimore. The Orioles are 19-20. They're 10-11 at home and 9-9 on the road. They've allowed 20 more runs than they've scored. They are, essentially, the definition of mediocre.
On Wednesday, the Sox welcome in the Tigers for another two-game set. The Tigers are currently the hottest team in the bigs, as they ride a seven-game winning streak and have won 10 of their last 11 — a stretch that coincidentally began with three wins against the Yankees. They're no pushovers, obviously, so the onus will be on Boston to make the Tigers look more like the team that started the year 12-17 than the one that's been lighting the world on fire.
Then, it's the Cubs (17-21). There will be a ton of attention on this series for the historical aspect of it (it's the Cubs' first visit to Fenway since 1918, in case you hadn't heard), but the Sox can't worry about that. It's a series they should win.
The combined record of those three opponents is 58-59, fittingly a game under .500. The Sox, at 20-20, are of course a .500 team, but they have to believe they're much, much better than that. Now, they have a chance to prove it.
Doing so will require a few things to go right, though. For one, John Lackey needs to give them more. The Sox might be willing to accept the fact that they didn't acquire the second coming of Pedro Martinez when they handed Lackey an $82.5 million contract, but an ERA over 8.00 is unacceptable for any pitcher, let alone the second-highest paid player on the team. It's been even worse lately, as Lackey is 0-3 with a 10.26 ERA in his last three starts. He's walked 12 and struck out just five in that span, and the Sox lost all three games by a combined score of 22-3.
Lackey may not be a Cy Young candidate, but he's better than that. The Red Sox need him to snap out of it in order to put together a genuine hot streak.
They'll also likely need something out of J.D. Drew and/or Mike Cameron, who in the month of May are hitting .175 and .154, respectively. If Adrian Gonzalez wants to continue hitting homers almost every night, well then that's just fine, too.
Outside of those specific problem areas, though, the Red Sox simply need to play up to their potential. They need to play like the team that every baseball person in America picked to win the World Series back in March. They got off to an 0-6 start and struggled to fully recover, but they're now 20-20, with a chance to start anew.
They'll make another trek to the Bronx in just 23 days. Before then, they'll play the Orioles, Tigers (twice), Cubs, Indians, White Sox and A's, teams that are a combined 119-116. The Sox have a real chance to gain ground on the first-place Rays and put themselves in a position to make their next trip to New York an even more enjoyable than the last.
Will the Red Sox use the three-game sweep in New York to start an extended hot streak? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
