David Ortiz says that the team should panic. Johnny Damon hopes that the Red Sox are following Ortiz's advice. Our own NESN Nation has long since pressed the panic button.
But then again, cooler heads may yet prevail.
The Red Sox are still leading the wild card race by three games and Josh Beckett is on the mound Friday night hoping to continue his dominance of the Rays. Beckett has pitched 17 scoreless innings against the Rays so far this season, allowing only one hit in each of his two starts.
Besides, Jon Lester goes for the Sox tomorrow and after wrapping up this series, the Red Sox face the lowly Orioles while the Rays head to New York to play the Yankees.
There's still a lot of baseball left to be played this season but the stakes keep getting higher with every game that goes by. The pressure is rising, emotions are flaring, but "panic" is still a pretty big word to use in a situation like this. Or is it?
