The Red Sox once again fell below .500 on Tuesday night after dropping a 6-3 decision to the Rangers. The loss did nothing to strike down Bobby Valentine's confidence, though.
The Boston skipper appeared on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan on Wednesday morning, and he made it clear that he still thinks the Red Sox have the potential for October success.
"No, I don't think so," Valentine said when asked whether the Red Sox' struggles are an indication that this may simply be a .500 team. "I think we're a playoff team, and I think we're going to be there before the season is over."
There's been a lot of talk lately about how many wins it will take to grab the American League's second wild card spot. If the number of required victories were placed at 89, the Red Sox would have to go 34-17 the rest of the way, and Valentine finds that a realistic goal.
"Yeah, of course. Of course we can do better than that," Valentine said. "I don't think that's so optimistic. I think if we stay healthy, and right now we have some concerns in the bullpen, if we can stabilize, there is big runs ahead."
Valentine was also asked what he thought of players talking to ownership without his knowledge, a question that stems from the recent controversy surrounding a comment he apparently made to Will Middlebrooks after the infielder made two errors. Some reports have said someone went to ownership without Valentine knowing, but the manager doesn't see any ongoing issues.
"I don't think anybody went up the back stairs," Valentine said Wednesday. "This is all drama stuff. I think guys got together and, some of the owners when talking to the guys probably said, 'Hey, have there been any situations that have been something other than you expected?' and someone might have said something and it might have gotten back to me. I don't think anybody was running up stairs."
Whatever the case may be, The Red Sox better focus on running up the stairs in the wild card standings before it's too late.
