For battered Boston — which may have dodged a major bullet Tuesday night at Tampa Bay when an ankle injury to Kevin Youkilis was not severe — it keeps getting closer and closer to finding out the answer to those questions.
When Youkilis departed in the fourth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Rays, it left the Sox with a lineup nobody could've envisioned, even a few weeks ago, when the injury bug began to make its rounds.
"Hopefully he'll be able to go [on Wednesday]," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "That's a relief."
You said it, Tito.
Filling in at first base and batting cleanup with Youkilis out of the game was Nuiman Romero, who was given multiple chances to be the hero on a night that saw No. 3 hitter David Ortiz intentionally walked three times. Romero, who entered with 14 major league at-bats in his career, went 0-for-4 and left six runners on base while batting behind Ortiz.
It was like a slap in the face, as if the Rays were doing everything they could to highlight the glaring hole in the Red Sox' lineup. Of course, they were only playing the percentages on a night they were given a gift, and playing them well. Also, it wasn't the only glaring hole.
Your second baseman was Bill Hall, still doing what he can to keep the spot warm until Dustin Pedroia returns.
Left fielder Daniel Nava's career may be made into a movie someday, but he is still less than a month into his major league career. The man next to him, Eric Patterson, was playing center field for the first time in a Boston uniform and carrying his .229 career average into the two-hole for another night.
Finally, the battery of lefty Felix Doubront and Kevin Cash, which performed well, had all the makings of a meaningless late-September affair, the type of game where the skipper gets to use the farthest reaches of his expanded 40-man roster.
But it was nothing of the sort. This was a matchup of two of the three winningest teams in the American League, separated by just 1/2 game and in pursuit of the defending world champs.
Not exactly the time to test the team's limits.
Despite it all, the Sox were within a run in the eighth inning Tuesday until Hideki Okajima allowed a solo homer to Carl Crawford that proved to be the decisive run. Okajima was pitching for the first time in a week.
Naturally, he had been sidelined with a sore back.
Francona was recently asked if this rash of injuries made him think back to 2006, the one year in his Red Sox tenure in which he did not make the playoffs. Francona was very quick to say "No," adding that '06 saw the injuries confined to the pitching staff, a scenario which caused that edition to fade in a second half riddled with starts made by guys like Kyle Snyder, Jason Johnson and Kason Gabbard.
Boston's ability to shrug off the bumps and bruises and keep its head above water seems to support Francona's statement. However, the Sox are 3-4 since he answered that question, 6-7 over their last 13 games since a dominant homestand against National League teams and perhaps beginning to feel the effects.
There's a day off Thursday and then three more before the All-Star break next week, crucial periods of rest for a club that keeps flirting with the tipping point. Where exactly that point lies, the Sox do not want to find out.
