Red Sox Right in Thick of AL Playoff Picture After Up-and-Down June As Season Is About to Heat Up

June is over. It was a month that saw the Sox reach impressive highs and depressing lows. A roller-coaster month that saw the Red Sox win 14 of 16 games at one point, scoring more than eight runs a game.That run came to a crashing halt on the 21st, the first official day of summer. Until Thursday's win, the Sox had lost five of six, scoring just over two runs a game during that stretch.

There were certainly some great moments this month, like the three-game sweep of the Yankees in New York, part of a nine-game winning streak that saw the Sox move from two games back to two games up in the AL East.

That series was capped off by an 8-3 win with Josh Beckett outdueling CC Sabathia. The Yanks were in command until the Sox scored seven in the seventh. All this happened after the longest rain delay I've ever witnessed, a three-hour, 30-minute delay that led to a 10:35 p.m. start.

The going theory was that the Yankees made us all wait that long so that Derek Jeter could get the game in and continue his march to 3,000 hits. New Yorkers apparently wanted Jeter to reach the milestone on the homestand.

Jeter, of course, is now on the disabled list. New Yorkers are still waiting for his 3,000th hit.

They're not waiting for the Yankees to reclaim first place. New York has the best record in the AL, and the has outscored opponents by 110 runs. It's the biggest run differential in all of baseball.

June saw interleague play, and we were once again reminded that 18 games against the National League is way too much. What we didn't realize until this year was that nine straight road games under NL rules is way, way too much. As we all know, David Ortiz didn’t get to play much since there is no DH in NL parks.

Why does Major League Baseball still have its two leagues operate under different rules? It’s like the NBA telling the Western Conference that they won't have a 3-point line. Or telling the AFC they’ve lost the two-point conversion.

Bud Selig has to make a choice: continue interleague play with one sets of rules, or get rid of interleague play. Or shorten interleague to two series a year –- one home, one away. No one will miss the DH that badly for three games, will they?

But I digress. On Friday, the Sox will reach the half-way point of the 2011 season. It has already been a crazy ride, with a 2-10 start and one of the best records in the game since. They are currently holding onto a playoff position in the AL, which is what this is all about. We're a month away from the trade deadline, and there is already talk of adding a bat by July 31.

A win in the final game in Philly leaves the Red Sox with a 16-9 record this month. They begin July on Friday with three games in Houston against the team with the worst record in baseball.

After all these twists and turns, the Sox are in the hunt. Which means it's shaping up to be a fun summer after all.