By virtue of the Boston Red Sox’ residence in the American League’s Eastern division, it has become commonplace for the team to benefit from a fairly easy — on paper — September schedule. Sure, the final month’s play will undoubtedly include the Sox’ hated rival, the Yankees, but more often than not, it also includes the three lesser-talented teams: Toronto, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay. In past years, Boston has also faced as its September foes Central Division also-rans Cleveland, Chicago (normally a mediocre team), and Detroit. So no matter where the Red Sox found themselves in the standings come Labor Day, the schedule-makers, through no fault of their own, had managed to give Boston (and invariably New York as well) a fairly comfortable home stretch to finish the season. If the team were within striking distance of the division lead or the wild-card berth — well, here was its chance to make up some ground. Western powerhouses Oakland, Seattle, and Anaheim have had no such luxury in their final month of the season. This season appears no different for the AL East titans: Boston will finish its final 20 games against 57-59 Baltimore (for seven), 62-55 Chicago (for three home games), 45-71 Tampa (for seven), and 50-68 Cleveland (for three roadies). Similarly, the Pinstripers wrap up the 2003 regular-season campaign against the likes of Baltimore, Detroit, Tampa, and Chicago. The late-September schedules of the Yanks and Sox are the envy of every potential playoff team in the league, and provide a road paved with possibilities for fans of both teams. All would seem aligned for a playoff berth for both AL East adversaries, and perhaps an ALCS showdown that would serve as one team’s springboard to the World Series. Simple as that, is it not? Red Sox Nation knows that it is absolutely not as simple as that. It is not as simple as that because very recent history shows that the Red Sox have not proven that they can consistently lay waste to the also-rans in their division and elsewhere, and the past three Septembers — which offered up similar tasty treats on the menu — have accordingly been a cause of indigestion for those fans who had visions of playoff sugarplums dancing in their heads. Whether the Red Sox will even be in position to take advantage of the lesser competition next month hinges on their performance in the coming weeks, but what has become abundantly clear is that there are no patsies on Boston’s schedule — not now, and not in September. The Red Sox’ dismal performance over the weekend against the Orioles, in which the Birds took three of four at Fenway Park, provides indisputable evidence that Boston cannot afford to take anyone lightly, even if the appointed foe is hopelessly out of playoff contention. Let’s take a look back at some not-so-distant pennant races: In 2001, the Red Sox’ final seven weeks pitted them against Texas, Cleveland, New York, Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Baltimore. This was the time, as you may recall, right after Jimy Williams was fired as manager (despite his team’s 63-53 record). On what many remember as the key day of that haunted season, the team dropped an 18-inning 8-7 decision at Texas to fall four games behind New York in the AL East. After dropping two out of three that weekend to a Rangers team that would finish 73-89, the Sox lost three straight at Cleveland, three more at New York, two of three at home to the Tribe, and then dropped three more at the Fens to the Yanks. Upon the completion of this turn of events, the Sox stood 13 back of New York, but still had Tampa (62-100), Detroit (66-96), and Baltimore (63-98) ahead of them. What happened? Boston went 3-3 against the Rays, 2-4 against the Tigers, and 1-3 against the Orioles to finish at a lackluster 82-79, 13 and a half games behind the eventual pennant-winning New Yorkers. Granted, this Sox team was a dismal bunch who bickered and complained at every turn; it was also one of the few MLB teams not to give money toward the September 11 relief fund. Still, it was a mail-it-in job for the ages, and fortunately became the final year of Carl Everett in Boston and the Harrington/Duquette regime. Let’s look at last year, shall we? Remember that one? Down the stretch, the Sox were blessed with a schedule of Toronto (78-84), Tampa (55-106), Cleveland (74-88), and Chicago (81-81). When this part of the September schedule kicked in, the Sox were hopelessly behind New York in the East (by eight and a half games), but six behind Anaheim for the wild-card spot, and the Angels had a brutal finishing schedule (against their three division mates). What happened, sports fans? Boston proceeded to split four at home versus Toronto, won four at Tampa, lost two of three against Baltimore, split four in Cleveland, swept four in Baltimore, dropped two of three at Chicago, then finished the season by taking two of three against the hapless Devil Rays. Not bad, but hardly fitting for a team reportedly fighting for a playoff berth. Overall, the Sox did go 16-9 in those final three weeks of the 2002 campaign, but their competition had long been eliminated from any hopes of post-season play, and Boston’s sense of desperation was decidedly missing in those final 25 contests. Which brings us to this season. As mentioned in Friday’s column, Boston has a rugged schedule against the elite teams in the West, Oakland and Seattle, and another six against the Empire before settling into the September routine outlined earlier. Beginning September 8, Boston will meet feisty Baltimore again, and the O’s — who have taken five of their last seven games against Boston — can obviously no longer be considered pushovers. The Orioles have a payroll of $73 million, but the real corker is that a whopping $13 million is going to the imitable Albert Belle, who retired because of injury two years ago but is still collecting on his five-year, $65 million deal signed in 1998. Throw out that $13 mil, and Baltimore’s $60 million total payroll is 18th in the majors. So how do the Orioles manage to give Boston’s $99 million payroll such fits? Well, it turns out that they’ve been giving a lot of teams a run for their money lately, including Minnesota (a recent split at Camden Yards), New York (a two-game split), Texas (two-game road sweep), Anaheim (a four-game whitewashing at home), and Seattle (two of three at Safeco). What that says is that the Orioles aren’t that bad, although Red Sox fans still cannot fathom how this team did such a number on their hometown lads over the past two weekends. The White Sox will be no cakewalk either, as the Pale Hose, since the All-Star break, have won seven of eight series, including back-to-back series triumphs over division-leading KC and this past weekend’s dispatching of surging Oakland. By the time the Sox meet the Sox in mid-September, Chicago could very well be en route to a division crown, and that kind of hungry team is not the sort Boston wants to be fighting for scraps during a pennant drive. Cleveland could provide token competition for Boston September 19–21, especially since it’s on the road, where the Sox are only batting .264 and second starter Derek Lowe’s ERA is over seven. The Sox took two of three from the Indians at home in May. Finally, those pesky Devil Rays. The home of the 30th-ranked payroll, on track for 103 losses, has lost 10 of 12 head-to-head meetings with the Sox thus far. But the two most memorable games have been the D-Rays’ two victories: the Opening Day meltdown for the Sox bullpen that resulted in a 6-5 Tampa win, and the 15-9 spanking the Rays dealt the Sox at Fenway in July. While it is unlikely that the Devil Rays will play a significant spoiler’s role in the teams’ final seven head-to-head contests, nothing can be ruled out, especially given Boston’s penchant for playing to the level of its competition. Things are still looking up for the local nine, but it sure does seem a long time ago that Bill Mueller hit two grand slams en route to Boston’s 14-4 shellacking of the Rangers, a pounding that came on the heels of the Sox’ uplifting series win against the Empire two weeks ago. Since Mueller’s tour de force, the Red Sox have gone just 5-7 against unremarkable competition, and the real meat of the schedule lies in wait in the (other) city by the bay, and in the Emerald City in the great Northwest. Oakland and Seattle will be the entrées du jour for the next fortnight, but only fools would look past those folks and the Yankees and lick their chops at the prospect of a splendid autumnal feast to finish up the season, courtesy of the schedule-makers. Because as Spencer Tracy says in Pat and Mike (about Kate Hepburn, not the O’s, Tribe, and Rays): "Not much meat on her, but what’s there is cherce." For the Red Sox and their playoff hopes, the cherce is theirs: chow down on the good teams and the bad teams on the menu, or go home hungry again. "Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com
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