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maybe 95 wins doesn't make it?

Lets say the Rays finally get hot, you could have 3 teams at or around 95 wins, easily if they prey on the rest of the AL and interleague.

Sox need to 59-43 or .578 the rest of the way to get to 95

Yanks need to go 61-41 or .598 to get there

Rays need to go 64-36 or .640 to get there, one nice win streak gets them the difference

Yankees are in fine shape, they haven't really had anything from Arod yet. I do wonder about their pitching overall though. Wang's troubles and the bullpen could linger on.

Sox in first with their #3 hitter hitting .200 with 4 HR, I'll take it.

Their starting pitching has been bad until the last couple of weeks, it really is shaping up as expected it would and could continue.

Penny just wrote his check out of Boston unfortunately. Not sure what they will want in return now that Ortiz is showing a pulse...

A summer full of give and take for the division is all we can ever ask for...may the best team end up on top at the end...

I heard on the way in that the Braves and Sox again have been talking.

speculation is SS Escobar is the target.

Sox are 23-8 with Green starting at short, although not a long term solution, with Lowry due back at end of June could be a good platoon situation.

sorry to hijack your thread Peter :)

Well, since the Yankees are still within spitting distance of first and since more than half the season is left, it's ridiculous to define the series as critical.

That being said, the elevated game that the Red Sox play serves to demonstrate some of the serious holes in this team. The bullpen is unreliable; the base running is poor; and they don't hit with men in scoring position.

How does the team address this problem? The return of Bruney and Nady might help. Otherwise, I'd consider playing Gardner more than Swisher and dealing for a top flight reliever when the trading deadline approaches.

You could be right BL, but I think 95 is the "magic number". I went on Baseball Prospectus today and they have the Red Sox winning the division with 96 games and the Yankees winning the wild card with 95. They have the Rays winning 86. I think the AL is pretty weak outside of the East and the Rays seem to me to be a team struggling with expectations. They don't have surprise on their side anymore.

Corey- You hit on something that really bothers me about this team- they are terrible on the bases. Swisher and Teixeira especially. I think they should try Aceves in the 8th inning role again and I wouldn't mind Robertson getting a crack there as well. I imagine they will make a trade if things keep up like this though.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe wrote this leading into his chat session today, "but after watching Brad Penny's outstanding performance last night in sweeping the Yankees, I can understand the argument that the Red Sox should not trade him for the sake of clearing a spot in the rotation. Besides, on days like to today, it's fun to remind Yankees fans that he's had essentially the same career as A.J. Burnett, but is signed for roughly $75 million less."

The Sox took a flyer or two on injured returning players, even if Penny went down to injury tomorrow he has earned what they gave him in relative terms.

You won't find me defending the Burnett signing BL, I am not a fan of it.

I had to try to bait you of course...

Of course ;-) I just don't like the length of the deal at all. I imagine he will spend a big portion of it on the DL.