Between today and the end of July, the Red Sox have 19 home games. This includes a stretch of 11 in a row following the All Star break. The Sox already have the best record in baseball, and with all these home games, I fully expect them to win 7/10 for the next month. Even without Schilling for a couple weeks, I expect good results. Lets hope that Kason Gabbard can give a couple quality starts.

The teams we play aren’t even that great. Let’s take a look at who they are playing over the next month, and try to be prophets and predict the results:

The worst team in the American League. They have won 7 out of the last 10, but still have a record worse than Kansas City. Go ahead, name 2 starting pitchers on Texas. Pretty hard, isn’t it? The Sox are seeing Wright, Tejada, Loe and Millwood. Even with last names, you probably still can’t name their rotation! Should be an easy 3 victories and a lot of home runs.
Expected record when they leave town: 3-1.

Since we know Texas is the worst team, it means that for once, Tampa isn’t! This could easily change by the time they come in to town on Tuesday however, as they are 1.5 games above the Rangers in the Standings. Its equally hard to name their rotation as well. We will see Kazmir (notable as a Red Sox killer), Jackson and Howell. Combined, these 3 guys have only 7 wins, less than Josh Beckett or Daisuke. Kazmir will probably shut us down as usual, but I have no faith in the other 2 guys. Plus, its Tampa, who the Red Sox always own.

Expected record when they leave town: 5-2.

Right before the All Star Break, the Sox head to Detroit. This is the team we should worry about, and in my opinion, are probably the best team in the American League. They win out over the Sox mostly because Carlos Guillen, their SS, is having a career year and Julio Lugo sucks. The Tigers pitching keeps getting better too - rookie Andrew Miller is looking good - basically a young version of Randy Johnson. And, Kenny Rogers is back. Both of those guys are lefties, which classicly give the Sox a lot of trouble. I’ll go ahead and concede the series. We took 3/4 here, and they should take 2/3 there.

Expected record when they leave town: 6-4.

Then comes the All Star Break. Remember, don’t vote for Manny and do vote for Youkilis.

After the All Star break, the Sox have 11 home games in a row, without a day off. In fact, the day after the All Star game is the last day off they have in July until the 30.

First, they play Toronto. Not a good team. They will line up their best pitchers against us though, and I will give them a split in the 4 game series, though I hope for better. Their injuries are too much to handle, but fresh out of the break, they may put together a decent series. Halladay will shut us down and they may take one more game.

Expected record when they leave town: 8-6.

The Royals suck. Alex Gordon is heating up, but it won’t be enough. Gil Meche won’t shut us down again. Easy sweep, with no game decided by less than 3 runs.

Expected record when they leave town: 11-6.

Then come the White Sox - possibly the most disapointing team in baseball this year. They have decent pitching and a good offense on paper. They are just the team this year that isn’t living up to expectations. I think the Ozzie phenomenon has passed there and its time to move on. But injuries to Jermaine Dye and Scott Podsednik haven’t helped at all either. Their pitching is still decent, so I give them 1 game of the 4 in Fenway. The one will probably be Mark Buerhle, just because they didn’t send him here.

Expected record when they leave town: 14-7.

Overall, I am predicting 14-7 by the end of the home stand. That is about the pace they are playing now, and should keep them at the top of the league and definitely on top of the AL East. In 2 years, the East went from the best division to the worst. Crazy, but its good for the Sox because they are still great. It gives us a few extra wins and hopefully can lead to more playoff success.

In the meantime, get ready to watch a lot of home games and cheer for a lot of home runs into the Monster seats. See you at Fenway!

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 1:19 pm and is filed under General Postings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.