MayDay Summer

The Hefty Lefty cometh

Last weekend worked out better than I thought. Lowe got a win, albeit an 84-pitch win (Bill Lee used to get those all the time, but his were complete game wins). The Sox kept pace with New York, and won two games without Mark Bellhorn. The bats woke up to a small degree. Cesar Crespo got that elusive second RBI.

Boston’s next twelve games are against the surprising Padres (31-25), the Frank McCourt Dodgers (30-24), the “is-there-anyone-on-the-team-besides-Barry” Giants (29-28) and the predictably bad Rockies (21-35). No longer an interleague doormat — last year Boston went 13-8, to improve to 56-62 overall — the Sox will nonetheless have a tough time this year against the NL. Specifically, NL teams figure to tee off on the new, craftier Pedro; plus, because three of the Sox best-hitting position players are out, the DH becomes less of an advantage for the Sox at home (San Diego and Los Angeles likely have better hitters on their benches), and the lack of a DH becomes a real liability away (since they’ll have to keep Ortiz and Millar on the field for their offense).

All in all, this would be an excellent time for Nomar to decide he's too well to sit out any longer.