Mind Over Matter

After last night’s loss to the Yankees, I saw a number of different mindsets regarding where the Red Sox stand as they progress toward the playoffs in October. For those of you who were living under a rock and didn’t catch any of the game last night, the Red Sox lost 1-0 to Cam Schlittler and the New York Yankees. They scratched out a whopping five hits and six walks against the possible Cy Young Award winner and the bulk of the Yankees pen.

So, I heard quite a bit from people in the camp that believe the Red Sox are not a playoff team and that it doesn’t matter what happens from here because, once they face good pitching, the offense doesn’t stand a chance. This is the game they are going to attach their banner to as the prime example of why we shouldn’t even waste our time with the remainder of the season.

Yet, on the other side of that argument is the “American League is trash and anything is possible” crowd. Incredibly, this game is also a cornerstone upon which they can build their argumentative fortress.

Sure, we didn’t score against one of the best pitchers in all of baseball this year, but that devastating lineup in the Bronx managed only one run against...our least effective pitcher.

And believe me, I am cleaning up the language and the negative adjectives that many used to describe Patrick Sandoval.

But however you want to describe him, Sandoval was on a much lower tier of pitcher for the Yankees to face compared to what Boston faced in Schlittler. Yet, a couple of inches here or there and maybe a little more intelligent baserunning, and Boston wins that game by a run. Then this argument is probably being held by…