Sgt. Brown

Comparisons are the natural by-product of winning it all last year. They were inevitably going to follow a season in which the Sox created the gold standard by which all subsequent Sox teams would be judged by. There's two ways to approach this as a team: you can crumble under the pressure of such lofty expectations or you can step up and try to replicate it. In any case the comparisons will be there as they provide the context for evaluation of a successful season.

This really is the pivotal series of the season. We can continue to allow Minnesota to come in our house and violate us, we can continue to concede games that Santana pitches to the Twins, we can continue to allow Torii Hunter galavant over our home plate...or we can show up and perform. A poster above said it right when talking about how good we our on paper, that hasn't translated. And I too think we rely too heavily on the long ball but our pitching has been our downfall. Starters and bullpen alike. It seems that any lead we get is inevitably gonna get chipped away. Last year I felt confident with a 1 run lead, now I'm concerned if the lead is anything less than 5 runs. Step it up tonight Sox. You no longer have the luxury of a long season to figure it out.