Not Again...

Once again, I find myself wondering if the Red Sox are going to once again blow their annual AL East lead against the almighty New York Yankees. At one point, I believe the Sox were up by 15 or 16 games and now the lead has been trimmed to 7 due to poor sub-.500 play for two months. It amazes me how they can do this year in and year out. I don't know whether to credit it to injuries, poor pitching or poor hitting. I'll go with a combination of everything. It's absolutely ridiculous and somebody needs to step up and lead the team. Big Papi isn't doing it, neither is Manny. They can't do it forever. It seems like Youkilis is getting frustrated and slowing down after his great first half. Pedroia seems like the only player consistently hitting. Dice-K isn't living up to expectations, Okajima will most likely start to slow down as well once he starts to face teams for the third, fourth, fifth time. Gabbard isn't gonna go out there and perform every game. Our hopes shouldn't have to rest on a 40-year old Schilling and Lester coming back. We should put Ortiz on the DL, let him have surgery and bring him back in September. He clearly isn't himself. The team needs to pick it up on both sides. This collapse and slump the team is in isn't new, we've seen this for years but they were so good for so long, it's just sickening. Hopefully they turn it around.