Deep Breath

A few soothing thoughts for all those members of Red Sox Nation currently writhing in anguish:

Point the first:

Games Played to Date in '04: 76

Games Yet to Be Played in '04: 86

Second:

Boston is ranked 2nd in ERA, 3rd in Slugging % and 2nd in OBP. The Yankees? 4th in all 3. Plus, the Yankees season run differential (58) is only 7 runs more than the Sox (51). Yeah, yeah, I know that all this will come for naught in October, but think about it: in many ways the Sox are stronger than the Yankees.

Third:

We've still got more than half the season (1) to allow the boys to show us what they're made of (2). Have patience my brothers and sisters. Have patience.

The real point here is to highlight how overly dramatic we're all(i.e. the Nation) being. Today's Globe wrote off all hope for a pennant ("Focus on the wild card!"), claimed that Theo would make a wild and ill-advised trade if the Sox lose again tonight and Dan Shaugnessy (who is increasingly becoming my least-favorite person on earth) predicted not only that Nomar would flee Boston but that Pedro wants to pitch for New York next season.

So for all you true fans in the house: ease into your Laz-Y-Boy tonight, crack open a beer and enjoy a matchup between two of the best teams in baseball.