Trending Toward Normalcy

First of all, deep WMYM apologies for a weekend absence. Certainly not the typical scene, but amidst forced work following of brackets and optional extracurricular adherence to results from a team that resides atop a certain hill in the nation's capital and another that resides in a state capital with particular proximity to the Mexican border, there hasn't been too much time to reflect on the Red Sox.

That's a crying shame, because the Sox seem to have finally hit a stride that indicates nearing a regular season stature. They strung together a pair of wins before Sunday's loss - once pummeling expected starting pitchers for Baltimore when using their projected starting lineup - both of which brought along mediocre starting pitching (Doh! Jon Lester was back up to 70 pitches in four innings), but also reassured that the anemic offense of a week or two ago won't be around for the long term.

Even more encouraging was the sudden stability of the starting rotation. While Josh Beckett won't make the impending season-opening trip to Japan, he threw strenuously at 75 feet yesterday, an encouraging sign that he'll be back without missing time. And Daisuke Matsuzaka, previously a huge question mark for Japan because of his wife's pregnancy, is now a full-on go after learning that his wife had given birth on Saturday morning.

Suddenly, the Sox won't have to pitch Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield back-to-back in the season's opening games overseas. Suddenly the offense won't bat Alex Cora and Doug Mirabelli in the same order (though, not surprisingly, that's a sore point for one Tim Wakefield).

Suddenly the Red Sox look just a bit like the reigning World Champions. That shouldn't be surprising, but after a couple of preposterously rough weeks, it was getting a bit questionable.

Now, if someone could find an aging elixir for Jason Varitek and teach Kevin Cash to hit, Boston might really be in business ... maybe even overseas.

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