Soooo should we go for the division?

The Yankees have nine games remaining on their schedule and hold a six game lead on the division.  While it seems highly unlikely that they’ll relinquish that lead with such a small number of games left to play, crazier things have certainly happened, specifically relating to baseball teams based in New York losing what look like insurmountable divisional leads.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona has a small, enviable dilemma on his hands.  With Beckett and Buchholz taking the mound in the next two games against the lowly Royals, the Sox are more than likely to split the series and head into a three game weekend match up with the division leaders that will surely decide the playoff race.

If Boston manages to sweep the Yankees in Yankee Stadium then a legitimate shot at the division must be taken.  This means not keeping Paul Byrd in a game after he gives up five runs in the first inning (granted he settled down for the rest of the outing) and not allowing Josh Beckett or Jon Lester to miss their last start.

After tonight, Boston has 11 games left on their schedule.  Three of those against the Yankees and the rest against organizations with nothing to play for.   If Boston manages to do what so many wrote off as an impossible task over the past six weeks, then not only do they get the most comforting home field advantage in baseball (a major league leading 52-22 at Fenway) but in doing so they also thrust New York into a first round series that they don’t want to play in.  Anaheim has played the role of thorn to New York’s side for the past decade and there’s no indication that this season would be any different.

Should the Sox be swept this weekend then it’s perfectly fine to settle things down, start resting the starting pitchers and maybe some of the position players like Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew.

Either way, the Sox are going to the post-season for the sixth time in the last seven years.

So be happy!