Sox continue to play .500 ball, lead down to 9 games

Well the first series of the second half played out like most of the Sox series since June 1st, they split. Since June 1st the Sox are barely playing over .500 ball as they are 19-18 in the last 37 games. Don't look up now but the lead in the AL East is down to single digits, the Yankees are only 9 games back and the injuries are starting to pile up for the Red Sox
This past weekend, we saw J.D. Drew and his ever fragile bottom miss the last two games of the series with tightness in his hamstring, an injury that caused him to miss time earlier in the season. This guy has to be the most fragile guy on the planet, he runs hard and hustles (showing off his talent) and the next minute he is out with an injury. Then on Saturday, Jason Varitek, got crossed up on a Dice-K pitch and took the ball of the wrist and thumb, he had to be taken to the hositpal after the game for X-rays. Thankfully the x-rays came back negative, Varitek proved how important he was to the team and the success of the pitching staff last year, when he was out the team went downhill in a hurry and the ERA of the pitching staff jumped up. The thumb however did cause the Captain to miss Sundays game against the Jays with staff ace Beckett on the mound. I think Beckett's unfamiliarity with Mirabelli might have cost them the game. Let's hope Tek gets back in there as soon as possible.
There were some encouraging signs over the weekend though. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez started to hit, both hit a homerun, and combined hit .375 for the series. Manny ended up .375, 1 hr, 7 RBI'S, 3R. Papi was .375, 1 hr, 5 RBI;s, 4 R. This is the production needed for the Sox to go deep into the postseason. Julio Lugo also continued to be hot, he appears to fully be out of his awful slump, he's numbers this weekend against the Jays were .600 9-15 and many of his outs were hit well, he slugged .867, stole 3 bases, scored 4 runs and drove in 2. His average has gone from .189 to .210 in the span of a week. Will he be moved to the top of the lineup? or will Tito keep he in the 9 hole, guess this has to do with Drew and Youkilis's health. The pitching was pretty good as well this weekend, with the exception of Tavarez. Beckett went 8 innings yesterday, and ended up the hard luck losing only giving up two runs. The Sox will take that kind of effort every time out, you'll win 75% of those games for sure. Dice-K was only average giving up 4 runs, but he kept the Sox in the game long enough for the offense to get going, and the bullpen was subperb once again, as Delcarmen pitched two scoreless and Okijima closed it out with a perfect ninth. Wakefield won again, 10 wins on the season now, he was good enough for the win, and the bullpen closed it out with some great pitching.
So now it's the Royals in town for a three game set, these are games the Sox need to win easily, 3-0 should be there goal, nothing less than 2-1 against the Royals will do. With the lead at 9 games with 71 games to go. The Yankees will be going against the Jays, hopefully they do there job an win a couple.