Dragnet Maple Trees, Sox at Blue Jays

How do you know when you get the short straw after a rough weekend? When your work trip doesn’t just start on Monday, it also starts in another country.

Tim Wakefield was on pace for a near-record year before his last two starts. A return to form would be a huge boon for the Sox.

Uggghhh.

The bigger issue, and one that bears watching for more extended ramifications, revolves around the 42 year-old knuckleballer who’ll take the hill in the bottom of the first coming off two of the rougher outings not only of this year, but also his career.

Let’s face it, Tim Wakefield has been channeling something from a different universe this year. He’s pitched better than he has in any year since his first in a Sox uniform. In fact, he may be pitching better than he has in any year except 1995, when he was the biggest factor behind the Pittsburgh Pirates’ surge to the NLCS. Barry Bonds, a Wakefield teammate on the Buccos, still claims that Pittsburgh would have made the World Series if Wake had thrown Game 7 on no rest. He may be right.

Tonight, Wake will be focusing on bouncing back and proving he can still be a valuable asset in the postseason. Of course, Boston could really use a Wakefield win right about now to make sure they get there. While winning two of three - let alone a sweep, which was eminently possible - from the Yankees over the weekend would have all but wrapped things up, the Sox now have to scramble to take games from a Toronto team that hasn’t cooled off over the last month, and is suddenly slightly healthier and a little closer to being the squad that some analysts thought had the inside track on the AL Wild Card or even the East Division title.

Instead, that crown should rest squarely on the Sox’s heads by the end of the month. What happens from there out depends on a number of disparate factors. Will Manny Ramirez return and be any modicum of his usual oblivious, productive self? Will Big Papi’s knees hold up just enough to make him the masher he’s been over the past half decade? Will Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, true unknown factors in September and October, continue the torrid pace both have set over much of the summer.

Manny returns would help the Sox down the stretch, too. Not to mention in the playoffs.

But all of those concerns are far down the list from those revolving around the pitching staff, which needs a shot in the arm, hopefully figuratively rather than literally. Tonight, Wakefield could be that shot. Or he could end up taking one. Either way, it’d be hard to be surprised.

– Cameron Smith