The inevitable surge?

Here comes the inevitable surge, right?

Josh has come up big most of the year, but his performance down the stretch may win or lose him the Cy Young.

With the Yankees embroiled in a sudden minor downslide, 2 straight losses, one of which came in a crucial game against fellow AL Wild Card contender Seattle, the Red Sox have yet another chance to run away. The finish the Toronto series tomorrow night, then have a trio of games at Baltimore - a team they just took two of three from, you may remember - to pad their divisional advantage. With less than 25 games remaining in the season, pushing what is now a 7 game lead out toward double-digits would seem to be a crushing blow.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that this particular Sox team has botched these “step on the throat” moments throughout this season.

Look no farther than last week. With a desperate Yankees club on the ropes a full eight games back, the Sox dropped three straight in the Bronx. With their best three pitchers on the mound. Ouch.

There was a similar reaction to Boston dropping the third and decisive game against New York on a Sunday night in June. The Sox had the lead in that one as late as the eighth inning, before set-up man Hideki Okajima and closer Jonathan Papelbon watched their work implode for one of the duo’s few mulligans of the season. Naturally, it wasn’t the best time to call one in.

Do the Sox have a significant advantage in the division? Absolutely. Do they have the chance to run away with the chase over the next week? Undoubtably. Have stirring performances from rookies Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury jarred the team back to impressive wins twice in recent days? Sure.

But does that mean that Boston will clean up the mess they’ve caused themselves by not closing the door when they needed to in the past? Not necessarily. And let’s be honest. At this point in the schedule, the very existence of an AL East race at this point of the season can’t sit well with Boston fans.

Paps had one slip up against the Yanks, another would hurt considerably more.

In fact, let’s just call it what it is: the Red Sox may be on the verge of putting away a collective sense of pathos the size of New York itself with a strong week. Or they can feed into all the problems that have plagued an entire region for decades.

Here’s hoping they choose wisely and play accordingly.

– Cameron Smith