A Win, A Loss, & A BIG Question

THE WIN - The Red Sox won their 4th consecutive game last night, a strange 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park that wasn't without a little drama. For starters, Josh Beckett looked as good as he's ever been...at least through the first 8 betters. With two outs in the top of the 3rd, though, he gave up an infield hit, hit a batter, and then issued two straight walks to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. And that was when Beckett motioned for the trainer to come to the mound. Pitching in damp weather on a slippery mound, Beckett's back became an issue and he ultimately left the mound to a chorus of boos from the Fenway crowd.

Clay Mortensen finished the inning off and ultimately became the winning pitcher in a rain-shortened game when the Sox rallied for 4 unanswered runs off Tigers starter Justin Verlander.

THE LOSS - Regarding Beckett and whether the team would lose him for any amount of time, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said after the game, “We’ll take it day-by-day and see how he feels tomorrow and in between." For what it's worth, this isn't the first time Beckett has had wet mound-related back issues and even Verlander said after the game that he slipped a few times when pitching out of the stretch.

THE BIG QUESTION - The Red Sox have now won 4 in a row and have picked up as many games on the 1st place Yankees in as many days. It's not the first time this team has put a small run together, but it seems that each time the team gets on a roll, something goes wrong. With Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford and Dustin Pedroia at the top of the lineup, Adrian Gonzalez starting to hit with some authority, and David Ortiz due back shortly, plus the re-emergence of Clay Buchholz, does this team have enough working parts to put together a bonafide run at one of the two Wild Card spots or even the division?