First things first: I am not a Boston Red Sox fan.
But I am a baseball fan, and I am flummoxed by the so-called pundits who assume 30 games make up a Major League Baseball season.
Sure, every team has its struggles throughout the course of a ridiculous 162-game schedule. How can there even be rivalries in that setting? If anything, you would think teams just get tired of seeing each other.
The season is 32 games old, and the Red Sox are 16-16. They've carried a semi-large load of baggage around to this point and have battled through internal sagas with Mike Lowell, one of the most professional players in baseball.
The man has been tossed around like a rag doll since the summer, when it was all but official he was headed to the Texas Rangers. His medical records aren't sparkling, and his recurring elbow problem scared Texas away. So, he remained.
Lowell has made 16 starts this season, six fewer than designated problem David Ortiz. Herein lies the trouble: The Red Sox players have a ton of respect for Lowell and how he goes about his business - calm demeanor, sure-handed and always classy.
And he's still getting it done. Apparently, no one else sees that.
Lowell is hitting .292 this season and cranked out a 4-for-4 day last week against the Angels. What can a manager not like about a guy who consistently does it the right way?
Obviously, the focus has been on the accused steroid user (2003) and yesterday's superstar, Ortiz. Big Papi has become a lightning rod for controversy among Red Sox fans, just a few years removed from being the most heralded man in the jersey.
Many wonder why manager Terry Francona (a brilliant baseball man) continues to stick Ortiz in the lineup. I'm one of them, but I have realized that a player like Ortiz (one you can't trade, and for PR purposes, can't just dump) isn't going to get any better from watching.
Pitchers have figured him out, and he isn't exactly getting younger. He is hitting .182 this season in 22 games and has struck out a whopping 28 times. Yeesh.
But here's the moment that sticks with me: In a recent series with the Orioles, Ortiz borderline embarrassed himself in Camden Yards, going 0-for-4 and pitifully striking out twice. The next day, Francona put him back in the lineup and Ortiz belted a pair of home runs.
The catch is that the Red Sox aren't going to get better by creating more problems for themselves. In one form or another, they need Ortiz to at least get back to respectability this season.
Regardless of what happens before summer hits, the Red Sox are going to be just fine. The experts and analysts have a terrible habit of short-sighting things, and magnifying things like a .500 record through 32 games.
The organization is the class of baseball and general manager Theo Epstein is one of the best. His time will come to improve the team as the trade deadline nears.
They will win, they will contend and they should make the playoffs. Boston's pitching staff is arguably MLB's best, and the lineup is loaded with clutch hitters.
When was the last time a clutch hitter got recognized for doing something in May?
- Rob Mixer is a senior studying journalism and The Post's assistant sports editor. E-mail him and feel free to agree that the Red Sox are still a contender, no matter what MLB Network thinks.
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Rob Mixer
