The Sox's pitching staff came into Saturday ranked third in the AL with a 4.67 earned-run average, despite all the commotion over the insertion of raw rookies, reliever Sean Lowe and struggling Ken Hill into the rotation. Lowe will get another start Sunday. James Baldwin now won't start until Tuesday in Oakland. Hill has been sent to the bullpen for now. If we get some of our pitchers healthy again, we'll be all right.
Every game is critical now.
I don't think anyone can doubt the significance of what's at stake. A division title is not the only thing at stake. We've played our butts off all year. This team is fine. Manuel knows his team probably has too much talent to go belly up.