• Crisp: his numbers after the ASB look like this: .313 BA, .389 OBP, 15 R, 17 RBI, he's doing just fine
• Our ERA and WHIP 7th inning and beyond is 2.90 and 1.17, 2nd best in all of the Majors, our bullpen is just fine (btw, Snyder is our primary long relief, not Tavarez, and he's been pretty reliable), and as for Delcarmen, he had one shaky game where he gave up 2 HR to tampa bay, since then he's been scoreless while allowing just 4 runners on in 4 inning (which is decent), not sure if you're concluding that he's been "awful" based on watching that one game, but he's been anything but awful
• You're giving the Yankees rotation way too much credit, Hughes isn't quite major league ready (as evident by his last outing where he gave up 6 runs in 4 innings to KANSAS CITY!), Clemens, Mussina and Pettite aren't the pitchers they use to be (Clemens since ASB: 4.45 ERA (which doesn't fully paint the picture considerin one game he gave up 8 runs in one 2 innings, but only 3 were earned because of an early inning error) 1.42 WHIP, Pettite last 10 games, 5.86 ERA 1.78 WHIP, Mussina Post ASB numbers: 4.76 ERA 1.62 WHIP
• You're giving our rotation too little credit, Yeah Dice-K will have his bad outing now and then, but he's still been better then anyone on the Yankee's rotation, (His numbers since ASB: 3.16     ERA 1.37 WHIP). Lester is in the same boat as Hughes, they'll both have great games one night, and then blown out other nights, simply because of inexperience (with maybe Hughes doping slightly better simply because he has more potential), Schilling and Wakefield are shadows of their former self just as much as the Yankee pitchers I noted above, so that's a wash
• Yankee's offence: Not only have they been playing crappy teams lately (which alone will cause their numbers to drop when they start playing good teams), but they are nothing more then on a hot streak, they are playing way beyond their skill and will come back down to earth (notice here some names who recently have been on a tear, and as their career numbers show, they simply are not that good, and won't keep hitting like that, most notable example: Phillips with career numbers of .247 BA, .286 OBP, is hitting .305 BA, .344 OBP last 68 at bats; Melky with career .288 BA, .354 OBP is hitting .358 BA .408 OBP, etc., if you compare all those numbers with their career numbers you'll notice that everyone is grossly overperforming, they will come back down to earth)
• Our offence is top 5 in all of the majors in every batting statistic post ASB (except HR, which with Ortiz and Manny not hitting as many is down), or offence is not as bad as you're making it out to be.

On to the substance of the diary:

1)  Pitching---are you crazy?  Beckett's not just the bright side of our rotation, he's a legitimate-if-not-quite-favored Cy Young candidate.  Matsuzaka has his trouble spots but is otherwise a win- and strikeout-generating machine.  Our fourth starter Wakefield is 13-10 (! did I mention "fourth starter"?), Lester's a young kid with a lot of upside, and then you have our "ace," who's admittedly struggled with injuries but has had moments of brilliance and still is a contribution to the rotation.

But the starters are just half of it.  The Red Sox have not just the best 'pen in the American League, but a 'pen that is strikingly better than the rest of the AL (a stat I got from Baseball Prospectus this morning says they're 11.96 in WXRL, compared to 10.05 for the second-best Twins, and far ahead of the fifth-best Indians, with 7.86).  Bottom line, our pitching is something to be envied, not bemoaned.  

2.  Defense---maybe you're not crazy, exactly.  If Lugo makes that double play last night, the inning ends tied 4-4, Wakefield stays in longer.... I don't want to think about it anymore.  Manny is still being Manny in left.  Lowell?  I haven't noticed.  Overall, however, our defense is solid---fifth in the majors by fielding percentage.  You mentioned Coco---did you forget about Dusty and Youk?  Varitek?  
3.  Offense---umm, I'm swinging back to "are you crazy."  Fourth in the majors in runs scored.  Fourth.  Yes, the Yankees and Tigers are ahead of us.  They're also 15th/19th in pitching (team ERA), and we're 2nd.  Batting is only half the game, and it counts for less than half the game in the playoffs.

The Yankees....  Hey, I'll cop to it.  I'm a bit spooked.  I really, really, really don't want my hundred or so Yankee fan friends (I live in New York) gloating about some grand comeback from 14 1/2 back all offseason.  However, the Yanks have a really soft schedule.  They're playing a crippled Toronto while we're playing a great Angels squad.  They just feasted on Royals pitching while the Sox were struggling against the Central leading Cleveland.  Guess what? the soft schedule is coming to an end soon---they face Cleveland, Anaheim, Detroit and the Red Sox.  Their offense has been explosive as of late, but there's a reason they're not on pace to score 1,620 runs this season---they're not going to score 10 runs a game.  

"Lucky to make the playoffs"?  Okay, it's official:  You're crazy.  Someone needs to take away your shoelaces.  If the Red Sox play .600 ball the rest of the way they'll be 98-64.  You know how many games we play against Tampa Bay (12), Chicago (4) and Baltimore (7) during that stretch?  47% of the remaining games, with the Rays comprising roughly one quarter of our schedule.  

None of this should be taken as "don't worry they'll be fine everything is copacetic."  I'm concerned, too.  But a five game lead isn't something to bemoan, as much as I'd like to be looking at a 19 1/2 lead and a possible elimination party at Yankee stadium.  I think all this pessimism is exaggerated.

"...
Soon we will be chasing the Yankees.
..."

LOL

relax, we WILL win the division.

1)
ERA  3.79 1st (AL) (2nd in ML out of the AL EAST!!!)
BA-A .250 1st (AL)
BS   4 1st (AL) (Yanks 2nd with 5 then)
ER-A 424 1st (AL)
HR-A 3rd
and on and on and on

i'll take this "shaky" pitching staff every League every Year.

2)
the defense is bad this year.
Lugo is worse.
Crisp has a much better arm than Damon.
Manny is a hitter.
i am concerned about the defense of Drew. he should be a great fielder but he is not this year. we paid enough to figure out in time if this contract is really as bad as it looks now.

3)
R   580 3rd (AL) (MFY 1st with 674!)
OPS .799 3rd (AL)
GDP 105 tied 2nd (AL) (and it feels like even more if you watch the sox this year)
HR 113 9th

Papi is/was hurt.
Manny is/will be fine.
i can not explain what happens with Drew at all, just hope he will be better in oct.
Lugo, hmm?
Lugo...
LUGO SUXX BIG TIME.
he ever did.
i can not see where the sox will have a good thing out of this contract (if he steals some important bases in the postseason i will calm down a little).

so we have a middelinfielder (SS) who can't field and hit but earns a lot of money (above 8000k). we have to live with that.
(this kind of situation is not a new one to sox fans. we just have a good all around team today to let forget about it sometimes. i would not be surprised if Lugo ends up at 1B.)

ahh, wait ther is one other stat that might be interesting for you:
W-L 68-45 1st ML !!!!

THE SOX ARE THE BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL RIGHT NOW!!!

just don't panic.
grab a beer, relax and enjoy the ride.

Indizzle, Oil Can and Realistic.  

And I don't know if you noticed or not, but we just won in Seattle TWICE where we hadn't been able to do so before that all season.

Tony:I gave Beckett his kudos.  Without him, we would be much worse.  I really do not care if Wakefield is our ace or our fifth starter.  He is just plain awful.  Out of his 13 wins, how much run support has he gotten?  The guy's ERA is 4.81.  Where specifically has Shilling been brilliant this season other than the Oakland game?  His fast ball is not getting over 90 anymore.  Statistically, the Sox may have the best pen in the league.  But those numbers were generated the first half of the season.  I would be curious to see how the ERA stacks up post all star break.  Lowell?  Are you serious?  Defensively he has been AWFUL.  I also gave kudos to Pedroia and Youk.  And no, Coco's arm is NOT much better than Damon's.  Varitek has been awful at the plate lately also...and can he throw anybody out anymore?  As far as offense...again, you have to look into the numbers.  I am sure we have many games where we scored 8-10 runs, which inflates our numbers.  But, there are CERTAINLY several more where we do absolutely nothing...against mediocre pitching.  We keep saying as fans, "as soon as Manny and Papi get going".  Um, it is now August.  When do you expect that to happen?  The way they have been playing, they will be lucky to play .500 ball.  You really think they can play .600?

Realistic:  Crisp is NOT doing just fine.  He had a hot streak recently which elevated his numbers.  Again, look more closely at our bullpen numbers and when they were generated as I am sure after the ASB they are much worse.  And, you are referring to the 7th and beyond.  Which of course takes into account Papelbon and Okajima of which I gave kudos.  Other than them, who are you comfortable with?  Delcarmen was not too solid last night either.  I never gave the Yankee rotation any credit.  I just saw no difference in their rotation and ours.  Wang and Beckett are pretty close.  Other than that, swap any of the pitchers and you have the same guy.  Dice-K's ERA not much better than Pettitte.  Yankees on nothing more than a hot streak and playing above their talent?  Are you serious?  They are mashing the ball.  With the talent they have they SHOULD be scoring 8-10 runs a game.  Melky is a second year player.  Not sure you can use his career numbers...I guess you forgot about Jeter, ARod, Posada, Matsui, Cano, Abreu...right, they suck.  I agree with you that they have been playing AAA teams.  But, we have not really dominated the bad teams either.  Remember the KC series?

OilCan:  I would be a bit more concerned about Drew's offense rather than his defense.  All the pitcher needs to do is throw that slider away and he waves at it.  Again, let's look closer at all the stats and how they have looked the past month and a half.  Papi may be hurt.  My point is that if he is he is hurting us.  He has no pop anymore and looks bad at the plate.  Manny had a brief streak where he was hot.  But now teams are walking Ortiz to pitch to Manny because he hits into double plays.  They are walking three to get to our cleanup?  we have ABSOLUTLEY NO CLUTCH HITTING. Best record in baseball?  Big deal.  Means absolutely nothing.  We built a big lead early in the season.  We also just lost two to the second best team in baseball.

Look.  I just do not see it.  Nobody here answered the question about the Yankee lineup.  Who as a hitter on the Sox would you take right now before someone in the Yankee lineup?  And nobody has a convincing argument about any of the players.  Simply saying, "they will be fine" does not give me comfort.  Do we have pitching coach problems?  What about batting coach?  We do have a new batting coach this year.  You all mean to tell me that on paper, up and down the lineup, you are comfortable with this team?  You honestly turn on the game or go to Fenway and have confidence every night?

1-First of all, we have NOT beaten up on teams that suck.
2-You can take the Yanks starting pitching if you like.  But nonetheless, even if they are a little worse than ours, their offense makes up for it.  And the stats do not lie.  Our SP is not all that much better.
3-I am talking about THIS SEASON, genius.  I do not care about ARod next year or how much cash we have.
4-Sox are bored?  This blatantly shows your idiocy.  A championship caliber team does not get bored, they finish what they started.  Poor situational hitting and bad defense is a result of boredom? As you suggest, I will not argue with someone who comes up with this type of argument.
5-The Gagne trade means nothing if we cannot get to him in the eight with a lead, genius.
6-I am surely a Sox fan.  But, I am a realistic Sox fan unlike yourself.  Next time, when you formulate a response to my questions, you may want to wait until recess is over an address the issues that were brought up.  Unlike yourself, I took the time to put together thoughful comments and opinions.  Not simply call someone names and avoid the questions.

Once again, let me speak slowly.  Simply saying "We will be alright...all is well"  is not going to win this team anything.

You know nothing about me.  So if you think you can have an intelligent conversation, by all means respnd.  If not, don't read anymore of the comments and do not respond.

Wait.  Sorry.  You told everyone else to ignore me.  I guess you are the King.  Judging by your intelligence level...