Sox Fans Should Be Pleased

The other day, I cautioned Red Sox fans against getting too hysterical over the early season success.  But they shouldn't get too cautious either.  So far so good.  Despite tonight's loss things look just fine.

Solid starting pitching.  Right now, Schilling and Beckett are one of the best one-two punches in the game.

Some great plays in the field.  Tuesday, Red Sox players made ESPN's number one and two "web jems."  Is that a first?  Probably.

An offense that has been good-enough.  Yes, Manny has yet to get rolling and losing Coco Crisp and Trot Nixon is troubling.  But I refuse right now to believe that this team is going to struggle offensively for any extended period of time.

There have been some big moves this week.  Crisp's new contract is right out of the old Indians mold.  Sign a guy well before free agency to a long term deal, at good but not crazy money, and keep him off the market an extra season.  Both sides walk away with security, and the club avoids those messy, unpleasant salary arbitration proceedings.

David Ortiz's signing is good news for fans also.  Is it me, or is the guy starting to look like the Latin American Babe Ruth?  The big body; the funny trot; the mammoth shots; the larger-than-life presence - even the face bears a resemblance.  He is a special player.  Will he break down physically?  Possibly, but for now he's pretty good and he shows no sign of slowing down.

Terry Francona is growing on me.  He seems very comfortable in the manager's job.  I have been waiting all my life for the Red Sox to keep a manager in the job longer than a season of the Soprano's, and Tito just might be the guy.  For one, he's proven that he can lead the team to a title.  Two, you rarely hear players speak ill of him, even after they leave.  Three, he seems to go along with most of the stuff required of a modern manager - focusing on trends, platoons, situational changes and the like.  And he is gutsy when he has to be.  How many past managers would have said "Foulke is my closer" and kept bringing him out there in the ninth, even after he showed he was not back to his former, stellar form?  I'll tell you - most of them.  Yet Francona didn't, and we should tip our $25 opening day caps to him.

So keep smiling Sox fans, things look fine.  And fine is good enough.