The Sox absolutely get killed by the Rays in Tampa. I'm looking for this team to show me something against a good team. I will feel good if the Sox win this series, however, from a strictly making the playoffs sense all the Sox need to do is take 1 of the 3 games down there to stay in control. If that happens though, mentally me and other Sox fans will not feel good about how this team handles the cream of the crop.

What I'm looking for:

1. Good starting pitching from the Sox (especially Josh Beckett w/ Buchholz a distant second in importance). The Red Sox NEED Beckett to be the stud he can be. The best thing about this team is you can look at it as a potentially great playoff team if Beckett and Lester are dominant at the top of the rotation, but when we have inconsistant home run Beckett then they are a terrible post-season team and can be expected to last 1 series.

2. The offense continuing it's production versus good pitching... Sure it was nice knocking Halladay around a bit, but I want to see it continue

3. The continued resurgence of the bullpen... Pitching is going to decide this teams fate more than offense and along with Beckett the Sox need that bullpen from the first 2.5 months of the season to return; where no matter who you throw out there 0's are being put up on the board in a powerful fashion... This will allow Buchholz or Wakefield or DiceK or Byrd to give you 5 solid innings in the playoffs from the 3/4 spot and be able to shut it down the rest of the way. How many other teams can not worry about their middle relief? MIddle relief is the achilies heal to most teams. For the sox it's a strength... Big advantage