The best is yet to come...

The Red Sox remain in first place with a 12-7 record heading to Cleveland after snapping a three-game losing streak yesterday against Toronto.  So, after 19 games, what's the assessment of this team?  Well, for one thing, we learned that Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett will not go 70-0 for the Sox.  Shocker there.  We've also learned that Manny will not finish the season with zero home runs.  Equally uninformative data point.  As obvious as these points seem, however, these statements may be somewhat emblematic of what we can expect from the Red Sox moving forward: While we cannot count on aces 1A and 1B to win every single start, we can definitely expect that this team is going to bust out offensively.

Presently, the Sox are missing their star leadoff hitter, Coco Crisp, who looks poised for a terrific season.  Kevin Youkilis has filled in capably in the leadoff spot with a .403 OBP on the season (and .455 SLG), but aside from Youkilis, Ortiz (.391 OBP, .680 SLG), and arguably Mike Lowell (.338 OBP, .462 SLG), the entire offense is underachieving.  Alex Gonzalez (.281 OBP, .263 SLG), Mark Loretta (.291 OBP, .325 SLG), Jason Varitek (.323 OBP, .340 SLG), and Manny Ramirez (.407 OBP, .379 SLG) are all SUBSTANTIALLY under projection.  This is not a concern after 19 games and a 12-7 record as much as it is a portent of bigger things to come from this offense.  Expectations should be more along the lines of a .680 OPS compared to .544 for Gonzalez, .800 compared to .616 for Loretta, .865 compared to .663 for Varitek, and 1.010 compared to .786 for Manny.  Combined with other players performing at expected levels, that means a lot more runs for Boston. 

The pitching, on balance, has been more in line with expecations (on pace to allow 710 runs, compared to a projection of 735 I made pre-season).  Though Schilling and Beckett will likely come back to Earth to some degree, the Sox should have better performances from Clement (6.17 ERA) and should also have a 5th starter at some point better than Lenny DiNardo (7.43).  (GASP!  Could it be Clemens?!?!)

Bottom line: The Red Sox are on pace to win 102 games.  And they have yet to play their best baseball.