WILD CARD SHOW DOWN

By the end of Tuesday night the Red Sox season will officially be half over. Eight games out of the AL east the Red Sox now change their focus squarely towards the wild card. A race which Oakland heads in the AL west and the wild card in tie for first in both with Texas, the Sox are tied for fourth three games behind the Athletics. Tim Wakefield, who last won a game on May 23, will take the mound tonight against Barry Zito.

"We're just not playing well enough. There's just so many different things we're doing inconsistently. We're not going to string two wins together until we get on top of both sides of the ball. It comes down to hitting some days, pitching other days. We're going to have to put it together." -- Curt Schilling.

The last time Sox won two games in a row was June 19th. By and large this is the same team as last year with one big expecting, the Manager. Until now the team’s short comings have been blamed on its injured players. Froncona will not have the crutch for the second half of the season if this healthy team continues to under perform.

"There's no alternative but to show up Tuesday and fight a little harder and hustle a little more and work a little harder. That's all we can do right now. We can talk about how frustrated we are, because we are. But we've got to play better. We've got to pitch better, we got to manage better, we have to coach better. We have to do everything better." -- Sox manager Terry Francona

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