Projo Sox Blog

Terry Francona may not be an A+ student in geography -- but he knows what it means to his team that in only May, they are more than halfway through their final west coast trip of the season.

They will not return to Anaheim, Oakland, or Seattle after this weekend.

"I think that's a huge advantage. Not necessarily today, but anytime early in the season, anytime we don't go past -- well, what side of the Mississippi is Texas on -- the west? Well, we don't go too far past the Mississippi," Francona laughed.

Getting that travel out of the way early can be a significant edge, he said. Even if they are swept in Seattle, the Sox are assured of closing their west coast portion of the season with a winning record.

"With the time changes, it's great. Hopefully, you win later... sure it should help you," Francona said.

Beyond the fact that the Sox' early schedule has included a lot of long trips, it has also matched them up against some excellent teams. Boston has played five series against their two playoff foes from 2008 -- the Angels and the Tampa Bay Rays -- and a series against the Yankees. That's a lot of pretty strong competition for this point in the year, and despite injuries and poor starting pitching, Boston is 21-13.

That kind of a schedule can raise eyebrows in the clubhouse, and Francona doesn't like the heavy emphasis on some teams, certainly -- especially when Boston won't play, for instance, Kansas City until September.

"It is so unbalanced, the way it has played out, we've played Tampa a third of our games almost. It's silly," Francona said.

But earning this kind of an early record against these kind of teams does, at least, mean something.

"We've played -- if not always great baseball, I think we've been conscientious, everywhere, all the way around. We've hung in there, and won some games that are not always easy to win," Francona said. "Hopefully as we get our starting pitching in line, get healthy, that'll lead to more wins."

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Dan Barbarisi Tampa Bay Rays Terry Francona

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