RED SOX TOP FIVE

Well, those dark days when the Red Sox were five games out of first place seem like a distant memory now. With a 2-1 Boston victory over the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay's seventh loss in a row the Red Sox are back on top in the American League Eastern Division by a half game heading into the all-Star break. So, now is a good time to take a look at the first half Top Five list.

TOP FIVE "BEST" THINGS ABOUT THE FIRST HALF

5. The Ring Ceremony - Can we start the season with one of these every year?

4. Justin Masterson - Another year, another Red Sox youngster making a name for himself. Masterson (23 yrs old) was called up from the farm and gave another glimpse of what the future holds for the organization. The righthander got nine starts and posted a 4-3 record with a 3.67 era. He's now back on the farm preparing to be called up as a reliever. Regardless of how that works out his performance is another example of how deep and plentyful the Red Sox farm system has become. NOTE: Will Jed Lowrie find himself mentioned along with Masterson before season's end?

3. Mike "RBI Machine" Lowell - This guy missed 18 games in April and he still has 57 runs driven in at the break! And don't give me any of that "he plays in a hitter friendly park" stuff either. Lowell has more runs driven in on the road than he does at Fenway Park. He's been amazing. Despite missing those 18 games, and by the way he didn't even have a rbi in the first nine games of the season, Lowell is just six off the pace from last season when he drove in 120. He's also ahead of last season's homer total and has his batting average hovering at .300. Hey, I thought this guy would have a solid season, but I didn't expect him to be driving runs in at this clip.

2. The Starting Rotation Is Deep Again - Let's see, Josh Beckett has been struggling, Dice K was on the disabled list, Curt Schilling's career was all but ended by injury and expected rookie sensation Clay Buchholz had to be sent back down to the farm to work on his control. Yet despite all of that the Red Sox starting rotation has been great if not spectacular in the first half. They are a combined 42-24 and had an 3.77 era heading into Sunday's game, which was the third best in the American League. If not for a bullpen that has struggled mightily those numbers could very well be good enough to lead the league. And wasn't that Jon Lester no-hitter a special moment?

1. J. D. Drew - When Big Papi went down with his injury Red Sox Nation had reason to panic. But from out of nowhere walked Drew. His first half performance was nothing short of spectacular and timely. When Ortiz went down Drew went on a tear to keep the Sox afloat. The rightfielder hit .302 with 17 homers and 55 runs batted in during the first half. He's hitting 32 points higher and has hit six more home runs than last season. Presently he's just nine rbi's short of last season's total. Without question Drew has turned his Red Sox career around in a hurry and it was the major reason the Red Sox were able to move into first place before the break. J. D. has been quite a surprise in 2008.

TOP FIVE "WORST" THINGS ABOUT THE FIRST HALF

5. Tek's Slump - The Captain is hitting just .218 heading into the All-Star break. And he's going to play on the All-Star team? Well, that's the players choice. But the bottom line is that Jason Varitek is looking like his skills at the plate are falling completely off the shelf. He's in the last year of his contract and Boston doesn't have a young prospect in waiting to take over. He still catches a good game bhind the plate, but how long can the Sox accept or have this massive hole at the plate late in games? Varitek is a well known hard worker and it stands to reason he could break out of his current slump in the second half. But it is now perfectly clear that a very respectable career is coming to a quick close.

4. The Eastern Division Struggle - The Sox have a half-game lead over the Rays heading into the break. And they are 6 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees. I don't mean to be greedy here, but that lead should be more had the Sox played their division rivals tougher in the first half. Boston is now 20-19 in the division, thank goodness. However, they just came up small in too many division games. They are 6-6 against Tampa Bay which also includes an 0-6 record at Tropicana Field. And they are just 5-4 against a struggling New York Yankees team to whom they handed two games away to just a week ago. They have 33 games left to be played in the east and you better believe that those games will play a major role in who wins the division title.

3. The Bottom Of The Order - In years past the Red Sox have prided themselves on having a top to bottom batting order that wears oppsing pitching staffs out. While the first six spots are doing the same job in 2008 the bottom three is a black hole. Jason Varitek (.218 BA, 7 HR, 28 RBI), Coco Crisp (.259 BA, .309 OBP) and Julio Lugo (.268 BA) have been huge disappointments this season. Lugo has been even more disappointing in the field committing 16 errors at shortstop.

2. Manny's Behavior - For years we have all talked about "Manny Being Manny". An usually it's been pretty harmless stuff. Sure, the guy has reportedly tried to beg off the team and from time-to-time he appears to not really hustle or pay attention to certain situations on the field. But again, that's pretty harmless stuff. This season Manny has taken a swipe at Kevin Youkilis in the dugout and physically taken a 60 plus yr-old Red Sox employee to the ground during an argument over ticket availability. What's up with this stuff? It appears as all of this has blown over and everything is forgiven and forgotten. But that doesn't prevent it from being on this Top 5 list.

1. Big Papi's Injury - There's something missing on the Red Sox. Yeah, not having Ortiz knocking balls over the fence and driving in runs at an alarming pace is bad enough. But not having the big guy in the dugout mocking Francona behind his back during interviews, delivering "man hugs", celebratory handshakes and dances or generally just keeping everything so loose has been missed. Heck, he might have even kept Manny off of this particular list. Yep, Big Papi's injury has been the worst thing about the first half. Here's hoping his return makes the Top 5 "Best" things about the second half just behind winning a 2nd consecutive World Series.