Batter-up with Bruno: Will the Red Sox actually make the playoffs?

Playoffs or bust?

Magically there's only a week left in July and more importantly exactly one week away from the trading deadline. So now it's time to talk about, dare I say it, will the Red Sox actually make the playoffs?

Let's break down this by month:

April - aaahhhhahahahahaha!!!
May - eeeeeehhhhhhhhh...
June - who's next to go to the DL!?!?!??
July - uuummmm if the club stays healthy

Funny how things change month to month, week to week, or even series by series, which seems to be the case right now.

It's crucial that Boston finishes its 10-game road trip on the winning edge. And next month is literally 'Do or DIE'. In Red Sox history, the month of August practically always sums up the outcome of the season. Let's backtrack to 2003, 2004 and 2007.

2003: 15-14 (lost in Game 7 of ALCS to New York)
2004: 21-7 (won World Series over St. Louis)
2007: 16-13 (won World Series over Colorado)

Ok so 2007 wasn't an amazing August record, but the Yankees were playing downright horrible all season and couldn't catch up to Boston, so there's the possible exception. Then of course 2003 the Sox barely stood afloat, finishing a game over .500 for the month.

Now let's backtrack to 2006, 2008 and 2009.

2006: 9-21 (finished 3rd in AL East with an 86-76 record)
2008: 18-9 (lost in Game 7 of ALCS to Tampa Bay)
2009: 16-12 (swept in ALDS to Anaheim)

I remember August of 2006 as clear as day and I remember the night of Monday, August 21 when the Yankees swept the Red Sox in five games in New York. That was the ultimate collapse and implosion of the season and I knew there wasn't a chance they'd make the playoffs.

So how am I feeling right now? Well I'm feeling good about Josh Beckett, but Clay Buchholz still needs to prove himself his next start.

The keys:

• The starting rotation all needs to come back and be healthy for the remainder of the season, which includes Beckett, Buchholz, Jon Lester, John Lackey, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
• Manny Delcarmen needs to get his act together
• The 'starting nine' needs to come back and be healthy for the rest of the season.

No brainers, no kidding, but honestly, I don't think the Red Sox really need to make a big trade unless it's for a stellar bullpen arm. But then again, we don't want a repeat of Eric Gagne in 2007.

Victor Martinez will be back soon as will Dustin Pedroia and hopefully Jacoby Ellsbury. Jeremy Hermida pinch hit last night against the Mariners. If everything gels together this can be one deadly team, or the exact opposite can happen and another implosion is possible as well.

As for the season being a complete bust, I won't be devastated if the Red Sox don't make the playoffs. I've grown to accept that it's not the 'end of the world' if they don't make it. Younger fans might think the opposite because they have grown into being used to winning such as the mid-1990's New York Yankees.

How the 2010 season will be remembered?

Injury prone.
Grumpy players.
Bad management.

Let's just hope this won't be a repeat of 2006.Like what you see? Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/batterupbruno