"You couldn't pull a greased tee out of my behind with a pair of pliers."

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The title of this post is a quote from Hawk immediately following last night's game. I get where he's coming from - the Sox have had a good shot to win every single game they've played this year, yet were scarily close to being 2-5 (while rivals Minnesota and Detroit were 6-2 and 5-2, respectively).

Somehow the Sox had found a way to lose almost every game. Heck, aside from Opening Day, they had almost lost both other games they won. It can get a bit tense and frustrating to be so close to something really good and yet end up so maddeningly far.

I wasn't that tense. Don't know why - but I'm just not freaking out about this team. Normally I do - while I'm an eternal optimist, I also take every loss really hard. I really appreciate how each game changes the look of a series and how each series changes the feel of your season. Heck, every at-bat, every inning matters to me, all seemingly having a key role in our ultimate success.

But for whatever reason, I'm not too worried about this squad. I'm not supremely confident or anything, just not worried. Through the first week of the season, we had the second best pitching in the AL. This despite a heavy taxing of our entire bullpen, despite every pitch in every game being thrown under significant pressure.

We've had all five starters go out and look solid, while all seven relievers have gone out and gotten the job done a couple of times. Sure, Peavy is struggling with a bad case of Linebrink Disease (good enough to get ahead of a hitter, unable to put him away). And Jenks has been getting by with smoke and mirrors for a while. But come on - those are the two most accomplished members of our staff.

Peavy will be fine - the knock on him is that he's always been too focused on perfection, trying to do too much himself. Cooper will get to him, straighten out his thinking. He'll convince Jake to let the solid defense behind him do their jobs, so that when he gets up 0-2, Peavy knows he doesn't have to go for a K, but instead can use the hitter's defensive approach to score an easy ground ball out.

Peavy's always been streaky, so while he may scuffle along for a bit, he'll eventually get it together and go all untouchable for a month straight, carrying us along the way. In the meantime, I've got no problem allowing Buehrle, Danks, Floyd, and Freddy to do the heavy lifting. These guys all looked good the first time out and will continue to get better. Buehrle's always been a first-half guy, while Danks and Floyd are still on the upswing in their careers, and Freddy is still working his way back to full go.

All four of those guys will have stumbles sometime soon, but I feel damn good that all four will be giving us quality start after quality start, keeping us in nearly every ballgame. They all throw strikes, they all attack hitters, they've all got a nice array of pitches, and they all have just enough stuff to consistently get outs. Throw in a solid defense playing behind them, and this crew is very capable of chewing up innings every time out, while mixing in a few gems along the way.

And if the starting pitching is on, the pen is gonna get us a lot of Ws. Yes, Jenks is a concern. But let's not start calling for Thornton or Putz to close just yet. Thornton is unhittable, but he's never shown he can consistently close. More importantly, using him as your 9th inning guy takes away your best left-handed option in the 7th and 8th, a real blow to this team. And while Putz was the best reliever in baseball a few years ago (no exaggeration - no one was more difficult to hit), he's still working his way back.

If Putz can get back to dominant form and Jenks continues to be very suspect, then maybe Ozzie can swap their roles in a month. But keep your fingers crossed that doesn't happen - the Sox will be in their best position if Jenks can rediscover his touch and both Thornton and Putz are unhittable in lefty/righty set-ups roles... a la Cotts/Politte.

But don't think that the bullpen is only about your closer, or even your closer and set-up guys. That's one of the biggest mistakes the casual fan and even most GMs make. Your 7th-9th inning guys are key, but so are your 5th-6th inning guys. The Sox need Randy Williams to be serviceable, capable of coming in and getting a left-hander out before the 8th so Thornton isn't always getting the call.

The Sox also need Linebrink, Santos, and Pena to bridge from the quality starts to the lights-out back of the pen guys. While he's been rightfully maligned these past two seasons, Linebrink's numbers in the first half of both we're untouchable. If he can repeat that, I'll be fine. Go ahead and suck in the 2nd half - just be nasty until July and the Sox will be in good shape. So far he's looked OK, able to deliver that out pitch when needed.

Pena is gonna be our cleaner - the guy who gets the mop up innings, pitches in extras, or gets a token right-hander early on. Those guys matter, as if they can minimize the damage or keep you in the game, you can steal some extra wins. And odds are this division will, for the third year in a row, come down to the final weekend or later.

Plus, with both Linebrink and Pena, and heck, even Santos, you want them throwing well because you never know when they'll be called on to upgrade their role. Maybe Jenks does fall flat on his face. Maybe Putz has arm issues. It happens to every pen at some point, so if the Sox have a 3rd, 4th, and 5th right-handed option who can step up and fill the void, that's huge.

In fact, most successful teams showcase a couple arms in the pen who have outperformed what was expected of them that season. Pena and Linebrink have both been pretty tough in the past - why couldn't they find that form and carry the load for a bit?

Or, why couldn't Santos? They've touched on his story, but lemme repeat it - he was a middling IF prospect who saw the writing on the wall and switched to being a pitcher to give himself another shot at the bigs. Unfortunately that just happened last year and this season he was out of options, so the Sox had to carry him on the roster or lose him to waivers.

Yep, Sergio Santos is throwing in the majors after exactly one season of minor league pitching work. One.

So if you haven't been impressed by what you've seen - good heat, nice location, ability to attack, stuff to get the outs - then be impressed by how far he's come in such a short time. Santos' upside is truly unreal. With Coop working with him, this kid could be a real impact arm.

But it's not just the stuff that has gotten to me - it's how he's come right up to the bigs and thrown strikes. No raw, stuff-only arm ever does that. Yet, that's what Santos is doing. He's coming right after hitters, trusting his stuff, trusting AJ, and trusting his defense. The result has been a kid who has already thrown some big innings and gotten some key outs. In his first week in the bigs. A year after becoming a pitcher. Yeah.

Had he just been not terrible I'd have been encouraged, but from what we've seen so far, I'm pretty pumped. It's still very early, but all the signs are pointing to a real gem here.


Mark my words - if the pitching holds, the rest will come around. The defense has made a few mistakes, but I think we'll see more good than bad from them this year, especially once all the new guys get more comfortable where they're playing (tho Ozzie needs to start Rios in center whenever he plays - that was a silly mistake using Jones there and pushing Rios to left). Remember, Konerko and AJ are the only guys with extensive experience at their position at the Cell. Give these guys some time and I think we'll like our defense again this year after last season's disaster.

As for the offense, I think it will come around. It won't carry us or anything (at least beyond a few hot streaks), but I think it is fully capable of giving us what we need to win. We've been close to that level so far and I think there's plenty of upside with this lineup. I can see a lot of clutch hits and quiet comebacks, just doing enough to get the wins. Sure, so far we've left WAY too many guys on third with less than two outs, but that will come around, the power is already starting to show, and these guys are giving themselves chances, even while not hitting their best.

One quick aside - how about my two much-maligned off-season targets - Druw Jones and Teahen - being the heroes last night? Hells yeah, best tasting crow I've eaten in a while! Please, serve up some more, fellas!

Back to the lineup - Quentin looks like he's back to MVP-type levels. Konerko looks like he'll be streaky, but also be enough of a threat to protect CQ. Pierre needs to get himself more comfortable - that's always been his game and it will come eventually. Beckham is such a talent, I've got every faith in him. Rios will also contribute - maybe not to superstar levels (which he is capable of), but at least enough to be a positive in the lineup. AJ will be AJ. And Kotsay and Druw Jones look like they'll be a real nice platoon, finding all sorts of ways to help this team win.

The big questions? Alexei and Teahen. For now, those are you 8th and 9th hitters, so the pressure if off. We don't need either to carry us - just not be giant holes in the lineup. Because for this team to win, it won't be based on a few bats - it'll be a tough, top-to-bottom lineup that challenges hitters all day long.

Are Alexei and Teahen capable of rounding out the lineup? Alexei seems like he's off to a crap start again, which is frustrating. I'd imagine we'll be seeing some Nix and Vizquel real soon if he doesn't get it going. Teahen had his best game in the Silver and Black last night - hopefully we'll see more flashes of that. Don't need anything special, just enough average, power, and OBA to be a respectable big league out. He's done it before - now let's see if Teahen can do it every day in a regular starting role.

I felt really pumped after Opening Day, I didn't waiver during the four-game losing streak, and am in a better place after sneaking out the last two Ws. But that 3-4 record is not indicative of what I feel this team is going to be. Not just what they're capable of, but what they'll be. I've got faith the Sox will be winning a lot more games than they lose, because they seem to be playing right - good starting pitching, very good and deep bullpen, solid defense, and decent contributions throughout the lineup.

Even if we stumble a bit more, I still like this squad. Sure, it's always fun to have years like 1993 and 2000, where we just run away and hide and there's not a lot of drama. But I think there was something really valuable in fighting to the very end in 2005. So if we struggle early, so be it - it'll be fun to be one of those teams who gets hot in the second half and charges back into things.

However they do it, I'm feeling good about the 2010 Sox. Hope you are too.

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