Dan:

Count me as one of the ones who thought Big Papi was done. Given not just how he looked the first two months of this season, but also most of last season, Papi just looked like a guy whose career had fallen off the table. Like Jim Rice after his near-MVP season of 1986 suddenly losing his skills, it was as if someone had slipped kryptonite into Superman's tights.

It wasn't an easy conclusion to reach. Like much (if not most) of Red Sox Nation, Papi is my favorite player. Not just because of all the clutch hits, including Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, which I was at (and you can see me and my low-life brother in the stands as the homer sails over the wall). But also because of his memorable team speeches prior to legendary Red Sox comebacks, like when he told his teammates before that Game 4 that as he'd driven to Fenway he'd seen all the signs and billboards from Sox fans who had suffered for so long, and he just wanted to do something to put smiles on their faces. Or how about his "you're a bad m#therf#cker" speech to teammates when they were down 3-1 to the Indians in 2007? Papi is just an easy guy to like.

So it was painful to watch him struggle. And while we all looked for signs of life, they just weren't there. It was obvious Papi was done, and those who didn't want to admit it were just in denial.

And then came June. Papi is suddenly Papi again. He's hitting bombs, and if he really is back to his old self (or even 85 percent of his old self), you can plan the parade now.

Still, I'm unconvinced. I'm cautiously optimistic, but he's just been down for so long it's hard to imagine he can return to Papi form for an extended period of time. It happens with all batters at some point. The decline is inevitable. It WILL happen eventually.

I just hope it's not yet.

Dan:

Five games up on the Yanks, Papi's starting to hit, and A-Rod now looks like Papi did in May. After the Sox wrap up with the terrible Nationals, they finish off the first-half against American League lowlies Oakland, Seattle and Kansas City. There's every reason to think the Sox should enter the break 8 games up . . . at least. And tonight we start a future Hall-of-Famer (Smoltz) who is a luxury - not a necessity - on the best rotation in baseball. You just have to like where things are going (that is, unless you're a Yanks fan).

Dan:

Let's just hold on and take a breath for a moment, Red Sox Nation. I know how much you despise the Yanks. I know how good it feels to be up 7 games to zero against the Yanks this season. You're excited. So am I.

But it doesn't mean anything.

If you've perused the papers and baseball websites this morning, you've noticed all the articles about Boston's dominance over the Yankees this season. Some articles talk about why the Sox are so much better, how they have a psychological edge, better pitching, etc. Unfortunately, it's all garbage.

Baseball is a funny, quirky game. A hitter can be hitting like garbage, but if a bloop falls in the outfield, or a check-swing hit dies in the infield grass before it can be fielded, said hitter suddenly has an impressive hit-streak. At the same time, a hitter can be mashing line drives, but if they are right at people, they're suddenly in a slump.

Same thing for teams. Sure, the Sox have had some dominant wins during this seven-game run against New York. But there's also been some close ones -- like last night's one-run game -- that, if Swisher fields a ball here, or someone gets a hit there, the Yanks gets some wins. And baseball karma is a funny thing, and things tend to even out over a long season. I remember a few years ago when the Sox started out something like 5 and 1 against the Yanks, but then proceeded to drop five of six games against them later in the year. That causes me to cringe when I think about later in the season.

Sure, I'm happy the Sox are getting wins. They need them, because despite their 7-0 record against New York, they are a mere one-game up on them. That doesn't bode well over the course of the season. The Sox could go 19-0 against New York this year, but if they don't win against other teams, they'll lose the division. And, like it or not, this New York squad is a very good, and very dangerous team.

I just hope the Sox save some of these wins for October.

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Some other thoughts:

-I noticed the MLBlogs frontpage had something on Roy Halliday's dominance this season. He is amazingly underappreciated. If it weren't for some freak injuries -- like breaking his leg -- and playing in obscurity in Toronto, he'd be considered the best pitcher in the game and a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Throughout his career, he has been a dominant pitcher, a workhorse who throws complete games and stifles opponents despite having an inferior team behind him for most of these years.

-The Arizona Diamondbacks are killing me. The team that I picked to win the National League this year would currently be the worst team in the NL by far, if it weren't for the Washington Nationals. The D-Backs are too talented for this. Heads should roll.

Dan:

Could we see Orlando Cabrera back in Boston? I just saw this from the Boston Globe:

ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports today that the Red Sox have "had conversations" with Oakland about former Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera, who was with Boston for their World Series win in 2004, is hitting .235 with a .286 OBP this season for the A's. Olney also reports that the Sox have also talked to the Pirates about Jack Wilson, but a deal for Wilson is less likely because the shortstop is still owed almost $6 million this season.

Admit it. You'd love to see Cabrera back with the Sox. Who wouldn't? After watching Nomar lumber around the infield in 2004, Cabrera looked like a magician out there. He was exciting. He made plays shortstops shouldn't make. And he made offense-crazed Boston fans fall in love with the poetic beauty of great defense.

How we let Cabrera go in the first place has never really made sense to me. There have been rumors he had clubhouse issues, but nothing concrete has ever come out. It would make sense, because just letting him walk away after 2004 without that problem sure didn't. Maybe it was just a case of Theo falling in love with certain players because of stats (Renteria, Lugo, Drew). But chasing Renteria for bigger money and marginally better stats (that didn't pan out) never made sense when you already had a spectacular player who was a fan-favorite (and a cheaper paycheck) in Boston.

Of course, it's been five years. Maybe Cabrera's lost a step. But maybe he hasn't. Either way, he'd be an upgrade over what we have.