Is it time to freak out yet?

According to an article on MVN.com (which I cannot verify the validity of) it is still not time to lose sleep (although that is exactly what I did last night.) Basically, this article talks about how, so far, the Yankers are playing about .500 ball, the Sox .600. Pizza Cutter, the author of the piece, states that the odds of a team that is truely .500 playing .600 ball for half a season is something like 2.5%. Translation: This is the chance that the Sox are playing over their heads. similarly, the odds of the Yankers playing .500 ball when they are really a .600 or better team is about the same. I am not a statistical genius, so I'll have to trust Pizza Cutter when he (or she, I suppose) states that the chances of both of these things being true is something like .06%. This then means that for there to be a reversal of the first half of the year, which is pretty much what needs to happen for the Yankers to end up over the Sox, the odds are less than 1%.

There's lots of talk about the trade deadline, also, and the Sox apparent need for relievers. While One week doesn't mean everything, the last few losses for the Sox have seen pretty steady relief. All but one had relievers shutting out oppoents. This has me thinking that perhaps the issues that needs to be addressed is run production, particularly in the latter innings. When the Sox get a lead lately, the pen holds it (for the most part). When Boston is behind, the bats aren't producing rallies. Now, not only I don't think that the Sox run production is an issue that has to be addressed by trading (though they are apparently looking at Mark Teixeira), picking up the wrong reliever could possibly mess with the mojo of the part of the equation that isn't the problem.