Sports Final: Not Time To Worry About Red Sox -- Yet
BOSTON (CBS) -- For the first time all season, the Red Sox have hit a bump in the road.
Boston is actually in a slump, getting swept for the first time this season at the hands of the surging Tampa Bay Rays. The Sox bats went silent over the weekend, scoring just five runs in the three-game set down in St. Pete.
They've now lost six of their last eight games and, all of a sudden, Boston's lead over the Yankees in the AL East is "down" to six games. This is normally the perfect recipe for Tony Massarotti to really lay into the local nine, and in the spirit of Bob Lobel, he'd usually start hitting the panic button.
But even with these recent struggles, Mazz isn't worried.
"Not yet. They're not playing great; they're not hitting. When you're not hitting you look dead," Massarotti told Steve Burton on Sunday night's Sports Final on WBZ-TV. "But the Yankees are not going to catch them. I'm not worried yet. I'll tell you when I'd get worried; if [their lead] gets to three games.
"It's still a huge lead. If it had gone from four-to-six [games] in the last three days, you would have said it's all over. Don't go by the trend, go by the number," said Mazz. "It's still a big lead and they are still in good shape. There is not a lot to worry about yet."
Boston's schedule eases up a bit over the next week, with two home games against the Miami Marlins before hitting the road for four games against the Chicago White Sox.
Check out Mazz's full Red Sox chat with Burton in the video above, and tune in to Sports Final every Sunday night at 11:35 p.m. on WBZ-TV!
