I have no crystal ball

The other day Gordon Edes did a handful of bloggers a proper by posting our predictions for the season on his page at ESPN Boston.  Here’s what I wrote:

When the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez in December and Carl Crawford signed on two days later, I have to admit that my mind went wild with the possibilities. If this team can stay healthy, we’ll see many high-scoring wins, especially against the other AL East teams. The Sox offense will dominate the East’s pitching. As far as the Red Sox go, their rotation will surprise folks. Lackey and Beckett definitely have the talent but need to show they still can still pitch to win. This will be the year they take out their frustrations of past seasons on the rest of the league. Lester and Buchholz will tear up the league as well and I have faith Matsuzaka will be as effective as the team needs. I expect the Red Sox to make the playoffs easily this year by ending the regular season with 100 wins.

And that was probably my third draft. I had to edit…a lot. Gordon asked for about 150 words and my first draft had 450 before I even had written a conclusion. So along with bringing some traffic to the site (thanks, Gordon!) it was a good exercise in editing myself.

I don’t like writing predictions.  I don’t know if that’s obvious but it’s true.  I stay away from the stereotypical fan bragging in the “we’re going to kick your team’s ass” vein on a daily basis during the season so predicting what my team is going to do before they even take the mound isn’t up my alley.  But when Gordon Edes asks your opinion and tells you he wants it so he can share it with his readers…well my mama didn’t raise any dummies, you see.

So I wrote it and sent it off and Gordon was kind enough to print it.  I’m overreaching here, I know.  I believe everything that I wrote but I don’t know that I’d call those beliefs predictions or just hopes.

What do I think the 2011 season will bring?  I’m not totally sold on the 100 wins number but if they don’t make it I think they’ll come pretty darn close.  I don’t expect either Josh Beckett or John Lackey to win the Cy Young but I DO expect them to both improve on their 2010 seasons.  The rest?  Well I’m hoping for more good games than bad ones, no injury bug attacking the team and a trip to the playoffs so I get extra baseball come October.  I don’t think that’s too much to hope for!