In the moments before Tim Wakefield took the mound against the Oakland A’s and started to settle the season, panic was gripping the Hub. Now just five game later we have a Nation at calm, but is a storm brewing? Some were worried how a season that held so much promise in the spring could have started so poorly, but others that joined the Nation before the Idiots of 2004 knew better. Painful wounds earned in 1967, 1976 and 1986 were waiting for the slightest provocation to emerge from their slumber. What would a Red Sox season be without some anxiety and unrest? Sox fans for generations were trained by their elders to prepare for the bad to come at the least expected time. Here we are, less then a week later, and all is well in the nation, the panic has return to its slumber. A moment of thanks to the rebuilding O’s for the boost to our batting averages and lowering of our pitching ERA and lowering a regions blood pressure.

The Red Sox were simply not as bad as they looked in the first couple weeks of the season, but they might not be as good as they looked in mastering a rare four game sweep of the Os’.

While the Sox may not have been a fortunate as the Marlins and have had the pathetic Nationals to beat up on, the O’s are simply not a match on paper for the Sox this season.

After years of turmoil, lack of local interest, and a declining win/loss record the O’s do seem to be headed in the right direction, starting with a farm system that includes baseball’s number one prospect who also happens to be playing a position that seems to have a lack of overall major league level talent. Mark Wieters is a catcher the Sox would LOVE to have in their system and he should be in the majors before the end of the season. Promising young pitcher Brad Bergensen, who looked solid in the spring, did not get a chance to face the Sox (that might have been a good thing for him).

While the O’s do have some very fine everyday players like Nick Markakis, Melvin Mora and Brian Roberts, they are at least a couple more years and some more young arms from being ready to compete in the AL East with the Sox, Yanks, Rays and maybe even Blue Jays. Baltimore at its peak had a loaded ball park and now with the money coming in from MLB for setting up the Nationals, the O’s could get some resources together and build a contender before long.But for now they are simply a team that the Sox should defeat and did. More importantly they added confidence to some of the players struggling to get their seasons started and if nothing else players like David Oritz and Dustin Pedroia will spend less time on the psychological aspects of their slumps and more time fixing what may be small mechanical errors.

The road from here gets more difficult for the Sox, who after a short two game series with the Twins, will see the Yankees, Indians, and Rays come to the chilly confines of Fenway Park. The Yankees just like the Sox have had some struggles this young season, but anyone that thinks they plan to come to Fenway and roll over for the Sox has not been paying attention the last few seasons.

Some may doubt the Yankees ability to win the AL East and failing that make the playoffs, no one can doubt that this team will win close to if not more then 90 games. They have a starting line up that on paper, is the envy of all of baseball and a starting rotation that could rival the Sox, not to mention the greatest stopper in baseball history. This is a team that has been lacking identity under Joe Girardi. The Red Sox fans can only hope they do not find it in Fenway this weekend.

While Cleveland may not be the glamour team they were just five years ago, one must stand up and take notice of the beating they put on the Yankees and one of their top pitchers just a few days ago.

Then it’s off to Tampa Bay for the Sox new chamber of horrors and the young Rays. Could it be the Sox that go into that series with a little bit of fear?

So Boston Dirt Dogs, while the first 9 games might not have told the tale of the Sox season, might the next fourteen set the tone for their quest to bring the championship back to New England?