First Brady, Now Beckett....

Three weeks ago, I wrote about a Boston area team's losing a star player, and with that loss, possibly also losing their chance at a championship. Now I'm getting worried there is a theme starting to develop.

Josh Beckett has a strained oblique and will have his planned Game 1 start pushed back to (hopefully) Game 3. Mike Lowell is still having hip problems and his status is up in the air. Ditto for JD Drew and his back. So does that mean the Red Sox World Series hopes are up in the air too?

While these are three major blows to the team's chances, they could end up not being that big of a deal. All three players could end up playing, and this would be much ado about nothing. But what if the injuries are all worse than expcted? What if Beckett isn't ready by Game 3, and Lowell and Drew are both too hurt to play at all?

While it would make things more difficult, the Red Sox have enough depth that they could possibly win without these guys. In Drew's absence, both Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury, who were mostly splitting time in centerfield while Drew was in right, have been hitting big.

Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka, while not possesing the same postseason resume as Beckett, have put up better numbers this year. The two of them should be good, with the hope that Paul Byrd or Tim Wakefield can fill in and pitch well in the event that Beckett can't go in Game 3. They should be alright.

If Lowell is out, the fill-in options are probably not as good, with possible replacements including Alex Cora, or possibly Sean Casey or Jeff Bailey at first with Kevin Youkilis moving to third. There is even the small possibility that Lowell or Drew is healthy even to DH but not play the field, in which case they could play David Ortiz at first and Youks at third. I don't think that's likely, but hey, it's possible.

Hopefully, the injury situation turns out to be alright. And if not, they still have a pretty good shot at doing well.

I just hope I don't end up writing about a serious injury to Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce in three weeks.