Winning 100 games realistic for loaded Red Sox

[March 29, 2011]  BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Red Sox came close to winning 100 games in six of the last eight seasons. Could this be the year they do it?

Their lineup is loaded. Their rotation is strong. Their bullpen is improved. Their health is much better.

And the addition of two of baseball's most productive players, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, makes them widely favored to reach the World Series for the third time in eight years.

Pitcher Josh Beckett thinks the Red Sox have a chance to win 100. But in the past 24 years, only two of the 25 teams that reached that high level won the championship. And the Red Sox have won 100 games only three times since they began playing in 1901.

Boston goes after its first win in Friday's season opener at the Texas Rangers.

[Associated Press; By HOWARD ULMAN]

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