"In 2008, Carl Crawford missed 44 of the Tampa Bay Rays' last 46 regular-season games because of an injured finger, leaving his final numbers short of his lofty standards. But when the Rays reached the World Series, his subpar season was forgotten.

The same thing could happen this year.

By his own admission, Crawford has had a disappointing first season for the Red Sox [team stats]. He endured a career-worst slump in April, missed a month with a hamstring strain and has yet to sustain a stretch of prolonged excellence. Each time he appears poised to break out, he recedes into another funk.

To wit: Crawford went 9-for-12 in a three-game series against the New York Yankees earlier this month, then slipped into a 4-for-31 rut over nine games. He batted .333 (10-for-30) with two homers and eight RBI on the recent eight-game trip to Kansas City and Texas, then went hitless in seven at-bats in Saturday's doubleheader against Oakland.

In 105 games this season, Crawford is batting .251 with a .285 on-base percentage, numbers that would be career lows. But despite the $142 million left fielder's ups and downs, the Red Sox have kept winning.

"It definitely makes the transition a little easier to deal with," Crawford said last week. "If we were losing, I'm pretty (sure) it'd be harder. It definitely doesn't hurt that the team's in first place. I'm just trying to finish the season out strong, pretty much. Just trying to do something.""