By TERRY NAU

Sports editor

Some things I think I think:
-- How can anyone compare this weekend’s Red Sox-Yankees series to thefive-game sweep by the Yankees at Fenway Park in late August of 2006? That’s what some media “experts” and plenty of anxious members of Red Sox Nation are saying. The most pessimistic among them hint this year’s team is destined for the same fate as the 2006 squad -- no postseason invitation.
There’s no comparison between this weekend and 2006 for a very obvious reason. This year’s showdown is at Yankee Stadium, not Fenway Park. The Yankees, who have a much tougher schedule than Boston and Tampa Bay in September, needed to win at least three of four games from Boston. When the two teams meet again on Aug. 21-23 in Boston, then it will be the Red Sox who NEED to win that series.
If the Yankees go to Fenway and sweep that series in late August, then the comparison to 2006 can be made. But you have to figure Boston will be out of its team hitting and pitching slump by then.
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-- Theo Epstein’s in a slump of his own. His decision to sign 42-year-old John Smoltz was initially treated as an example of the Red Sox general manager’s genius and creativity. Now it just looks like a dumb idea.
Theo also traded away valuable bullpen commodity Justin Masterson to get Victor Martinez from Cleveland. The Red Sox lost two extra-inning games over the past week that Masterson could have performed valuable service in. The loss of the versatile righthander has shortened Boston’s bullpen considerably. They missed his ability to pitch two or three innings during Friday night’s 15-inning loss to New York, which got three shutout innings of relief from Alfredo Aceves.
Every contending team’s bullpen needs someone who can effectively pitch more than one inning. By the time the 14th inning rolled around, Boston was down to rookie Junichi Tazawa while the Yankees still had Phil Coke, David Robertson and Mark Melancon hanging around. Coke pitched the 15th and got the win. Tazawa pitched two innings and got the loss along with a rude indoctrination into the big leagues.
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-- How must Michael Bowden really feel when he sees a Double-A pitcher like Tazawa jump past him and into Boston’s pitching rotation? Bowden said all the right things to Brendan McGair for a story on this page but that was before he got passed over for the 23-year-old Japanese righthander.
In private, though, you know the kid is somewhat confused. And he takes that confusion into Tuesday night’s start for Pawtucket in Charlotte. Let’s see how he responds.
That’s the psychological side of the life of a minor leaguer on the cusp of making it to the big time. Just mind your own business and don’t try to think along with management. Leave that to the stupid sports writers!
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-- I’m still trying to figure out why it took this long for Pawtucket closer Fernando Cabrera, a righthander with three years of big league experience, not to mention a 1.69 ERA and 20 saves, to get the call to Boston? The Red Sox finally promoted Cabrera on Sunday. Two days earlier, they brought up PawSox starter Enrique Gonzalez (7-10, 5.69 ERA), just in case they needed a long man if Clay Buchholz got knocked out early in Saturday’s game. Gonzalez got five outs and gave up a two-run homer to Derek Jeter.
That’s twice the Red Sox went for a “long” reliever over Cabrera. The first one made a little sense. Everyone knew John Smoltz was in big trouble in the series opener on Thursday night. The Red Sox chose lefthander Billy Traber, who had recently done some rather mediocre starting work for the PawSox. He got lit up, too, in relief of Smoltz. And then he got released. Too bad. Billy was one of the funnier guys in the PawSox locker room, a veteran who had been around the block and seemed to be enjoying his final years with the pro game.
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-- No true baseball fan enjoyed seeing Smoltz get hammered by the Yankees. His final outing with Boston (8 runs in 3.2 innings) was an embarrassment. It reminded me of the old line about professional athletes. They die twice in their lifetimes, once as players and a second time like the rest of us. The first time is difficult because they have been playing sports all their lives. They tune their bodies and can’t believe it when the machine finally begins to fail them. All the hard work in the world couldn’t put John Smoltz’s shoulder back together again so that he could get big league hitters out.
That’s why it was kind of humorous to hear Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd talking at McCoy Stadium last Thursday night about making a comeback at the age of 49. Boyd, who was probably kidding around, said he can still throw 90 miles per hour. Well, so can John Smoltz. And we all saw what that got him.
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--- Don’t look now but Joe Torre’s Dodgers, after an amazing start, have let the Giants and Rockies back into the N.L. West race. The Dodgers are rumored to be interested in Smoltz, who may have chosen the wrong league when he consented to signing with Boston. It’s possible Smoltz could survive in the National League, which he knows so well, and where pitchers hit in the No. 9 hole.