DETROIT – Time for a break. After this afternoon’s game against the Tigers, Red Sox Nation will catch its collective breath and relax for a few days. It has been a wildly entertaining first half, with ups and downs that would rival any roller coaster at Six Flags.

Still, not all of baseball has been amused by Grady Little’s traveling band. In the past month alone, the Sox have been accused of breaking baseball’s unwritten rules and running up the score. They’ve been accused of headhunting. They’ve been accused of crowding the plate. They’ve been accused of not getting out of the way of incoming pitches.

What is it about this team that provokes such emotion? It’s a team that has brought fans to tears. It even brought George Steinbrenner to tears Monday afternoon following a Boston loss to New York.

What happened to “there’s no crying in baseball?”

The reaction other teams are having to the Sox just makes them more loveable. Enter the Boston clubhouse, and there is a definite “us against them” mentality. This team has banded together, a band of brothers in arms.

“We’re playing a kid’s game,” said reliever Chad Fox. “If you can’t have fun doing this, you can’t have fun doing anything. These guys get that. You don’t have one group over here and one group over there. These guys stick together. You’re meant to have fun here, and we are.”

Of course, it can’t all be fun and games. That’s why it’s called hardball. There will be tough times ahead. Mark the weekend of July 26 on your calendar. That’s when the Yankees come to Fenway Park. There have been cries of revenge, of “adjustments” to be made, and there will be fastballs coming inside at batters throughout the weekend.

There will be tough decisions to make. Which players will be here for the stretch run? Which ones won’t? The pitching staff you see now will not be the same pitching staff you’ll see in September. General Manager Theo Epstein says there is money set aside to make a deal. Although the bullpen was at its best in Toronto – 12 1/3 scoreless innings of relief – it can still be improved. And a quality starter (hello, Sydney Ponson) would make us all feel a lot better about things.

Little is the man standing at the gate of the amusement park, but will he be there at the end? Fans have grown increasingly unhappy with Little, saying he isn’t proactive enough. He took considerable heat this week when he said Pedro Martinez would not pitch in the upcoming Yankees series. To his credit, he reconsidered, but people still questioned who made the decision. Was it Little, or someone upstairs?

On Thursday night, the Sox will get a chance to improve on their home record of 28-12, already the best in baseball. Toronto, Detroit, and Tampa provide the tune-up for the three games with the Yankees. After that, Boston hits the road for a road trip that will take them through the July 31 trade deadline.

At that point, we’ll know exactly where this team stands, and if it stands any chance of making it back to the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. That’s when the real fun begins.

Lewiston native Tom Caron covers the Boston Red Sox for NESN.

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