By Tony Massarotti, Boston.com Columnist

Maybe I'm old, or soft, or a combination of the two. But today, I feel compelled to give the Red Sox some love.

That was a darned good win last night.

And if these guys keep it up, I may actually start to like to them again.

Whether you feel the same way is entirely up to you, but the Red Sox pulled themselves above .500 for the first time this season Tuesday night with a victory over the Detroit Tigers that was, in a word, resolute. Pitted against all-world righthander Justin Verlander in the wake of yet more bad news regarding one of their better players (Dustin Pedroia), the Red Sox claimed a 6-3 win with a cast of characters that included Daniel Nava, Scott Podsednik, Nick Punto, Rich Hill, Vicente Padilla, Andrew Miller, Scott Atchison and the entire island of misfit toys.

Then again, maybe that's what is making this team so likeable at the moment. No preponderance of overpaid, underachieving veterans. No attitude. No excuses. Just a bunch of no-name retreads who are clinging to their careers behind a manager who was out of the major leagues for 10 years, dead and buried before the Red Sox resuscitated him.

"We're looking at it like we've got good momentum,'' left fielder Nava told reporters after delivering the game's key blow, a two-out, three-run double against the otherworldly Verlander in baseball's version of Bambi meets Godzilla. "We've got things going in the right direction. If you see the scoreboard, in the AL East things are still pretty tight. There's a lot of season left."

Indeed there is.

And if the Red Sox keep this up, as we've said before, there is every chance they will be far better in the final two months than they have been in the first two.