The Red Sox pushed into the weekend against the Seattle Mariners with two of their hottest pitchers starting in back-to-back games. Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka both pitched well. The Red Sox lost both games, anyway.
If that isn’t baseball at its finest and most frustrating, I don’t know what is. Lester looked unbeatable during the early portions of Saturday night’s game, holding the Mariners hitless through five innings while striking out 10 of the first 15 hitters he faced. Matsuzaka followed up with a solid performance Sunday, holding the Mariners to one run in six innings despite allowing five walks.
The upshot is that the Red Sox are now eight games behind the Yankees in the American League East standings and five games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild card race. The Twins (seven games behind the Rays) and Tigers (eight games back) are also within striking distance of the Sox if they continue to falter.
Boston’s problems in Seattle largely boiled down to two issues: Bullpen consistency and timely hitting. The meltdown of Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and a few others within the last few games has been frustrating, but it’s also worth noting that the Sox have put up five combined runs in their last three games. It’s hard to beat anyone with that kind of production. (Although, I’d prefer that someone straps Okajima to a chair the next time Terry Francona attempts to put him in the game.)
Despite the naysayers, there’s still time for Boston to get back in the mix, friends. Boston will get a boost when its injured players return to the lineup, and the Sox have two more three-game series against the Rays ahead of them.
The turnaround needs to begin now. Is that too much to ask?
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