Josh Beckett (5 innings, 8 earned runs, 8 hits, 3 home runs) provided another Fenway Turd this afternoon as Texas (65-45, 31-24 away) took the series with a 10-9 win against Boston (55-57, 29-34 home).
The sad part is that the Red Sox kept rallying, tying it at 3-3 in the third and 9-9 in the seventh but it didn't matter since Beckett could care less about competing as a professional athlete. You should never lose a game when you score nine runs.
The Texas toughguy and Jon Lester have combined for one win at Fenway Park since June 27. Since June 1, the Red Sox are 2-12 at home when Beckett or Lester start. Look on the bright side, Boston is only six games back in loss column for the second American League Wild Card going into tonight's action, oh wait.
Beckett was in a giving mood as he coughed up three runs in the first inning, three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth before Bobby Valentine finally took him out. Even the non-sellout (by my calculations) pink hat crowd booed Beckett, I guess the Red Sox front office are the only people in the world left that can't identify what a waste of a roster spot he has become. They had their chance to move him at the Trade Deadline and they didn't so here we are, watching a baseball team rot away from the inside out. What's the worst that could happen by either dumping him on waivers, releasing him or putting him on the 60-day DL for the rest of the season with a fake injury (after all, he loves those)?
Josh Hamilton was 3-for-4 with a triple, homer, 4 RBIs and two runs while Elvis Andrus was 3-for-4 with three runs and a walk in the win. Adrian Gonalez had three RBI doubles and scored three runs, Cody Ross was 3-for-4 with a homer, double, two runs, two RBIs and a walk while Dustin Pedroia had two singles and scored two runs in the loss.
The happiest guy to see Beckett do his thing was Matt Harrison (4.2 innings, 5 runs, 8 hits, 3 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 home run) since on most days, his outing would be considered a disaster. Compared to Beckett, he looked poise to make a run at the AL Cy Young award.
Hamilton had a two-run triple in the first against what had to be a hungover and bloated Toughguy. Former Red Sox Adrian Beltre added a sacrifice fly before Beckett stumbled out of trouble. Boston answered with two runs on Gonzalez's first RBI double and an RBI single by Ross. Cody tied it in the third with a solo shot-his 17th homer of the season.
Beckett must have been drinking Lonestar in the dugout between innings, it caught up to him in the fifth as he grooved meatballs to Mitch Moreland (solo homer; 12th of the season) and Hamilton (two-run blast; 30th of the season). Gonzalez's second RBI double cut it to 6-4 in the home half of the frame then he scored on Geovany Soto's passed ball.
No worries for the Rangers as Soto blasted a two-run shot off Beckett in the sixth, his first for Texas since being traded by the Cubs. Clayton Mortensen (1-1) ran into trouble in the seventh as Nelson Cruz (18th of the season) hit the final homer of the game for the Rangers.
Roy Oswalt allowed four runs in 1.1 innings as Gonzalez's third RBI double set the stage for a three-run blast by Will Middlebrooks (15th of the season) which knotted things at nine. However, Alexi Ogando (2-0) settled things down to pitch a clean seventh and eighth inning with two strikeouts.
Alfredo Aceves is not a natural closer so he struggles with inherited runners but don't tell that to Bobby V who put him in with runners on first and third with no outs in the ninth. Oh and he let him face Hamilton rather than let Andrew Miller (a lefty) give it a shot. Beltre's second sacrifice fly turned out to be the game-winning play.
Ross hit a one-out double in the ninth but Joe Nathan struck out two for his 23rd save of the season.
Boston went 4-6 on its longest homestand of the season, now the Dead Man Walking squad hits the road for 10 games (4 in Cleveland, 3 in Baltimore, 3 in New York) in 11 days. Since there are two off-days between now and their next game at home, the Red Sox won't play at Fenway again until August 21. I shudder to think how many more games under .500 they will be by then. However, I will probably be paying much less attention to baseball with football even closer at that point. I'll be pouring over depth charts for Fantasy Football and reading Sports Illustrated's College Football preview issue.
The Indians (51-60, 3rd AL Central) snapped an 11-game losing streak today with a 6-2 win vs. Minnesota, but that doesn't mean anything when the Red Sox are coming to play you. I'm sure Boston will make them look like the powerhouse Cleveland teams of the late 90s. Felix Doubront (10-5) faces Ubaldo Jimenez (8-11) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN), Clay Buchholz (9-3) gets Chris Seddon (0-0) on Friday night (7:05 p.m., NESN), Franklin Morales (3-2) opposes Zach McAllister (4-4) on Saturday night (6:05 p.m., NESN) and Jon Lester (5-10) takes the ball against rookie Corey Kluber (0-0) on Sunday afternoon (1:05 p.m., NESN).
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