Red Sox Put The Finishing Touches On The Worst Season At Fenway In 47 Years

At some point this season, when we all realized how bleak things really were on Yawkey Way, we either did two things: 1) stopped watching all together or 2) half paid attention but became completely numb to it all.

Tonight, the Rays (85-70, 41-36 away) beat the Red Sox (69-87, 34-47 home) 4-2 at Fenway Park to sweep their mini two-game series. The result will be an important footnote for Boston since it wrapped up the nightmare 2012 regular season at home. Would you believe the Red Sox home record this year is their worst since 1965? Let that sink in for a moment.

Tampa Bay won its seventh straight game to remain three games back for the second AL wild card. Haverhill native and Northeastern's Carlos Pena hit a two-run homer (his 19th) in the fifth inning then Ben Francisco (4th of the season) went back-to-back for a 3-1 Rays lead. Jose Lobaton made it 4-2 in the seventh with a ground rule double.

Jeff Keppinger was 2 for 4 with two runs and Ben Zobrist was 2 for 4 with a double in the win.

Boston's runs came on Daniel Nava's RBI single in the second and James Loney's sacrifice fly in the sixth. Dustin Pedroia walked twice, stole two bases and scored a run in the loss.

Rookie Alex Cobb (10-9) got the win for the Rays. He went five innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts and three walks. After Kyle Farnsworth allowed a run, Jake McGee (6th, 2 strikeouts), Wade Davis (7th, 2 strikeouts) and Joel Peralta (8th, 1 strikeout) all had clean innings of relief. Closer Fernando Rodney walked Loney to lead off the ninth but he recovered to strike out two for his 45th save of the season. His ERA is 0.63, hence why he should receive his fair share of AL Cy Young votes.

Jon Lester (9-14) was charged with the loss for the Red Sox. He went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Mark Melancon struck out four of the five batters he faced (what?) and Craig Breslow struck out the side in the ninth.

Boston is off tomorrow and then they play three in Baltimore this weekend followed by three in New York to finish this brutal campaign. Both teams look like they'll make the playoffs since the Yankees lead the Orioles by 1.5 games in the AL East and the O's are up half a game on the A's for the top wild card.

Aaron Cook (4-10) faces Chris Tillman (8-2) on Friday night (7:05 p.m., NESN). Felix Doubront (11-9) gets Steve Johnson (4-0) on Saturday night (7:05 p.m., NESN) then Zach Stewart (0-1) closes out the series and September against TBA on Sunday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN) when we'll all be tuned into Patriots at Bills.

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