For one of the few times so far this season, it was a very frustrating couple days for the Red Sox. Boston (54-36 overall, 23-20 away) choked away a 7-3 lead in the ninth on Saturday night (the same day that Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Clay Buchholz were named AL All-Stars) en route to a 9-7 loss to the Angels (43-45 overall, 24-25 home) in 11 innings while they came back tonight and were blanked 3-0 by the Angels in the series finale at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
Los Angeles won the series (2-1) and this is the last time the teams will see each other in the regular season; I doubt they'll meet in the postseason, don't let the Angels' recent strong play fool you-they have a bad mix of players or something that cannot sustain success for long at all.
Jered Weaver (3-4) got the best of his former teammate John Lackey (6-6). Weaver went 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Lackey went seven innings and allowed five hits with nine strikeouts and one walk. The Angels got all the runs they needed on solo homers by Mike Trout in the first and Hank Conger in the fifth. Mark Trumbo added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Dane De La Rossa got the final out of the seventh for LA before Scott Downs pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for his 17 hold and Ernesto Frieri struck out the side in the ninth (thanks to some generous strike calls) for his 22nd save of the season.
Boston was held to five hits (only one for extra bases-a double by Jacoby Ellsbury) with two walks and they went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
Usually seeing four games against the Mariners (39-49 overall, 4th in AL West) on your schedule is a good thing but for at least the next two nights, the Red Sox face a pair of 2013 American League All-Stars so they'll be sure to have their hands full. Jon Lester (8-4) takes on Felix Hernandez (8-4) tomorrow night (10:10, NESN) in the series opener. Allen Webster (1-2) gets Hisashi Iwakuma (7-4) on Tuesday (10:10, NESN), Felix Doubront (5-3) meets veteran Aaron Harang (4-7) on Wednesday (10:10, NESN) and the last game is Thursday afternoon (3:40, NESN) with Ryan Dempster (5-8) opposing Jeremy Bonderman (1-3) who is trying to resurrect his career.
UPDATE 7/8: Jonathan Diaz was sent back to Pawtucket. Andrew Miller is going to have surgery on his left foot (ligament damage) so he could possibly miss the rest of the season. Tough news for him and the Red Sox, he's been very good in 2013.
UPDATE 7/9: After last night's debacle (an 11-4 loss to the Mariners), reliever Alex Wilson was put on the DL and Jackie Bradley Jr. was recalled from Pawtucket. Brandon Workman was called up from the PawSox as well with Jose De La Torre returning to Triple A.
UPDATE 7/10: Alfredo Aceves and Allen Webster were optioned to Pawtucket with knuckleballer Steven Wright and reliever Pedro Beato getting called up.
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