I've Got A Severe Case Of Red Sox Fatigue, Luckily The Only Cure For That Is The 2012 All-Star Break

Thank God we don't have to see this miserable team for the next four glorious days, because I know I can't take it anymore.

The Red Sox (43-43, 22-24 home) fittingly closed out a wretched first half with another no-show loss to the Yankees (52-33, 27-17 away), 7-3 tonight at Fenway Park. They lost eight of their last 11 games.

New York won three out of four in the series to improve to 5-1 against Boston in 2012. Furthermore, the Yankees are 9.5 (!) games ahead of the Red Sox (tied with Toronto in last place) at the break.

Shitty starting pitching and rough first innings continued to go hand in hand for Red Sox pitchers against the Yankees. Jon Lester (5-6) allowed two runs in the first and eventually was pulled after 4.1 innings. He gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits with six strikeouts and two walks. His numbers were pathetic: 101 pitches, only nine first pitch strikes to 25 batters and just six swinging strikes.

Unlike Lester, Ivan Nova (10-3) did what good pitchers tend to do: he found a rhythm after allowing some early runs. He went six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks.

Derek Jeter led New York's 14-hit attack as the captain went 3-for-5 with a run. Andruw Jones was 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs including his fourth homer of the weekend, Nick Swisher had two hits including a double, two walks, a run and RBI, Mark Teixeira had two hits including a double with a run and RBI while Curtis Granderson added two hits and a run.

All you need to know about the Red Sox lineup is that Pedro Ciriaco (3 hits, 2 runs, walk, stolen base) and Nick Punto (2 hits, walk) combined for five of the team's seven hits. PS. Adrian Gonzalez left in the second after one at bat (ending his 18-game hit streak). Apparently, that warrior was suffering from the flu aka he wanted to catch an early flight back to San Diego (home). What a fraud, I hope he rightfully gets roasted this week on Toucher and Rich, Felger and Mazz and the Baseball Reporters on the Sports Hub.

New York went ahead 2-0 in their first at bat on Teixeira's RBI double and a run scored on Swisher's fielder's choice.

Jeter gifted a run to Cody Ross and the Red Sox in the first when he dropped a pop up. I'm sure the Cy Young voters weren't paying attention (they all go to bed at 9 p.m.) so no worries Derek, you've still got that useless award locked up this season.

Chris Stewart's sacrifice fly in the third put the Yankees up 3-1 but David Ortiz answered with an RBI double in the third.

Alex Rodriguez had an RBI triple in the fifth and Jones ended Lester's night and miserable first half with an RBI single.

Jones crushed a two-run homer (his 11th of the season) in the seventh off Scott Atchison.

Boston tried to rally in the ninth against Rafael Soriano in a non-save situation but all they could muster was an RBI double from Mike Aviles. Sounds about right. It was over in a quick four hours and two minutes.

I honestly can say that I've never looked forward to an All-Star break more in my lifetime. It doesn't get much better than four days without having to watch this team that is on the fast track to nowhere.

The painful truth is that when they return to action on Friday with three games in Tampa Bay, they won't play another team that is currently under .500 for the rest of July. They host the White Sox (4) and Blue Jays (3) before trips to Texas (3) and New York. The nightmare month ends with two against the Tigers.

So far they are 2-6 in July and with 18 games left, they are really going to struggle to win 10 this month. What that means is that they have to be bold at the July 31 MLB trade deadline: trade Josh Beckett, Gonzalez or Lester, it's the only way this team has any hope to find a spark this season. They need to deal away a big name to shake up the locker room. In 32 starts this season between Beckett and Lester, the Red Sox are 12-20, not exactly what you are looking for from your supposed ace and No. 2 in the rotation.

Otherwise, not doing anything major (what I expect) will result in a third straight year without playoff baseball in October and that's not nearly good enough. At some point, the Red Sox front office, management and players have to be accountable for this extended period (2+ years) of nothingness.

UPDATE 7/12: Some good Red Sox numbers for you on the last day of the All-Star break. Boston has lost six of its last seven games while Lester and Beckett have combined for nine wins in their 32 starts but the team is still only 2.5 games back in the new second Wild Card spot.

It's been 15 years since the Red Sox finished lower than third-place in the AL East. They have their fewest wins at the break since 2000. The good news: the last two times they failed to reach 50 wins at the break (2004 World Series, 2005 Wild Card) they reached the postseason anyway.

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Red Sox & Yankees Split Day-Night Doubleheader At Fenway Park

It was a mixed bag at Fenway Park today as the Red Sox (43-42, 22-23 home) were lifeless in Game 1 and lost 6-1 to the Yankees (51-33, 26-17 away) before winning the nightcap 9-5.

Boston snapped a five-game losing streak with the win while also notching their first victory against New York this season (improving to 1-4) and going above the .500 mark once again.

The patchwork Red Sox lineup that could only manage seven hits in the opener mashed 17 hits (6-for-17 with runners in scoring position with 12 left on base) in the second game. The crazy part was that Pedro Ciriaco (4 for 5, 2 doubles, 4 RBIs, 2 runs, stolen base) and Mauro Gomez (3 for 4, 2 doubles, RBI) aka Triple-A All-Stars this season with Pawtucket were the catalysts. Adrian Gonzalez was also 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs as his hit streak went up to 18 games.

In the three games so far this series, New York has scored five, four and three runs respectively in the first inning. I'm no Dave Duncan but Boston might want to fix that. Mark Teixeira blasted a three-run bomb (his 15th of the season) tonight in the first.

From there, Felix Doubront (9-4) found a rhythm while conversely Phil Hughes (9-7) slowly crumbled. The Yankees didn't help themselves out either by making four errors. Doubront went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits with six strikeouts and a walk. Hughes lasted 5.1 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on 10 hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

Boston chipped away at the three-run deficit with single runs in third and fifth on a double play and Nick Punto's (2 hits) sacrifice fly. Ciriaco put the Red Sox up 5-3 with a bases-clearing three-run double in the fifth. Andruw Jones (10th of the season) hit a solo homer in the sixth, his third blast of the day, to draw the Yankees within one run at 5-4.

The Red Sox scored four runs in the seventh as New York's bullpen had a mini-meltdown. Ryan Sweeney (1st game back from the DL) had an RBI triple while Gomez and Ciriaco had RBI doubles. Ciriaco closed it out by scoring on Russell Martin's error.

Matt Albers got the final two outs of the seventh and Vicente Padilla was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam (Clayton Mortenen's fault) with one out to end the eighth for his 19th save of the season. Padilla retired Jones on a pop up to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez did the same exact thing.

Eric Chavez hit a solo shot (his 7th of the season) in the ninth against Alfredo Aceves, in a non-save situation, but it didn't matter.

Game 1 was truly nothing to write home about. Just like in Game 2, New York scored all of its run thanks to homers. Nick Swisher hit a three-run blast (13th of the season) in first followed by Jones. The Yankees went back-to-back again in the fourth with Jones and Jayson Nix (3rd of the season) doing the honors with solo shots. Gomez helped the Red Sox avoid the shutout with an RBI single in the fourth.

Freddy Garcia had a great outing that should come with an asterisk since he was facing a lineup that featured Ciriaco, Gomez, Ryan Kalish (sent down to Pawtucket afterwards to make room for Sweeney), Mike Aviles, Kelly Shoppach and Brent Lillibridge. In 6.2 innings, Garcia (3-2) allowed one earned run on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

Franklin Morales (1-2) wasn't nearly so lucky as he faced a good Yankees lineup and as a result, got shelled for the first time in four starts. Bobby Valentine's strange decision to have him pitch 1.1 innings of relief in Oakland on Wednesday probably didn't help anybody (besides New York).

Justin Germano won the Tim Wakefield memorial mop-up duty award as he saved Boston's bullpen (which came in handy) with 5.2 innings of relief following Morales. Not a bad Red Sox debut as he struck out seven and didn't allow a run on five hits and two walks.

More than probably any other Sunday Night Baseball game this season (I bet it does huge ratings), everyone will be tuned in tomorrow night (8:05 p.m., ESPN) for the series finale as Jon Lester (5-5) faces Ivan Nova (9-3).

It is the final game before the All-Star break so please savor it since Home Run Derby and the silly All-Star Game are basically cruel jokes staged by ESPN and Fox. The Red Sox will be looking for a series split while also getting to .500 at Fenway and staying above .500 overall. That doesn't sound like much but to this self-destructive team, it would mean more than they would care to admit.

UPDATE 7/8: Clayton Mortensen was sent down to Pawtucket after the doubleheader. The Red Sox were able to add a 26th player (him) to the roster for the two games on Saturday.

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They did it! Red Sox reach .500 mark!

After 40 games in the 2011 season, the Boston Red Sox finally reached the .500 mark with a 7-5 win last night at Yankee Stadium.

It couldn't have come in much better fashion as it enabled the Red Sox (20-20) to not only sweep the three-game series against the Yankees (20-18) but send New York into a tailspin as they've lost their last five games in a row and nine of their last 12.

Jon Lester (5-1) battled through a subpar outing and still managed to give Boston some innings. Are you paying attention John Lackey? Lester went six innings, allowing five hits, four earned runs, four walks with seven strikeouts.

Freddy Garcia (2-3) couldn't match Lester even on a very off-night for one of MLB's best. In 5.1 innings, he allowed six hits, five runs (four earned), two walks and four strikeouts.

The Yankees got out to a 4-1 lead but it wasn't enough to stem the tide of a lost weekend in the Bronx for the Bombers.

Mark Teixeira (2 hits) had an RBI single in the first which drove in Derek Jeter for a 1-0 Yankees lead.

Jed Lowrie tied it in the second with a sacrifice fly which scored Kevin Youkilis.

Andruw Jones hit a solo homer in the second and Curtis Granderson blasted a three-run bomb off Lester in the same frame.

Yankee Stadium continued to be a glorified Little League park (and to think people make fun of Fenway) as Youk tied it in the third with a three-run bomb of his own.

David Ortiz (3 hits) put Boston ahead with a solo shot in the fifth.

Alex Rodriguez made a fielding error on about the easiest play imaginable in the seventh, allowing Youk to score and put the Red Sox up 6-4.

A-Rod atoned for his mistake with an RBI double in the seventh off former Yanks reliever Alfredo Aceves but Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 hits) gave Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon some breathing room with a solo homer in the eighth off the ghost of Joba Chamberlain.

Bard survived two walks to get four outs in the seventh and eighth while Papelbon recorded a 1-2-3 ninth (with a strikeout) for his seventh save of the season.

The Red Sox return home for a seven-game homestand (Orioles, Tigers and Cubs!) in rainy Boston. With only 3.5 games seperating first-place Tampa Bay and last-place Baltimore, it's time to forget about Boston's terrible start. It's a thing of the past and they still have 122 (haha) regular season games left.

They begin with two against Baltimore starting tonight with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking on Chris Tillman. With rain forecasted and the usual Dice-K roller coaster, I would say give your tickets away if you have them and drink heavily or use drugs if you plan on watching this one on TV.