Angels Tame Red Sox 3-0 In Series Finale To Take Two Out of Three Games

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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Alfredo Aceves Is A Very Valuable Pitcher But He Is Not A Closer As He Proved Once Again

Things have a way of always turning out poorly on bad teams no matter what the sport. Alfredo Aceves returned from his three-game suspension tonight and wouldn't you know that he played a critical part of why Boston choked away a 5-4 lead in the ninth and lost 6-5 to the Angels in the series opener at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Aceves (2-9, 8 blown saves) got a 1-2-3 eighth but as anyone knows from watching the Red Sox (62-68, 30-30 away) this season, he struggles mightily when called upon for a save longer than an inning. Mike Trout (3 hits, 2 RBIs) tied it with an RBI single then Torii Hunter (run, walk) won it on a walkoff sacrifice fly.

Los Angeles (67-62, 34-29 home) actually trailed 5-2 in the sixth before Albert Pujols (29th of the season) cranked a solo homer and Howie Kendrick cut it to 5-4 with an RBI double.

Clay Buchholz (7 innings, 4 earned runs, 6 hits, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks) and Jered Weaver (7 innings, 5 runs, 4 earned, 7 hits, 5 strikeouts, 1 walk) pitched to a standstill but the Angels improved to 4-0 against the Red Sox this season-all in the span of a week.

The incomparable Trout (25th of the season) gave the Angels a 1-0 lead with a leadoff homer to start the home half of the first. Mark Trumbo added a sacrifice fly for the 2-0 LA advantage.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia (22nd of the season) cut it to 2-1 with a solo homer of his own in the second. Boston added three runs in the fourth on RBI singles from James Loney (3rd game in a row) and Salty. A run also crossed home plate on Ryan Kalish's double play.

Ryan Lavarnway's sacrifice fly in the sixth put the Red Sox in good position up 5-2. Bobby Valentine's hand was mostly forced since he didn't want to use Andrew Bailey (who pitched in 4 of the last 5 days) or Vicente Padilla. Although, for some reason he had Aceves warming up in the sixth. Clayton Mortensen was an option but he's never closed so I can't say I blame Valentine from staying away from him.

Kevin Jepsen (3-2) unknowingly earned the win with a scoreless ninth.

It was just another soul-crushing loss in a season full of them. Mortensen will be sent back to Pawtucket to make room for tomorrow night's (10:05 p.m., NESN) starter Zach Stewart (1-2), who makes his Red Sox debut vs. C.J. Wilson (9-9). He was the major piece that came over from the White Sox in the Kevin Youkilis trade.

I have to admit that even though they aren't good and they are playing out the string, I enjoy watching this cast of mostly spare parts and minor leaguers play rather than the overpaid underachievers that we were stuck with the last few seasons. Who knows, maybe a few of them will win jobs for next year (Pedro Ciriaco already has).

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If Buchholz Pitches Like That, Red Sox Will Struggle To Win Any Games The Rest Of The Way

This season continues to punish Red Sox fans (assuming any of those still exist) as things only get worse both on and off the field for this hated ballclub.

Tonight, Jered Weaver (16-3) showed why he's one of the best pitchers in baseball as the Angels (64-60, 31-31 away) cruised to a 7-3 win against the Red Sox (59-65, 29-36 home) at Fenway Park.

Weaver went seven innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (11-4) transformed back into his crappy self from earlier this season as he allowed a career-high 12 hits in 5.1 innings with seven earned runs (which also tied a career-high), three strikeouts and a walk.

Los Angeles pounded out 15 hits and it was the guys at the bottom of the lineup getting it done: Providence native Chris Iannetta was 3 for 4 with a triple and RBI; Maicer Izturis was 3 for 4 with two runs and an RBI; Howie Kendrick had a double, solo homer and two runs; Erick Aybar had two singles and scored twice.

Boston's futility was summed up by the fact that Scott Podsednick (3 for 5, stolen base) was the offensive star. Dustin Pedroia singled, scored a run and stole two bases.

Los Angeles scored twice in the third inning on Iannetta's RBI single and a run came home on Mike Trout's double play ball. Mark Trumbo and Izturis added RBI singles in the fourth as the Angels jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

Ryan Lavarnway and Mike Aviles had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth but 4-2 was as close as the Red Sox could get. After hitting a double, Albert Pujols left in the fourth with tightness in his calf but it didn't appear serious. Kendrick's solo homer (his 7th of the season) in the sixth and Torii Hunter's two-run single gave Los Angeles an insurmountable 7-2 deficit for Boston.

Cody Ross' RBI double in the eighth accounted for the final run of the game.

To illustrate how hopeless the Red Sox have become, the Mariners (61-64) have passed them in the AL wild card standings-haha not that either have a prayer of coming within five games of those. Franklin Morales (3-4) battles fellow southpaw C.J. Wilson (9-9) tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) in the series finale as the Angels go for the three-game sweep.

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I wish the Red Sox could play the Angels every day

Jered Weaver entered last night 6-0 with an ERA of 0.99 ERA. That didn't seem to matter as the Red Sox beat their second straight stud starter (Felix Hernandez on Sunday).

After last night's 9-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels (16-13) at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox (13-15) are 5-0 against the Halos this season and 14-1 in their last 15 games.

Clay Buchholz (2-3) went 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits, two earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts in what was his best start of the season (not exactly a high bar).

Weaver (6-1) lasted six innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts.

With nine runs and 11 hits, Boston's offense finally performed like it was expected to more regularly in 2011 not once every couple weeks.

Jacoby Ellsbury led the Red Sox with three runs, two hits and two stolen bases. Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz both had two hits and two RBIs while Adrian Gonzalez had three RBIs.

Los Angeles banged out 13 hits which is somewhat misleading since they added three garbage runs in the eighth and ninth.

Maicer Izturis led the Angels with three hits, Bobby Abreu added two hits and two RBIs while Howie Kendrick and Torii Hunter had two hits and Vernon Wells knocked in two runs.

Boston took a 1-0 lead in the first on Youk's RBI single that scored Ellsbury.

The Angels grabbed a 2-1 lead thanks to Abreu. He had an RBI single in the third which plated Izturis and he drove in Erick Aybar in the fifth with a groundout.

Pedroia had the at-bat of the game and the season so far as he battled Weaver for 13 pitches (9 foul balls) before lining a two-run single up the middle in the fifth for a 3-2 Red Sox lead.

Gonzalez delivered his first wall ball of the year, a three-run double off the Monster in the seventh, giving Boston a 6-2 advantage. Youkilis followed him with an RBI double and then Ortiz cranked a two-run homer over the Monster (9-2 Boston).

Wells hit a two-run homer off Dan Wheeler (who is about as Bobby Jenks right now) in the eighth and Izturis had an RBI double in the ninth.

Boston faces its third straight ace tonight as Dan Haren takes on Jon Lester in what should be a nice pitcher's duel.

Darnell McDonald and Ryan Kalish, outfielders of the future for the Red Sox?

2010 has been a revolving door for the Boston Red Sox as they have shuffled through a million lineups to augment an absurd level of injuries.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron were declared done for the season last night (no surprise) but the Sox (68-52) had no time to worry about it. More importantly, Dustin Pedroia-the team's heart and soul-returned to action after being out since June 25.

Thanks to two replacement outfielders: journeyman Darnell McDonald and rookie Ryan Kalish, Boston shut out the Los Angeles Angels (60-60) 6-0 at Fenway Park in the first game of a three-game series.

McDonald hit a solo homer in the third over the Monster that broke the back window of a car parked on a rooftop garage on Landsdowne Street. Pretty cool stuff, sorry person with Rhode Island plates.

Kalish topped that with a grand slam in the fourth, making it 5-0 Red Sox.

Victor Martinez doubled home David Ortiz (2 hits, 2 runs) in the fifth and Boston had accumulated an impressive 6-0 lead over Jered Weaver (5 innings, 6 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts).

It shouldn't have taken this long to mention him but Clay Buchholz (14-5) improved his AL-best ERA to 2.36 as he has quickly added his name to the top of the AL Cy Young discussion. He went seven scoreless innings without his best stuff: five hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

Things figure to get much uglier pitching wise as John Lackey takes on Scott Kazmir tonight in game two. Lackey has been a big disappointment so far with the Red Sox and Kazmir has completely lost his wondrous talents he showed in obscurity for the Rays.

Tampa Bay and the Yankees both won last night, meaning they're both tied and 5.5 games ahead of Boston.

Lackey finally earns some of his joke contract

One thing I never understand is why people get so wrapped up with hefty contracts in sports. Yes athletes make way too much but since we don't pay them, who cares?

As soon as the Red Sox signed John Lackey last winter, everyone save for maybe him and his trophy wife and agent, knew that Boston was overpaying him. Still, if you're a big market team with one of the highest payrolls in MLB, that's the way it goes.

Without question, Lackey had predictably been a flop in his first season until his last three starts. At the time when they need him most, Lackey (10-5) has put together three great outings in a row. For him, last night's was surely the most meaningful as he returned to Anaheim and helped the Sox (57-44) 4-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Lackey went 7.2 innings, allowing two runs (both earned) on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

Making it even sweeter, he outdueled his former protege, Jered Weaver (9-7). The younger and more talented Weaver brother was in control for most of his night: seven innings, two runs (both earned) on two walks and eight strikeouts.

It looked likely to be another low-scoring loss for the Red Sox as the Angels took a 1-0 lead in the third on Bobby Abreu's RBI double.

Jed Lowrie (2 hits) had the play of the game as he put Boston ahead 2-1 in the seventh with a two-run double over Juan Rivera in left field.

Adrian Beltre made it 3-1 in the eighth with a crucial RBI double.

Abreu got Los Angeles back to 3-2 with a solo homer off Lackey but from there, Daniel Bard got the final two outs of the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon got a 1-2-3 ninth on nine pitches for his 24th save of the season.

Marco Scutaro (3 hits, 2 runs) scored in the ninth after an error by Howie Kendrick. Darnell McDonald (2 hits, walk, run) also had a fine night at the plate, especially considering he was a last-minute replacement for J.D. Drew, who had a strained hamstring.

Josh Beckett takes on Joel Pineiro this afternoon as the Sox try to sweep the Angels, improve to 7-0 against them this season and end this trip 6-4 (which is much better than you could have imagined a few days back).

Oh Dreamweaver

Yikes. In a carbon copy game of the night before, the Boston Red Sox got another decent start by its starting pitcher but couldn't get anything going offensively against the Angels' starter and as a result lost 4-1 in game 2 of the ALDS.

Through two games, Boston has combined for eight total hits and one run. It's baffling. Most expected this to be a tough series since the Angels had to beat the Sox in the playoffs at some point but this is just pathetic.

Victor Martinez actually gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the fourth as he singled home Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits), who had led off the inning with a triple.

Other than that, Jered Weaver was lights out. The lanky, stereotypical Southern Californian went 7.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Josh Beckett was cruising until the seventh inning. The Angels tied it in the fourth when Kendry Morales knocked in Bobby Abreu with a sacrifice fly.

Maicer Izturis gave his team a 2-1 lead in the seventh with an RBI single but Erick Aybar (2 hits) had the big play of the night. He hit a two-run triple to center over Ellsbury's head and the Angels grabbed a three-run lead (4-1). Just like in game 1, once Los Angeles went up by more than a run, you had a feeling that was goodnight.

Boston's bats can't get anything going. They're seeing a lot of pitches but they're not working walks or starting rallies.

Jonathan Papelbon threw a scoreless ninth (hopefully its not the last time he's used in the series) but the Angels bullpen was better. Darren Oliver got a strikeout, Kevin Jepsen recorded two outs and Brian Fuentes notched the last two outs in the ninth for the save.

The 2009 Red Sox season could end tomorrow afternoon at Fenway. It's crazy to think that a team that many considered a dark-horse to get to the World Series has been so lifeless. Still, it's only a 2-0 deficit which is doable (four teams have come back from it; including the Sox in '99 vs. the Indians and '03 vs. the A's) if Clay Buchholz pitches well tomorrow and they start making a couple big plays.

Former Rays pitcher Scott Kazmir gets the start for the Angels tomorrow as they try to move on to the ALCS.