I Know Results Don't "Matter" Anymore This Season For The Red Sox But Dear Lord

The Red Sox celebrated Labor Day 2012-the unofficial end of the summer-the only way that they know how to these days: with another forgettable defeat, their season-high seventh in a row. At this juncture, they have become that nasty turd that takes multiple flushes to get rid of; they won't just go away quietly into the night.

In the series opener, Seattle (66-70, 35-32 home) breezed past Boston (62-74, 30-36 away) 4-1 this afternoon at Safeco Field. Over their last 32 games, the Red Sox are 9-23. It's their worst 32-game stretch since August 22-October 2, 2001, when they went 8-24.

The Red Sox have been outscored 58-16 during their current 7-game losing streak which makes 0-9 on this West Coast road trip seem very likely. Conversely, the Mariners have a good chance to finish at or above .500 (which is a big accomplishment when you look at their roster) thanks to their great play at home-17-3 last 20 at Safeco.

Jason Vargas (14-9) continued to bolster his reputation as one of the most underrated starting pitchers in the American League. He went seven innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Josh Kinney had a scoreless eighth inning for his fourth hold while closer Tom Wilhelmsen wrapped up his 23rd save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Clay Buchholz (11-5) went seven innings but he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with eight strikeouts and a walk.

Dustin Pedroia has become the only brightspot left for the Red Sox. He was 2 for 3 with a double, run, walk and two stolen bases. Ryan Kalish added two singles for Boston which only had six total hits.

Cody Ross drove in Pedroia with an RBI single in the first. It was all downhill from there as Seattle scored all four of its runs in the fourth inning. John Jaso and Justin Smoak had RBI singles then two runs scored on Jacoby Ellsbury's throwing error and a ground out by Carlos Peguero.

Washington state native Jon Lester (8-11) gets the ball tomorrow night (10:10 p.m., NESN) vs. Blake Beavan (9-8). I'm already falling asleep just thinking about that electrifying matchup.

UPDATE 8/4: Red Sox acquired minor-league catcher Guillermo Quiroz from the Mariners for cash considerations. He has had cups of coffee with Toronto, Texas, Baltimore and Seattle; he was added to the Red Sox roster before Tuesday's game. He hit .278 with 15 doubles and 15 home runs in 89 games with Triple-A Tacoma this season.

Additionally, Boston brought up Clayton Mortensen for the sixth time this season. Despite that number, he's earned at least a long look in next year's spring training. He's basically a younger Scott Atchison which is a compliment.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Red Sox Pick Up First Extra Innings Win Of 2012, 2-1 In Seattle After 10 Miserable Innings

It only took them six tries (1-5) but the Red Sox can finally say that they won a game in extra innings during the 2012 season.

Boston (42-37, 21-16 away) salvaged a split of a very forgettable weekend in Seattle (34-47, 15-23 home) with a 2-1 win in 10 innings this afternoon at the hitter's graveyard better known as Safeco Field. Don't believe me? Well the Mariners scored five runs in four games this series while the Red Sox had nine.

Pinch-hitter Ryan Kalish doubled with one out in the 10th, moved over on Dustin Pedroia's single and scored on David Ortiz's sacrifice fly. It couldn't have been more of a layup for the Red Sox beat writers as Ortiz drove in the winning run just hours after being named the only All-Star from Boston for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game.

The Mariners are a complete joke, they scored one run or less in three of the four games this weekend yet they went 2-2. That is wild. Somehow, Seattle looked like they might get their third walk-off win of the series when Justin Smoak hit a one-out double in the ninth. Luckily, Vicente Padilla (2-0) got Dustin Ackley to fly out, intentionally walked Chone Figgins then Brendan Ryan flew out to end the threat.

Get this, Red Sox closer Alfredo Aceves had a clean 10th inning that was over in five pitches. I don't know if I've ever seen that before but it was good enough for his 19th save of the season.

Felix Doubront did his best Dice-K impression but if we're being honest here, he still has to fine tune it. He labored through 102 pitches in 4.1 innings but only allowed one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts and five walks. Matsuzaka would have allowed way more runs and hits than that, come on Felix!

Lefty Jason Vargas almost shut down the Red Sox as he went eight solid innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

Ichiro provided the Mariners only run with a sacrifice fly in the third that scored Figgins. Can we pour out a cup of saki for our homie Ichiro? His batting average is .271 and his OBP is .297. He is 38-years-old and been in MLB for 11 seasons. At least he's got to play on many World Series contenders, oh wait. Well who could forget all those Octobers with him prominently featured in them?

Pedroia (6th of the season) tied it in the eighth with a solo homer to left, his first long ball since May 10.

Boston's bullpen saved Doubront and the rest of the team from another embarrassing loss. They went 5.2 innings, allowing one hit with one strikeout and two walks. Matt Albers was first (1.2 innings), Scott Atchison (2 innings) was next then Padilla and Aceves. Albers had the most memorable play for the relievers as he came in with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. On his first pitch, he got Jesus Montero to ground into an inning-ending double play. You can't draw it up better than that.

The Red Sox have one last series on the road before the All-Star break: three games in Oakland (38-42, 3rd in AL West). The A's actually won two of three at Fenway (April 30-May 2) earlier this season but they are still the mediocre team you remember that can't hit or score runs therefore making wins pretty tough to come by for the sons of Billy Beane. The funny thing is Oakland has in many ways become the Pawtucket Red Sox: Josh Reddick, Coco Crisp and Brandon Moss are all in their current lineup.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2) is still looking for his first win of 2012, he faces Jarrod Parker (4-3) tomorrow night (10:05 p.m., NESN). Jon Lester (5-5) gets King Koopa aka Bartolo Colon (6-7) on Tuesday night (10:05 p.m., NESN) and Franklin Morales (1-1) takes on rookie A.J. Griffin (0-0) Wednesday afternoon (4:05 p.m., NESN) on the Fourth of July.

After only beating Seattle twice, Boston needs to win at least two in Oakland to make this road trip feel a little better before they come home to face the Yankees.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate