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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David Price's Gem Leads The Rays To Their 6th Straight Win, 5-2 Over Red Sox

Like Keith Richards or Lindsey Lohan, the Rays are impossible to kill. They simply never go away no matter what the long odds they might face. When the Red Sox left Tampa Bay last week, it looked like they had barely a sliver of hope to make the playoffs.

They are still three games back of the A's for the second wild card spot but Tampa Bay (84-70, 40-36 away) is doing all they can to stay in the race. Tonight, behind David Price's (19-5) fourth career complete game, the Rays beat the Red Sox (69-86, 34-46 home) 5-2 at Fenway Park in the series opener for their sixth straight win.

It was Price's second complete game of the season and it couldn't come at a better time for him or his team. He has to be the front-runner for his first AL Cy Young award. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits but struck out a season-high 13 and didn't walk anybody in 112 masterful pitches.

Clay Buchholz (11-8) couldn't match Price's sheer dominance. In six innings, he allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

Jeff Keppinger (2 hits, 2 runs) had a three-run homer (his 8th of the season) in the second to stake Tampa Bay to a 3-0 lead. After Danny Valencia's RBI single in the home half of the second and a run scoring in the third on Price's balk, Boston was never heard from again. Jose Molina (2 hits) added a two-run single in the sixth to wrap it up for the offensively-challenged Rays.

Ben Zobrist (2 hits, double) and Evan Longoria (2 hits, run, walk) also had multiple hits in the win. Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, double) was the only Red Sox with more than one hit, not surprising since him and Cody Ross were the lone Opening Day starters left in the lineup. It was basically PawSox night at Fenway.

Tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) is the final game at Fenway this season. After that, we won't see the Red Sox in town until next April which is probably the most appealing sentence I've ever written on this blog. Jon Lester (9-13) gets to put the cherry on top of his dogshit sundae of a season when he faces Alex Cobb (9-9).

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Red Sox Officially Clinch Their First Losing Season Since 1997, Thanks Dice-K

It's been a formality for weeks, hell maybe even months, that this would be the Red Sox' first losing season since 1997 (15 years!); still, it is perfectly fitting that Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-6) was the losing pitcher in the game that put them officially over that super depressing edge.

Tampa Bay (79-70, 40-34 home) snapped its four-game losing streak with a 13-3 laugher tonight at Tropicana Field against Boston (68-82, 35-39 away). The Rays dormant offense exploded for 15 hits (6 extra base hits) and 10 walks. Tampa Bay was up 5-3 until they hung seven runs in the sixth on Red Sox relievers Alfredo Aceves (4 earned runs) and Daniel Bard (3 earned runs).

In what I pray is his final outing in a Red Sox uniform, Dice-K was shelled for five earned runs on nine hits in three innings. Like Josh Beckett earlier this season, all I want is to see Matsuzaka leave this team. He is pitiful and a constant reminder of where dumb spending on free agents gets you.

Rookie Chris Archer (1-3) picked up his first MLB win with five innings of work. He allowed three earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts and four walks.

Jacoby Ellsbury (3 for 3, 2 RBIs) and Pedro Ciriaco (2 for 4, 2 runs) had the only hits for the Red Sox.

Jeff Keppinger (3 for 4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, solo homer) led the Rays with Carlos Pena (2-run homer, 2 runs, 3 RBIs, 3 walks), Desmond Jennings (2 for 5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, walk, triple), Luke Scott (2 for 3, run, RBI, walk, double), Matt Joyce (2 for 3, 2 RBIs, 2 walks, run) and Jose Molina (2 for 3, run, RBI, walk, double) also coming through at the plate.

This four-game series ends tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) with the one juicy matchup of the week: Clay Buchholz (11-6) vs. Cy Young candidate David Price (18-5). With a decent college football game on (Boise State vs. BYU) and even better NFL game (Panthers vs. Giants), odds are that I will only flip to Red Sox-Rays during commercials or halftime.

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Red Sox Salvage A Split In Tampa Bay

A win in mid-May might not mean much in the grand scheme of things but it had to help the Red Sox' shaky confidence that they were able to beat the Rays tonight, 5-3 in the series finale at Tropicana Field.

Boston (18-20, 9-9 away) snapped Tampa Bay's (24-15, 14-4 home) four-game win streak by combining adequate pitching with some timely hitting. What a concept! They also won a close game after losing 2-1 on Wednesday night. It was the Red Sox' sixth win in their last seven contests.

Cody Ross drove in four RBIs in the victory, all with two outs. He was 2 for 4 with a solo homer and also walked. Marlon Byrd hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox.

Felix Doubront (4-1) had his typical performance: he was good while he was out there but he didn't last particularly long. In 5.2 innings, he allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. As he gets more experience, he'll hopefully realize that strikeouts aren't as important as getting deep into games and saving your bullpen.

Bobby Valentine did his best Tony La Russa impression as he used three relievers in a row to face one specific Rays batter. Ugh, there should be a limit on stuff like that in a baseball game. It doesn't help the fact that all five of Boston's starting pitchers are in the Top 7 in MLB for longest times between pitches. It must have effectively lulled the Rays to sleep though since Rich Hill, Scott Atchison and Andrew Miller all did their jobs-retiring one batter.

Vicente Padilla pitched an inning and Alfredo Aceves entered with two outs in the eighth and allowed an inherited runner to score but he managed to close the door with a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save of the season.

Tampa Bay rookie Matt Moore (1-4) is going to be a star, despite the fact that he's struggling a bit now while he adjusts to MLB competition. He went six innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and a walk.

The Red Sox scored a run in the first, second and third innings to open with a 3-0 lead. Ross walked with the bases loaded in the first, Byrd homered to left in the second and Ross (7th of the season) hit his homer to center in the third.

Jeff Keppinger (2 hits) brought the Rays back with an RBI single in the third and Rich Thompson cut it to 3-2 with an RBI single in the fourth. Tampa Bay's shift on Ross completely backfired in the eighth since what would have been an easy ground out to the shortstop turned into a two-run single that scored Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) and David Ortiz.

B.J. Upton greeted Aceves with an RBI single but Boston's closer recovered to get Luke Scott to ground out with runners on second and third to end the eighth.

It's crazy that it's already here but interleague play starts tomorrow across MLB and the Red Sox get a juicy matchup with the Phillies (20-19, 5th in NL East) at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Daniel Bard (3-4) faces Cole Hamels (5-1) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN), Jon Lester (2-3) gets Joe Blanton (4-3) on Saturday night (7:15 p.m., NESN) and Josh Beckett (3-4) opposes Cliff Lee (0-1) on Sunday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN). As always, like a true drug dealer, MLB gives us a taste of the good stuff (interleague play) and then takes three weeks off before firing it up again in a big way with five series in a row during June.

On paper, two of the three games are not good matchups for the Red Sox (Friday and Sunday). Add in the fact that Citizens Bank is a launching pad and Boston really struggled last season in NL parks (no DH) so this will be a tough weekend even though the Phillies' offense has been really poor. Who would have guessed when this series rolled around that both these teams with high expectations would be in fifth-place in their respective loaded divisions?

I was lamenting the other day about how the Red Sox have played so many dogs lately but you won't be hearing me say that for the next month. Check out this insanely difficult stretch for Boston: two in Tampa Bay, three in Philly, three in Baltimore, three vs. Tampa Bay, four vs. Detroit, three at Toronto, three vs. Baltimore, three vs. Washington and three at Miami. The Cubs series which is four weeks away is the next time that the Red Sox play a truly bad team and yes, I know the Tigers (18-20) haven't been so hot lately but they'll almost certainly improve.

Here is the Red Sox 2012 interleague schedule: three at Philly, three vs. Washington, three at Miami, three at Cubs, three vs. Miami, three vs. Atlanta

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