Red Sox Decide To Give That Winning Thing A Try

Get the Duck Boats ready, the Red Sox won't go 0-9 on this West Coast road trip! Boston (63-74, 31-36 away) dug itself a 3-0 hole (which to them is more akin to 30-0) before rallying for a 4-3 victory tonight at Seattle's (66-71, 35-33 home) Safeco Field. That snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Red Sox which had sucked the life out of an already dead team.

Jon Lester (9-11) went six innings, allowing three earned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The real heroes were Junichi Tazawa (2 outs to wiggle out of a jam in the seventh), Vicente Padilla (scoreless 8th, 23rd hold) and Andrew Bailey who recorded his second save with a clean ninth.

The immortal Blake Beavan (9-9) couldn't get the job done for the Mariners. He went 5.2 innings and allowed four earned runs on eight hits with one strikeout and no walks.

Jesus Montero (3 for 5) had an RBI single in the first then Franklin Gutierrez (3rd of the season) and Kyle Seager (16th of the season) went back-to-back in the third for the 3-0 advantage.

Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, run, walk, stolen base) extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the sixth. Even better, Cody Ross blasted his 20th homer-a 3-run shot-and two batters later Ryan Lavarnway (1st of the season) went deep in that frame. Things were going so well that Jose Iglesias (previously 0 for 17) notched his first hit of the season: a double.

James Loney was 2 for 4 with a double in the extremely rare Red Sox victory. Dustin Ackely was 2 for 5 with a run and stolen base for Seattle. Him, Seager and Montero are a nice trio, if only the Mariners would spend some money and surround them with proven veteran hitters.

In the finale of this torturous road trip, Aaron Cook (3-8) faces Kevin Millwood (4-12) tomorrow night (10:10 p.m., NESN). Make sure to flip over when there are commercials during the Giants-Cowboys game. Watching that instant classic pitching matchup should be almost as entertaining as seeing Tony Romo and the Cowboys pee down their legs like always.

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This Is Beyond Embarassing

Just when you thought things couldn't go any worse for the Boston Red Sox, they fell to 5-17 in September following a 9-1 blowout loss this afternoon at Yankee Stadium. That clinched homefield throughout the American League playoffs for the Bronx Bombers.

Jon Lester (15-9) has to be hurt since he made his third straight awful start in a row. 2.2 innings, eight earned runs, eight hits, one walk and three strikeouts is not exactly what Boston (88-69) needed from its ace.

The Rays and Angels both won tonight, meaning that Tampa Bay is only 1.5 games behind the Red Sox while Los Angeles is 2.5 games back in the AL Wild Card. Yeah, this probably won't end well.

If you need any further proof that something is up with Lester, Freddy Garcia (12-8) looked like Roy Halladay in comparison. I guess that's also an indictment on Boston's hit or miss lineup that they were blanked by Garcia for six innings. He allowed six hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

The wheels fell off for Lester and Boston in the second inning as New York (96-61) put up six runs. Jesus Montero started it with an RBI single, Russell Martin added a two-run single and Derek Jeter crushed a three-run opposite field shot in Williamsport East.

No Red Sox shitshow these days would be complete without mental errors and mistakes all of their own doing. Today Marco Scutaro couldn't throw to third (for a force) since Mike Aviles didn't break to the base. Also, former Gold Glover Carl Crawford dove but dropped a ball he should have had. Both plays came in the second inning; I'm not naive enough to say they were the difference in the game but damn, they didn't help.

Montero had a two-run double in the third and a solo homer in the sixth for a depressing 9-0 advantage.

Boston got on the board in the seventh with an RBI double from Crawford.

Tomorrow is a day-night doubleheader that when it's all said and done, could be the ugliest day of this suddenly going nowhere season. Tim Wakefield and A.J. Burnett duel in Game 1 at 1:05 p.m. with John Lackey and Ivan Nova wrapping it up at 6:30 p.m.

Thank God the Patriots and the rest of the NFL (minus the Cowboys and Redskins) are in action tomorrow cause I can't take much more of this. It's all over, the Red Sox are done. If Lester is hurt, they have absolutely no hope of doing anything. Game over.

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