Who Needs Timely Hits? Not The Red Sox In Another Frustrating Loss, 2-1 to Blue Jays

For most of the season, the Red Sox' patchwork lineup has been better than the sum of its not that impressive parts. However, that wasn't the case tonight in Toronto (56-65 overall, 31-32 home) as Boston (72-51 overall, 33-30 away) fell 2-1 to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. The Red Sox lost the series (2-1) and as a result went 4-6 on this bumpy road trip through Houston, Kansas City and ending in Toronto. They head back to Fenway for the weekend before going away for six more games.

You might never see another game where a team has 11 hits and three walks yet they only score one run. Boston went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and they left an alarming 12 men on base. Dustin Pedroia was 3 for 5, Daniel Nava was 3 for 4 with two doubles and a run while Ryan Lavarnway went 2 for 4. Nobody on the Red Sox could get a key hit when it mattered though and Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 22nd save of the season.

For the second time in three starts, Jake Peavy (9-5) pitched very well for Boston: 6+ innings, 2 earned runs, 5 hits, 4 strikeouts and 0 walks. On the other side, Mark Buehrle (9-7) wasn't fooling anyone but he kept getting out of trouble. In seven innings, he allowed 10 hits but only one earned run with four strikeouts and two walks.

Darren Oliver allowed a two-out double to Nava in the eighth then he walked Will Middlebrooks (not an easy thing to do) but he recovered by striking out Ellsbury to end Boston's last great threat.

Ellsbury drove in the only run for the Red Sox, a fielder's choice in the fourth inning, but even that illustrated their struggles all night: it happened with one out and runners on first and third.

Brett Lawrie tied it for Toronto in the seventh with an RBI single and Mark DeRosa's sacrifice fly turned out to be the difference. Boston was 9-5 vs. Toronto after Tuesday's 11-inning win but following back-to-back crushing losses, they settled for 9-7 vs. Blue Jays with three left at Fenway September 20-22.

With Boston's loss and Tampa Bay's win, the Rays pulled to within two games in the AL East. More troubling is the fact that they are now tied in the loss column so the Red Sox have played four more games than never-say-die Tampa Bay.

Alex Rodriguez's Circus featuring the Yankees (62-58 overall, 4th in AL East) pays a visit to Fenway for three games beginning with tomorrow night's matchup of Felix Doubront (8-5) vs. Andy Pettitte (7-9). The rivalry isn't what it once was but don't tell that to the network executives since they gave it the usual primetime treatment: John Lackey (7-10) faces Hiroki Kuroda (11-7) on Saturday afternoon (4:10, Fox) then Ryan Dempster (6-8) takes on C.C. Sabathia (10-10) in Sunday Night Baseball (8, ESPN).

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John Farrell Must Be Psyched To Be Out Of That Dump Aka Toronto

It is adorable how Toronto is pretending to care about the Blue Jays for a few days while their old manager-John Farrell-is in town with his new team. FYI the Blue Jays haven't made the playoffs in 20 years, since they won the World Series in 1993. Tonight in the series opener at a nearly sold out (which never happens) Rogers Centre, Boston (3-1 overall, 3-1 away) beat Toronto (1-3 overall, 1-3 home) 6-4.

The Red Sox jumped out to a 4-1 lead by the fifth inning but the Blue Jays tied it in the seventh before Boston scored single runs in the eighth and ninth.

Neither Felix Doubront (5 IP, 3 runs, 9 hits, 6 strikeouts, 0 walks) nor Josh Johnson (6 IP, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 9 hits, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks) were on top of their games but who could blame them since Boston pounded out 12 hits (including 5 extra base hits) and worked six walks while Toronto had 12 hits (8 for extra bases).

The story for the Red Sox was their first two homers of the season along with some more stellar relief. Jacoby Ellsbury plated the first run of the game, in the second inning, with an RBI single. Mark DeRosa tied it with a sacrifice fly in the home half of the inning but Pedro Ciriaco (2 hits, stolen base) had an RBI single in the fourth after Jose Iglesias left the game (he was hit by a pitch on the elbow).

In the fifth inning, Mike Napoli's first homer (a two-run bomb) for Boston was a memorable one for a couple reasons: 1) it went to the opposite field and 2) it was the first Red Sox home run of 2013. Those runs proved to be vital since DeRosa cut it to 4-2 with a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth and Jose Reyes (4 for 5, 2 doubles, 2 runs) made it 4-3 with an RBI double. Reyes tied it with a solo homer in the seventh off Junichi Tazawa (1-0), who still ended up with the win.

Koji Uehara had a 1-2-3 sixth with two strikeouts for the Red Sox, Andrew Bailey had a scoreless eighth and Joel Hanrahan submitted a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season. Boston scored its last two runs with a ground out by Napoli in the eighth and a solo homer by Will Middlebrooks (double) in the ninth.

Dustin Pedroia was 2 for 3 with a double, run and walk while Shane Victorino was 2 for 5 with two runs. Rajai Davis was the only other Blue Jay with multiple hits, he was 2 for 4 with a double and run. The two teams combined to go 2 for 29 (seriously) with runners in scoring position but at least Boston made a few count (2 for 19) whereas Toronto was 0 for 10. Ouch.

Much like I boycotted Josh Beckett's starts last season, I plan to take the same action beginning tomorrow afternoon (1:07, NESN) as John Lackey makes his 2013 debut against J.A. Happ.

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