The Longest Losing Streak In 20 Years For the Red Sox Deserves a Mention

Believe me, there have been so many times in the last few weeks that I have wanted to write a Red Sox post but by the time their game ends (in a depressing loss), I am so disgusted that I don't bother. Well after losing 8-5 to the Rays this afternoon at Tropicana Field, I feel like I need to acknowledge Boston's (20-29 overall, 10-12 away) worst losing streak (10 games) in 20 years.

Tampa Bay (23-28 overall, 12-14 home) started the weekend series in last place in the pathetic AL East but after sweeping the Red Sox, they are now two games ahead of them. If that wasn't all bad enough, Boston became a disgrace (and I don't throw that word around lightly) in today's series finale by taking exception to stupid Yunel Escobar and starting one of those lame "baseball brawls."

Jonny Gomes was the main culprit for Boston as he came over and tried to get at Escobar who had been yelling and pointing in Boston's dugout after stealing third up 8-3 in the seventh (who cares?). Gomes could be suspended which wouldn't help the Red Sox who also put Mike Napoli on the DL earlier in the day with his finger injury (which surprise surprise hasn't magically worked itself out). There are many things in life I have no use for and baseball's unwritten rules along with fake tough guys (Gomes, Escobar, A.J. Pierzynski) are enough to make me cringe.

During the losing streak, Boston has been swept by Detroit, Toronto and Tampa Bay. This series was particularly painful since as I mentioned, the Rays are equally terrible plus Boston lost on a walk-off hit on Friday (1-0), on an error in the 15th inning on Saturday then capped off by this monstrosity. It's reached the point, much like 2012, where I tune in solely to see what new way they'll find to lose a game.

Brandon Workman made his first start of the season, taking Felix Doubront's place. He went five innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks. The issue, as it's been for much of this slide, has been Boston's awful offense. The immortal Jake Odorizzi went six innings and held them to one earned run on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk.

Brock Holt gave Boston a short-lived 1-0 lead in the third with a sacrifice fly. Tampa Bay scored twice in the fourth on Evan Longoria's (3 for 5, 2 runs) solo homer and an RBI single by Logan Forsythe. Two runs came across in the fifth for the Rays on ground outs.

Before he had to be a hero, Gomes actually did something useful on the field with a two-run homer in the seventh (his 5th of the season) that tied it at three. The wheels came off for the Red Sox in the seventh as light-hitting Sean Rodriguez crushed a three-run homer and Escobar added a two-run double. Xander Bogaerts (2 for 4, double) had a two-run single in the ninth but that meant absolutely nothing.

All we keep hearing is that it's still early and the Red Sox are better than this. Fair enough but no team has lost 10 games in a row then won the World Series that same season. I don't know what it would be specifically but if things don't improve drastically, like in the next few days, it's up to GM Ben Cherington to make a big trade to shake things up. Otherwise, this team is going nowhere and it promises to be a miserable summer.

It is a funky schedule this week as they play two in Atlanta (28-21 overall, 1st in NL East) starting tomorrow afternoon (1:10, NESN) then host the Braves for two games at Fenway Park followed by three games next weekend at home vs. Tampa Bay. Another win before May ends would be nice. Clay Buchholz (2-4) faces Ervin Santana (4-2) tomorrow at Turner Field followed by Jon Lester (4-6) vs. Aaron Harang (4-4) on Tuesday (7:10, NESN).

UPDATE 5/26: The Red Sox sent Alex Wilson back to Pawtucket and called up catcher/1st baseman Ryan Lavarnway (with Napoli out).

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Rays Self Destruct Like You Read About In Humbling 12-2 Game 1 Loss To Red Sox

It had been too long. The Red Sox last appeared in a playoff game in 2009 and they hadn't won one since the previous season. It felt like they had been off basically that same amount of time since this season had ended but Boston put to bed any stupid questions about their extended rest by bludgeoning the Rays 12-2 in Game 1 of the ALDS this afternoon at Fenway Park.

Tampa Bay actually scored the first two runs as Sean Rodriguez (second inning) and Ben Zobrist (fourth inning) hit solo homers. From there, Jon Lester (1-0) settled in for a gem (7.2 innings, 2 earned runs, 3 hits, 7 strikeouts, 3 walks) while Matt Moore (0-1) and his defense fell apart. The Rays' prized young lefty couldn't get out of the fifth inning, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in 4.1 innings.

Boston did most of its damage in the fourth (5 runs) and fifth (3 runs) before tacking on some runs in garbage time (4 in eighth). The Red Sox didn't hit any homers but who cares since they piled up 14 hits including five doubles and five walks. As a team they went 8 for 17 with runners in scoring position. Every Red Sox player had at least one hit and one run with Dustin Pedroia (2 runs, 2 hits) the only one without an RBI.

Leading the way in the win was Shane Victorino who went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, run and stolen base in his Red Sox playoff debut. Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 5 with run and RBI while Jarrod Saltalamacchia was 2 for 4 with three RBIs, double, run and walk. David Ortiz (double, walk) and Jonny Gomes (2 RBIs, double, walk) both scored twice.

Let's not get too ahead of ourselves and assume that the Rays will roll over and die after one loss after they won three elimination games in a row earlier this week. If there's one team in MLB that you can count on to bounce back from a blowout loss like this, it would be them. Plus, it doesn't hurt that they have David Price going tomorrow (5:37, TBS) vs. John Lackey in pseudo must-win game.

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Red Sox Can't Beat David Price or Jerry Meals

In any sport, I hate to blame the refs/umpires/officials since I think it's a juvenile thing to do that's both lazy and petty. However, once in a while you have to acknowledge particularly awful calls. Tonight in a makeup game from last Thursday's rain out, Tampa Bay (63-43 overall, 29-24 away) beat Boston (63-44 overall, 34-20 home) 2-1 at Fenway Park. This put the Rays back on top in the AL East by a half game over the Red Sox.

David Price (6-5) was excellent for the second time in a week against the Red Sox: 7.1 innings, 1 earned run on 2 hits with 8 strikeouts. Felix Doubront's (7-5) old and bad habit of racking up pitches early crept back into his game as he only last five innings because he threw 104 pitches.

The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Sean Rodriguez's RBI double that scored Yunel Escobar (2 for 3). Wil Myers' (single, walk, stolen base) fielder's choice made it 2-0 in the following frame. Evan Longoria was 2 for 5 with a double and run.

Getting a rare start, Brandon Snyder cut it to 2-1 in the sixth inning with a sliced shot off Pesky's Pole in right. The controversial play happened in the eighth as Daniel Nava was called out on what would have been a sacrifice fly by Snyder. It was a bang bang play at the plate but replays showed that Nava's foot touched the plate before he was tagged. John Farrell was thrown out for arguing the bogus call which home plate umpire Jerry Meals later admitted was a mistake on his part. Nava also deserves some blame from the previous play when he should have scored a run on Stephen Drew's double to right.

Boston threatened in the ninth as Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single, stole second base and eventually ended up at third base with Jose Iglesias (who pinch ran for David Ortiz) on second. Fernando Rodney struck out Mike Napoli to end it for his 26th save of the season.

Even though they lost on what should have been an off day, the Red Sox catch a break with six more games at Fenway during this homestand against teams from outside the AL East that they need to beat: 3 vs. Seattle (50-55, 3rd in AL West) and 3 vs. Arizona. Tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) Brandon Workman (0-1) faces Joe Saunders (9-9). On Wednesday (7:10, NESN) hours after the non-waiver trade deadline passes, John Lackey (7-8) takes on Hisashi Iwakuma (10-4). Finally, Thursday (7:10, NESN) Ryan Dempster (6-8) battles Felix Hernandez (11-4).


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Alfredo Aceves Blows The Save, Red Sox Choke Away Series To Rays At Fenway

I'll keep this short and not so sweet since I didn't see one pitch live (I was at Gillette enjoying the NCAA men's lacrosse Division 2 and 3 finals) but I still checked my phone like a madman to see that the Rays beat the Red Sox 4-3 this afternoon at Fenway Park to take the series 2-1.

Boston (23-24, 10-3 home) looked poised to finally get over the .500 hump but for the fifth time this stupid season, they couldn't get it done as they fell to Tampa Bay (29-19, 12-12 away), a much better team. If you think about it, this would have been a Rays sweep if not for Salty's walk-off homer last night.

Staked to a 3-2 lead to start the ninth, Alfredo Aceves (0-2) blew the save after converting his last nine in a row. Mighty (.241 average) Sean Rodriguez (5th of the season) took him deep with a three-run no doubter over the Monster.

That wasted two very rare things for Boston: 1) a quality start for Clay Buchholz (7 innings, 2 earned runs, 8 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk) and 2) a clutch three-run homer (4th of the season, 1st opposite field!) by Adrian Gonzalez in the seventh when the Red Sox trailed 2-0. Of course, this being A-Gon, he had a chance to add an insurance run in the eighth but couldn't do it. Lefty Jake McGee (2-1) was summoned with the bases loaded and he got Gonzalez to ground out. I guess two clutch hits in the same contest is way too much to ask from him.

Jeremy Hellickson pitched well for Tampa Bay though not as stellar as Buchholz (best start of 2012, not that it was a long list). He went 7.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

The Rays scratched out a pair of runs on Ben Zobrist's ground out in the fourth and Will Rhymes' (3 hits) RBI single that scored Rodriguez in the seventh.

The Detroit Tigers (23-24) come to Fenway for a four-game series starting tomorrow afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN) on Memorial Day. Two bad teams, America, woo! The Tigers looked like world beaters in the opening series of the 2012 season when they swept the Red Sox in Motown but as you can tell by their third-place standing in the crappy AL Central, they have been a disappointment since then.

Felix Doubront (4-2) faces Doug Fister (0-2) tomorrow, Daniel Bard (4-5) gets MLB's best pitcher-Justin Verlander (5-2) on Tuesday night (7:10 p.m., NESN), Jon Lester (3-4) takes on rookie Drew Smyly (2-1) on Wednesday night (7:10 p.m., NESN) while Josh Beckett (4-4) and Max Scherzer (4-3) wrap it up on Thursday night (7:10 p.m., NESN).

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