Ready or Not, the 2014 MLB Regular Season is Upon Us

In all honesty, I hadn't thought about the Red Sox basically since they won the 2013 World Series in October vs. St. Louis. Baseball season is way too long and involved that by the time it's over, we all need a break from it in the worst possible way. Well guess what everybody, it's back! Yes, despite it being rainy and in the 30s in New England today, the Red Sox opened up the 2014 regular season with a 2-1 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards.

I can't get too worked about Boston (0-1) until at least the weather gets nice in say June. Likewise, I am happy that baseball is back for the sole reason of what it represents-the end of the miserable winter-but I'm not ready to devote much attention to it what with the Final Four, Frozen Four, NBA and NHL playoffs not to mention World Cup in the way and more important than MLB games in April and May.

Jon Lester (0-1) pitched well (7 innings, 2 earned runs, 6 hits, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk) but the Red Sox went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 on base. Is that bad? Baltimore (1-0) received a decent outing by Chris Tillman (5 innings, 1 earned run, 7 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk) and their shaky bullpen (one of the reasons I can't see them being better than the Red Sox, Rays and maybe even Yankees) patched together four scoreless innings. Zach Britton went two scoreless frames for the win.

Other than Lester's fine work, the only real memorable part for Boston was Grady Sizemore (single). Yes the guy who hadn't hit a homer in MLB since 2011 provided the Red Sox' only run with a solo homer to right in the fourth. Can't wait to read a million stories about him being back to the same guy he used to be (yeah right). That tied it at one after a run scored on a double play for Baltimore in the second. Adam Jones was 2 for 4, Baltimore only had six hits as a team but they won so who cares?

Nelson Cruz led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo homer to left. The Red Sox had a chance to rally in the ninth against new Orioles closer Tommy Hunter (really) as Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch leading off then Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) had a one-out single. Hunter got David Ortiz to fly out and Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out looking to end it.

There is an off-day tomorrow where Boston gets to visit the White House to celebrate their World Series title (insert terrible Tim Thomas joke here). These teams are back in action on Wednesday (7:05, NESN) when I bet way fewer people will be watching closely since the Bruins are in Detroit at the same time. John Lackey faces Ubaldo Jimenenz in his Baltimore debut.

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Red Sox Will Have To Wait Another Night To Clinch A Playoff Spot, Oh Well

Tonight, the Red Sox had a chance to clinch their first playoff spot since 2009 but they couldn't do it. Boston (92-60 overall, 50-26 home) lost 3-2 to Baltimore (80-70 overall, 38-37 away) at Fenway Park. It also turned out that they needed an Indians loss as well but they won 5-3 at the Royals so I guess it wasn't meant to be after all.

The Red Sox led 2-0 following Dustin Pedroia's lead off homer in the first then a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts in the fourth inning. Orioles starter Scott Feldman was wild (6 walks) but he only allowed the two runs in five innings before giving way to five relievers who combined to put up four shutout innings. Former scrub Tommy Hunter (6-4) got the last two outs in the eighth to earn the win. Baltimore closer Jim Johnson has been very shaky at times this season but he struck out Bogaerts to end it (for his 46th save), stranding pinch-runner Quintin Berry at second base.

I pray that these are the final days of Ryan Dempster in Boston's rotation in 2013 so enjoy the mediocrity while it lasts. He actually pitched well, going six innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and four walks. Brian Roberts' grounder scored former Red Sox great Danny Valencia (two walks) in the fifth and Chris Davis tied it with his 51st homer of the season (a new Orioles record), a solo shot to center in the sixth.

Craig Breslow did an incredible job to work out of a jam (runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs) in the eighth without allowing a run. You knew Koji Uehara's (4-1) mind-boggling stretch would end at some point and I'm happy that it occurred in September rather than October. Valencia led off the ninth with a triple against Uehara to end his streak of 37 straight batters retired. Matt Wieters' sacrifice fly meant Uehara allowed his first run since July 7 (30 2/3 innings and 27 scoreless outings ago) and he was charged with his first loss of the season.

Jake Peavy (11-5) and Wei-Yin Chen (7-7) get to do the honors tomorrow night (7:10, NESN). With tonight's victory, Baltimore pulled to within two games of Texas and Tampa Bay for the AL Wild Cards. In other words, this series means plenty to both teams hence why it felt like a playoff game in the opener.

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Red Sox Serve As A Small Speed Bump As Orioles Tie Yankees For 1st Place In AL East

Once in a while in MLB, there is a great team that defies explanation. The Orioles are 28-9 in one-run games and 72-0 when leading after seven innings in 2012.

After the O's (91-67, 46-34 home) beat the Red Sox (69-89, 35-42 away) 4-3 tonight at an extremely rare sold-out Camden Yards, Baltimore is tied with New York (who lost 3-2 in Toronto this afternoon) for first place in the AL East with four games remaining.

Two more unlikely stars in a season full of them stepped up tonight for the Orioles as rookie Manny Machado and Chris Davis provided all the offense for a team that seems to be firing on all cylinders headed into October. Machado had an RBI single in the second and Davis hit a two-run homer (his 30th of the season) in the fourth inning for a 3-0 Orioles lead.

Boston tied it on Jarrod Saltalamacchia's two-run homer (his 25th of the season) in the fifth and a sacrifice fly by Cody Ross in the sixth. Machado's solo homer (his 7th of the season) provided the winning run in the seventh.

In his last start of the season, Felix Doubront (11-10) had his typical up and down performance which is how you could describe almost all of his starts in 2012. He went seven innings and struck out 10 which is good. However, he allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits including a pair of homers. Hopefully over the off-season, he realizes that strikeouts are overrated and innings/outs are way more important.

Steve Johnson (who?) went five innings for Baltimore, he allowed three earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks. Tommy Hunter (7-8) threw two scoreless innings of relief for the win and Orioles closer Jim Johnson had a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout for his MLB-high 49th save.

Joe Saunders (8-13) gets the ball tomorrow afternoon (1:35 p.m.) as Baltimore wraps up a sweep of the three-game set with Boston. Zach Stewart (1-3) plays the role of sacrificial lamb in his second start for the Red Sox. Godspeed son.

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Red Sox Reach The .500 Mark For First Time Since April 30

As usual, with Clay Buchholz on the mound this season, it was all hands on deck for the Red Sox bullpen (1.59 ERA since April 23). They were the key to the game as Boston (21-21, 12-10 away) won its series opener at Balitmore's (27-16, 12-10 home) 8-6 this evening at Camden Yards.

The win was the ninth in the last 11 games for Boston and they reached the .500 mark for the first time since April 30. More importantly, their good stretch of play has allowed them to climb out of the AL East basement since now they're tied with the Yankees in fourth-place. Finally, this was also good for their psyche since the Orioles swept them at Fenway two weeks ago.

Buchholz ran into serious trouble in the third as he allowed four runs then and another in the fourth. He lasted 5.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and four walks. On his 27th birthday, Andrew Miller (1-0) picked up the win after he was the first reliever for Boston. He recorded five outs with no hits and two strikeouts. I am shocked, he's been a totally different guy this season since he was called up.

Rich Hill allowed a run but Vicente Padilla bailed him out by getting the last two outs of the eighth. Alfredo Aceves locked up his 10th save with a 1-2-3 ninth. He's really settled into his new role as the closer after a terrible start.

To his good fortune, Buchholz was matched up with Tommy Hunter again (they faced each other at Fenway in the previous series). Boston had no trouble roughing up Hunter who went six innings but allowed five earned runs on nine hits with three strikeouts.

The Red Sox' already severely undermanned outfield suffered a further blow this afternoon when word came out that Cody Ross is likely to miss 6-8 weeks after breaking a bone in his foot. Ryan Sweeney is out with a concussion and could be put on the seven-day DL. Kevin Youkilis is expected to return to the team tomorrow which means that Will Middlebrooks will stay around too, the issue will be how to get their bats along with Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz all in the same lineups.

Che-Hsuan Lin started for the first time in his MLB career, in right field, and he registered his first hit along with his first run.

Middlebrooks (3 hits, run, RBI) has done more than enough to prove he belongs but he had another big night just in case. Boston had 14 hits (every starter had at least one hit) as a team with Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 2 RBIs), Mike Aviles (2 hits, run, RBI) and Daniel Nava (2 hits, run, RBI) all collecting multiple hits in the win.

Chris Davis (2 hits), last seen closing out the Red Sox in that absurd 17-inning win at Fenway, was the only Oriole to have more than one hit.

Aviles' RBI single in the third made it 1-0 Boston and Pedroia followed with a sacrifice fly.

Buchholz completely lost his command in the third as Baltimore scored its four runs on a walk, infield single, walk and a double play ball. Davis's (6th of the season) solo homer in the fourth gave the O's a 5-2 lead.

Ortiz got the rally started in the sixth with an absolute blast (442 feet) to right, a solo shot that was his 10th of the season. Nava added a run on a sacrifice fly and Middlebrooks tied it at five when he scored on Hunter's balk.

Boston put two more runs on the board in the seventh, thanks to Adrian Gonzalez's sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Middlebrooks.

Matt Wieters had an RBI single in the eighth but Hill got Davis to ground out with two runners on. Padilla forced Betemit to fly out to shallow left and he struck out Nick Johnson to end the threat. Padilla has surprisingly become a very reliable set-up man for the Red Sox, he's stranded all 15 inherited he's faced this season.

A pair of young lefties meet tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN) as Felix Doubront (4-1) faces Brian Matusz (3-4) in the middle game of this three-game series that could shake up the AL East.

UPDATE 5/22: Ross went on the DL and Scott Podsednick was called up from Pawtucket to take his spot in the outfield. Sweeney went to the seven-day DL for his concussion, Youkilis was activated and Dice-K was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

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Orioles Take Three Out Of Four At Fenway

It seems like ages ago but do you remember when the Boston Red Sox looked like the class of the American League this summer? They had moved past their abysmal 2-10 and appeared destined for big things in October.

They still could be in the postseason but this team gives new meaning to the term "limping into the playoffs." Tonight, the Baltimore Orioles (65-90)-one of the worst teams in baseball this season and for the past decade-won 6-4 in Boston's (88-68) regular season home finale at Fenway Park.

The O's won three of four against the Red Sox in a series that meant everything to the home team and nothing to the visitors who have been out of contention since I don't know, June? The same things are being said over and over about this edition of the Red Sox and at this point you have to think they are all valid: they're frontrunners, they have no heart or no pride, they think the playoffs are a given.

Despite all this negativity, Boston is in good shape for the AL Wild Card. They're 2.5 games up on the Tampa Bay Rays (who lost both games today in a day-night doubleheader with the Yankees) and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. A win here or there in September (5-16) and it would be locked up but hey, did you hear Sweet Caroline tonight? That was awesome.

Not even Josh Beckett (13-6) could shake this team out of its malaise. The Texas wannabe toughguy went 7.1 innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

Tommy Hunter kept Baltimore in the game until he had to leave in the seventh with a groin strain. He went 6.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

In a season that has been a huge disappointment from game one, Carl Crawford actually had a great performance. Too bad, nobody will remember it since it came in another unforgivable loss. Crawford was a homer shy of a cycle with two RBIs; Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits) was the only other Red Sox with multiple hits.

It's hard to choose the most pathetic aspect of this series finale (other than the final result): Baltimore rallied from a 4-1 deficit tonight and also, closer Jim Johnson had his third straight 1-2-3 save (9th save of the season) over two days and each took 10 pitches or less.

The greatest softball player in all the land, with apologies to my girl Jennie Finch, Mark Reynolds was the offensive star for the Orioles. He got the scoring started with a solo homer in the second and then a two-run blast in the seventh which tied it at four.

After tripling to lead off the third, Crawford scored on Jason Varitek's ground out. Crawford added a two-run double in the fourth and David Ortiz made it 4-1 with an RBI single in the fifth.

Normally, that would be enough against the O's but no lead is safe right now for Boston. J.J. Hardy (2 hits) cut it to 4-2 in the sixth with an RBI single and then Vlad Guerrero knocked in two with an RBI single off Alfredo Aceves in the eighth.

It wasn't Aceves' fault since he came in with runners on second and third with one out. He's wiggled out of countless situations like that this season but you can't expect that every time out. I would have intentionally walked Vlad to get the force at every base but hey, what do I know?

There are six more games of this misery and probably a few after that (don't expect a long stay in October) but I can't ever remember a Red Sox team in my lifetime that has disintegrated down the stretch like this. It's embarrassing.

After an off-day tomorrow, they've got three in New York (against the AL East champs) then wrap up the regular season with three in Baltimore. Can they get into the playoffs without winning another game? We shall see I guess.

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Red Sox forget how to score runs, win baseball games

Ok, what gives? Since returning from the All-Star break, the Boston Red Sox have been terrible. They lost their fourth game in a row (first time that's happened in a year) last night, 4-2 to the host Texas Rangers.

For the most part, the pitching has been fine, it's the lack of timely hitting that's become an epidemic for the slumping Sox (55-38). To make matters worse, the Yankees are on fire and with their win last night, they took over first place in the AL East.

Hank Blalock gave Texas (51-41) a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run single off Josh Beckett.

Kevin Youkilis cut it to 2-1 with an RBI double in the sixth which scored Dustin Pedroia.

The Rangers couldn't do much against Beckett after the first inning but they kept chipping away and David Murphy had a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Josh Hamilton singled home Michael Young in the eighth.

Beckett (11-4) went all eight innings for Boston, giving up four earned runs on seven hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.

Rangers youngster Tommy Hunter (2-1) went 6.1 innings, allowing only one earned run on four hits. He walked one and struck out two.

The Sox got one in the ninth off Rangers closer C.J. Wilson as Mike Lowell singled home Jason Bay (3 walks) but if you were watching the game, you knew there was zero chance they were coming back.

Wilson walked one and struck out one for his ninth save of the season.

Tim Wakefield went on the DL yesterday with a back strain, meaning Clay Buchholz is back up already and will pitch the series finale tonight. Let's hope the Texas native has better luck than Beckett did.