Red Sox Fall a Season-High 10 Games Under .500, Drop Into AL East Basement

Like a car crash or late night porn on HBO, I have to admit that I can't help but intently watch the Red Sox even when their season becomes more and more over by the day. This afternoon, Boston (39-49 overall, 21-24 home) lost 7-6 to Baltimore (48-40 overall, 25-19 away) in 12 innings (5 hours and 5 minutes!) at Fenway Park. The Orioles clinched the series and went up nine games on the Red Sox who also find themselves in last place in the AL East after Tampa Bay won at Detroit.

How can the defending World Series champs that didn't lose anyone of real importance besides Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (and that's stretching it) get this bad seemingly overnight? The easiest explanation is that Boston's offense is terrible which is totally true. There are rare occasions like this though where they score enough runs but the pitching stinks. It sounds simple but they can never get those two facets going at the same time. Plus their defense is spotty and baserunning could be described as incredibly poor.

The O's built a 6-1 lead in the seventh inning before the Sox battled back to tie it in the home half of the frame. After four scoreless innings, J.J. Hardy (2 for 4, run, walk, 3 RBIs) knocked in David Lough-who had tripled-with the winning run. Brad Brach (4-0) cruised through three innings of relief to earn the win and closer Zach Britton worked around a single and struck out two for his 14th save of the season.

It's easy to dump on him since he's close to being washed up and had many clunkers this season but lately, Jake Peavy (6 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) has been the victim of virtually no help from his teammates. On a good team, he could have some value particularly in the JV NL so look for him to get traded before the deadline (July 31).

Orioles youngster Kevin Gausman (5.1 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts) is still very raw but with his stuff, he has the potential to be a top of the line starter which is what Baltimore still lacks. The O's led 2-0 after an error on Xander Bogaerts (2 for 5, run, RBI) in the fourth and sacrifice fly by Caleb Joseph in the sixth inning.

David Ortiz (4 for 5 with double, walk, 2 RBIs) cut it to 2-1 with an RBI single in the sixth. Baltimore put up four runs in the seventh as Nelson Cruz (3 for 6, 2 runs, double) had an RBI single, Hardy's single scored two and Ryan Flaherty's (2 for 4, walk) RBI single made it 6-1 Orioles. All-Star Adam Jones was 2 for 5 with a run and walk in the win for Baltimore.

Surprisingly enough, David Ross' solo homer (his 5th of the season) got the rally started for Boston then Bogaerts, Daniel Nava, Ortiz and Napoli kept the line moving with RBI singles of their own. Dustin Pedroia can't get extra base hits anymore but his batting average is rapidly climbing (3 for 6) with all those singles. Jackie Bradley Jr. (2 for 4 with run, walk) might have put together his best game of the season as he made a spectacular diving catch at the wall then also threw out Manny Machado at home on another play (he would have been credited with a second assist if Ross could have held onto a throw).

Losses like this are brutal for many reasons, foremost on the list is that Boston burned six relievers so you know a few of them won't be available tomorrow namely Koji Uehara (2 scoreless innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout). Boston has two more series, seven games in total (4 at Fenway, 3 in Houston) before the All-Star break officially starts a week from tomorrow.

The White Sox (42-47, 4th in AL Central) visit with Clay Buchholz (3-4) facing rookie Scott Carroll (2-5) tomorrow night (7:10, NESN), Brandon Workman (1-2) gets John Danks (7-6) on Tuesday (7:10), most likely Rubby De La Rosa will be recalled to take on Chris Sale (8-1) Wednesday (7:10, NESN) then Jon Lester (9-7) meets Jose Quintana (5-7) on Thursday afternoon (4:05, NESN). Chicago is similarly blah but at least you can see Sale (who is up for the final AL All-Star spot) and slugger Jose Abreu who is tied for MLB lead with 27 home runs.

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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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Orioles young stud snaps Red Sox' five-game win streak

Strangely enough, Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz is the only member of the rotation not to spin a gem thus far this season.

With his talent and track record last season, Buchholz will turn it around eventually. However, at the moment he is spinning his wheels and Boston is paying the price.

The Red Sox (10-12) started a three-game set at Camden Yards last night and lost 4-1 to the Orioles (9-12). The loss snapped Boston's five-game win streak.

Buchholz (1-3) gave his team innings (6.2) but they weren't exactly quality as he allowed a career-high 12 hits, four earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts.

Orioles rookie Zach Britton (4-1) was much more impressive. In six innings, he allowed five hits, one earned run, two walks and two strikeouts.

Vladimir Guerrero led Baltimore with three hits while Derrek Lee, Matt Wieters and crazy Luke Scott all had two hits apiece.

Boston was limited to six hits in the game with no player notching over one.

The Orioles went ahead 1-0 in the second on a fluky infield single by Wieters that hit the first base bag (Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez waited for it to go foul which is never did) and scored Scott.

Adam Jones' sacrifice fly in the third scored Lee and gave Baltimore a 2-0 lead.

The Red Sox' lone run was produced in the fourth as Kevin Youkilis' sacrifice fly drove in Dustin Pedroia.

Jones added another sacrifice fly (this is putting me to sleep just writing it) that scored Lee.

Finally, Mark Reynolds drove in Guerrero with one more sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Orioles reliever Jim Johnson threw a scoreless seventh and eighth (with two strikeouts) before Kevin Gregg recorded his third save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Josh Beckett takes on Jeremy Guthrie tonight.