Angels Sweep The Red Sox (Again) But Who Cares, College Football Has Begun!

This September for the Red Sox promises to be a blur of pain and forgettable results as Boston likely stumbles to its first losing record-under .500-since 1997 (78-84). 15 years!

They closed the book on the Angels tonight as Boston (62-70, 30-32 away) lost 5-2 to Los Angeles (69-62, 36-29 home) at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The Angels swept this three-game series just like they did last week at Fenway, making them 6-0 against the Red Sox in 2012.

Zack Greinke (3-2) went seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. Kevin Jepsen earned his 11th save with a scoreless eighth inning and closer Ernesto Frieri struck out two in the ninth for his 16th save.

Jon Lester (8-11) pitched a complete game but that was only to save Boston's taxed bullpen. He allowed five earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and three walks.

Torii Hunter (3 for 4, 2 runs) seems to always kill the Red Sox while Albert Pujols (2 for 4, double, run, two RBIs) and Mark Trumbo (2 for 4, RBI) also left their mark.

Things have gotten so bad for Boston and their lineups are so weak that James Loney was the cleanup hitter this evening, haha really. I can't knock his production though since he went 3 for 4 with a solo homer (his 1st for the Red Sox) and two runs. Boston was ready to hop on their chartered plane since they only managed seven hits and Mike Aviles (2 hits, RBI) was the only other guy with multiple hits.

The Angels were 3 for 9 with runners in scoring position while the Red Sox were 0 for 6.

Pujols had a two-run double in the first as the theme of tough first innings continues to haunt the Red Sox pitchers even with the Texas Toughguy long gone. Aviles' sacrifice fly in the second cut it to 2-1 but Trumbo and Alberto Callaspo added RBI singles in the third for a 4-1 advantage.

A run scored on Mike Trout's double play in the fourth and Loney blasted his homer to right in the sixth.

Going 0 for California is a real possibility this weekend as Boston visits Oakland (73-57, 2nd AL West), who are one of the hottest teams in MLB and a legitimate playoff contender. The pitching matchups all favor the A's as well: Aaron Cook (3-7) opposes Brandon McCarthy (7-5; best Tweeter in MLB) tomorrow night (10:05 p.m., NESN), Felix Doubront (10-6) gets Brett Anderson (2-0) on Saturday night (9:05 p.m., NESN) and Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-3) faces Tommy Milone (11-9) on Sunday afternoon (4:05 p.m., NESN). Can you say, another sweep?

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Please give Zack Greinke the AL Cy Young

Last night was Kansas City Royals ace Zach Greinke's only chance to play against the Red Sox this season and boy did he live up to the hype.

Greinke (15-8) threw six innings of shutout, two-hit ball. He walked three and struck out five, leaving his ERA at 2.08. In the American League especially and on such a crappy team, that is nothing short of incredible.

He has gotten hype all season after an amazing start but he slowed down in the middle of the season, as the Royals started their annual collapse.

Still, Greinke has picked his game back up and he deserves the award much more than C.C. Sabathia, Justin Verlander or Roy Halladay.

The Royals (63-88) put it away in the first-something that's probably never been written in the last 20 years-as they scored five runs off Paul Byrd.

Nothing was hit hard but Kansas City scored on a bases-loaded walk, an RBI single, ground out and a two-run single.

Boston (89-61) only managed two hits in the entire game: a double by Dustin Pedroia (extending his hitting streak to 14 games) and a single by Victor Martinez in the sixth (putting his hit streak at 21 games).

Jacoby Ellsbury scored on Martinez's ground out in the eighth and the Sox had two guys on in the ninth but couldn't push across any more runs. Royals closer Joakim Soria only needed one pitch to record his 29th save of the season.

After losing the first two games of the series, Boston looks to bounce back tonight with Josh Beckett against Luke Hochevar. A vintage Beckett performance would be nice since he'll only have a few more starts before the games really matter (ie. in October).