No Dice

Red Sox: 1 Rangers: 5
Red Sox: 8 Rangers: 1
Red Sox: 3 Rangers: 6

After a brilliant performance last night by a Jon Lester who seems to have recently found his '08 form, today's clunker by Dice-K cost the team both today's game and the series. While he didn't walk anyone, the Rangers ate up his pitches like ravenous grizzly bears and the Red Sox bats, alas, could not answer. Dice was knocked around to the tune of five runs and the Sox were facing a deficit even before they came up to bat for the first time. While the rest of the staff is getting it together, it seems Mr. Matsuzaka is still suffering from WBC-itis. Smoltz is on the horizon and Buchholz is still throwing up zeroes in Pawtucket. Who's the odd man out when Smoltz's first start comes around on June 16? Is it Brad Penny, who has had his struggles, but has, for the most part, been a pretty good #5 starter who more often than not has kept his team in the game? Penny has gotten burned by some bad defense (*cough* Lugo *cough*) and, like most pitchers, has a tough time when the guys playing behind him make him record extra outs. Dice-K, even though he won last time out in Detroit, has been all over the place and hasn't gotten into any kind of groove yet. He chose in the offseason to prioritize training for the WBC over training for the upcoming season with the team who is paying him a king's ransom. While I'm not sure he's tradeable at this point (whether it be due to a no-trade cause or his poor performance so far this year or both) but maybe he needs another DL stint in order to make room for Smoltz. I know the Red Sox have a boatload of money invested in Dice-K and a whole lot less stock in Penny, but right now, Penny's the more effective pitcher of the two.

The Evil Empire's coming to town this week and they don't show any signs of fading. This will be a lot tougher series, I think, than the ones the Sox played against them in April. A-Rod's back, Teixeira's starting to mash now, and things are clicking for the Yanks. The Sox will need to bring their A+ game, which means no holidays from RISP hitting for the offense and stellar pitching from Beckett, Wake, and Penny (oh, how I wish Lester was pitching this series. I love what he does to those Yankee hitters!)

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! SHOW THE YANKS WHO WEARS THE PANTS IN THIS DIVISION!!!!