Choke-itis is Contagious.

It happened to the Bruins last night (not that I even care about hockey, but it was impossible not to know what happened if you were watching the Sox game on NESN Plus) and it happened to the Red Sox tonight. Okay, it was a much bigger choke for the Bruins since it ended their season, but if any of the Sox watched the replay of the hockey game, they probably shouldn't have. After Lester had an outing that wasn't one of his best, but kept the team out in front, mishandling of the bullpen sent the game into extra innings, which is the kiss of death for the Sox this season. They have won exactly ONE extra-inning game and lost six.

Instead of going to Manny Delcarmen, who had been warming up in the 6th, while Lester was still on the mound and running into some trouble and who, right now, is the best reliever not named Papelbon, they went to Oki, who grows ineffective with overuse. Even though he'd been pitching well of late, the key to Oki is to use him sparingly. Maybe they need the Oki Rules, where he's not allowed to pitch consecutive days. The first batter he faced in the 8th took him yard, then he allowed two other hits, plating the tying run. Even after that happened, Tito was sitting on his hands in the dugout. Oki clearly had nothing tonight.

Another thing that lost the game for the Sox, besides the Oki/Tito meltdown in the 8th was the lack of timely hitting in the late innings, especially the extras. This has happened before, obviously, given the Sox' track record in extra-innings games this year. Do they all turn into pumpkins after the other team ties it up? Are extra-innings games past their bedtime??? Why has the other team won 6 times out of 7???

Tomorrow, they need Lackey to come up big for them if they're to pull out a win in this series and they need to score plenty of runs since they'll be dealing with a tired bullpen. Pap will probably not be available, having gone 2 1/3 innings tonight. The Sox really need another good arm in the bullpen. Schoeneweis is not getting it done, as demonstrated by an ERA north of 8. He reminds me of a lefty version of 2008-era Timlin. He might be able to stave off retirement by catching on with an NL team.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!! PLEASE WIN TOMORROW!!!