After this afternoon's Epic Papelbon FAIL and the loss of a game that should have been won, my frustration with this momentum-sapper and the season as a whole inspired me to write this list. To be fair, other teams do these things too. It's just that I don't care when they do them and I like it when the opposing team does them.
1. Leaving the bases loaded. The pissed-offedness is exacerbated by the following: a. The bases were loaded with less than two outs. b. No runs were scored c. The inning ended in a double play.
2. The offense turns it off after scoring a couple of early runs and the other team catches up, passes them, and ends up winning.
3. Pitchers who can't find the strike zone, especially in a tight game.
4. Starter throws a great game (Lackey today and Buchholz against Detroit a week or so ago) and a certain closer blows it, robbing said starter of win and often losing the game.
5. Starter pitches his ass off and gets little to no run support.
6. Sloppy defense giving the other team extra outs.
7. The inexplicably crappy day game record
8. Inability to dominate against the worst teams in the league (O's, Indians, Mariners, Royals)
9. Squandering opportunities to make up ground on division rivals. How many times have the Yankees or Rays lost, but the Sox fail to take advantage of the chance to inch closer?
10. Overall lack of reliable arms in the bullpen. Bard stands alone.
How much better would it have been for the Sox to head to Texas having just completed a sweep of the Jays rather having had a very winnable game turn into a dispiriting loss with just three outs to go? The Rangers are going to be a very tough team to take 2 of 3 from. When they were in Fenway last month, the Sox could only muster a single win out of 4 games and allowed slow-footed Bengie Molina to hit for the cycle. The Sox have a couple more players back from the DL (V-Mart, Lowrie, Lowell, Ells, Beckett, Buchholz) that they didn't have in that series, but the Rangers are a team that has a lot going for them. They have very good pitching, a powerful offense, and speed on the basepaths. They can put a lot of pressure on an often-shaky Sox defense.
The Sox will have Beckett, Lester, and Dice-K going up against Hunter, Lewis, and Wilson respectively. All three Rangers starters have ERAs in the 3's, while the Sox have Beckett, who is coming off of a spanking by the Yanks, Lester, and Dice-K, who'll have dominant start or two, then reverts to nibbling his way to a 100 pitch count in the 5th or 6th inning. I sure wish Buchholz was pitching in this series. The light at the end of the tunnel: Pedey will most likely rejoin the team at Fenway on Tuesday.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!! PLEASE TAKE 2 IN TEXAS!!!!
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