Bitter Grapefruit

I know, 'it's only spring training' but the highly anticipated 2011 Red Sox must think it's the bizarro version of the regular season and that they need to lose as many games as possible. Right now the streak stands at 9. Before certain members of the Red Sox farm system, or a group of Fort Myers pizza deliverymen (sorry, I couldn't tell by their defense which group they were. I'm leaning toward the pizza guys) clowned up the top of the ninth and made Bobby Jenks look like a befuddled ringmaster in a circus gone awry, the Sox had a healthy 5-run lead. The lead had even been more robust, at 7 runs, before Dan Wheeler started the game down that slippery slope in the 8th with 3 doubles (one of which might have been an out had Carl Crawford still been in the game).

Daisuke Matsuzaka's third straight solid start and a good showing by the Sox offense, including Adrian Gonzalez's first dinger in a Sox uniform had the Sox looking like they might stop the deep slide they've been on since...well, it's been so long I can't remember when they last WON a game. But it wasn't to be.

During this epic Grapefruit League nosedive, the Sox have seen Buchholz get annihilated to the tune of 11 runs, Beckett serve up 7, Andrew Miller punch his ticket to the minors, and Dan Johnson continuing to take the Sox' lunch money. Lester has looked vulnerable in this stretch, as has Lackey. Papelbon has been looking looking more and more like his days as a dominant closer are in the past. The only silver lining in this FAILstorm is Dice-K finding his bearings and stringing together three solid (2 runs or less) starts in a row.

How much stock can be put in a team's Spring Training record? One can argue that how a team looks in the last week or so of Spring Training, when their starters are staying in games longer, both the pitchers and the position players, is an indicator of how they will look once the season starts. On the flip side, the major league bullpen candidates are still seeing mostly minor-league hitters and having minor-league defenders playing behind them. Case in point, Jenks being railroaded by his defense in tonight's 6-run 9th inning. It's awfully hard to pitch to contact when you can't trust the guys behind you to make the plays. Still, it would be nice to go into Friday afternoon without being on a 13-game losing streak, you know? Just like winning begets more winning, losing begets more losing. So, Red Sox, get off the schneid before opening day, okay?