Flu Ends the Red Sox Winning Streak - Jenn

The flu is running rampant through the Sox dugout and I believe it was the reason behind last night's loss.

See, Dice-K was supposed to pitch, but like Tuesday night, he was a late scratch. Why? Because he'd come down with the flu. So Lester, on only three days rest, volunteered to pitch. Now you may say one player with the flu does not a loss make. But Dice-K wasn't the only one out. Varitek was still laid up, as was Manny Delcarmen and Beckett's stiff neck has also turned into the flu. Youkilis, the man who won Tuesday's game with a two-shot home run over the green monster was also out. But not with the flu. He missed last night's game due to a sore back.

But back to Lester. He hasn't been doing well. Every start so far this season has had a rocky inning or two. Last night was no different. Only instead of one or two rocky innings, last night all five were bad. Every inning Lester pitched (except the fourth) saw the Angels score a run. Lester only threw 80 pitches, but those 80 pitches ended up giving the Angels 9 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs, two of which were solo shots from Gary Matthews, Jr. over the green monster. Gary should actually thank Lester. Those two pitches helped Matthews hit his 100th career home run in a ballpark that's seen a lot of career defining moments. Congrats Gar.

So the pitching was sub par, but the Sox offense fought back. They scored a run in the second and the third and the score was 3-2. But then in the 5th, Matthews his his 2nd home run of the night to put the Angels on top 4-2. Lester managed to get out of the inning without any further damage and it was the Sox's turn to even the score. And even the score they did. Actually one man was responsible for the Sox tying things up. His name - David Ortiz. That's right, Big Papi proved once again his slump is coming to a close when he slammed the ball just over the head of Vladimir Guerrero and into the 3rd row of seats in right field. A two run shot and just like that the score was tied. I was beginning to think we were going to have a repeat of Tuesday's game. But alas, such sugarplum thoughts were not to be.

With the flu taking out a third of our pitching staff, a new kid was brought up for middle relief. We've seen Craig Hansen before, and he was good. But last night he just wasn't good enough. Aybar was the first batter he faced and he grounded out to Lugo. Then Mathis struck out. And as I was beginning to think we were going to get out of the inning unscathed, Casey Kotchman got his second home run in as many nights when he lined the ball into the Sox bullpen. Angels 5, Red Sox 4.

The Sox had opportunities to tie the score back up in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. But as is unfortunately very common for the Sox, they couldn't turn those hits into runs. Over nine innings the Sox got wood on the ball 10 times. But they only managed to cross home plate four.

Although the Angels wouldn't need the insurance run, they managed to get one more off the oldest pitcher in the bullpen. That's right Mike Timlin took over in the 9th and after getting the first two batters he faced out, Guerrero singled to left and stole 2nd. Then Hunter came to bat and sent the ball up the middle to drive in Vladdie. Hunter was called out when he tried to get to 2nd base on the throw home, but not before Vladdie added the Angels 6th and final run to the scoreboard.

So, unlike the past few nights, the Sox wouldn't bounce back. Blame the flu, injury, whatever; the fact is we're missing some key players who could've helped bring the score back around to our side of the fence. But what could've been doesn't matter. What matters is what actually happened and unfortunately the final score remained 6-4 Angels.

There's one more game against the Halos this afternoon. Here's hoping another newby from the farm will help my Sox take the series. Justin Masterson will make his major league debut against Angles lefty Joe Saunders. Should be an interesting match up and as always I can't wait.