This Is Getting Frustrating!-Peter

Well, once again we broke on top. Up 3-1 very quickly (how much quicker than the first inning or two can you be?), all of a sudden things came to a grinding halt for most of the balance of the game. As the Rays chipped away at the Sox lead, our boys from the Hub finally found themselves behind, 4-3, after the fourth. The hitters, with the exception of Manny, who ended up 3-5, found the hits few and far between, and Garza, the Rays pitcher, who entered with an ERA above 8, started pitching like a Big Leaguer after the 2d. True, our guys did manage to get the tying run in the fifth, but after that--nothing.

And, I mean nothing in the worst of ways. It's not as though we never had a chance. Far from it, in every inning from the 9th through the fateful 11th, we had the lead run in scoring position--and left it there. That is NOT the way to win ball games--even more important as the O's in Baltimore had a game postponed by rain and the 'Stripes lost to Cleveland. Wasted opportunity to pick up ground on both clubs. Perhaps the most painful failure of the final few innings was to have men at first and third with only one out and have Papi, in a situation he usually sinks his teeth into and swallows whole, ground into an inning-ending DP.

This left us with Jenn's pejorative favorite to finish the game as the Sox pitcher. True to a good part of his recent rep, Timlin, after doing fairly well closing out the 10th, faced three batters in the 11th. Every one of them reached base, capped by a game winning single by Haynes, extending the Sox losing streak to three.

As if all of this weren't enough bad news, Sean Casey injured his hip flexor while running the bases early in the game, and is likely to join the other walking wounded on the DL. Too bad, as he was batting .346 when he left the game.

Speaking of BA's the Sox, after the game, had 3 of the top 10 BA's in the league, headed up by Manny's league-leading .370. Manny is also leading the league in HR's and is tied for 4th in ribbies with Papi and a bunch of 'who-are-theys' at 20. He's also 2d in hits with 34, one behind Pedroia's 35 and 3d in doubles, two behind Pedroia and another guy's league leading 11.

Buchholz is supposed to take the mound today, and hopefully he'll slam the door on the suddenly plus-.500 Rays.