Unbelievable--In a Very Negative Way!-Peter

Yes--the title above says it all! It's not often that a pitcher only gives up just three hits, only one of them in the first seven innings, adds in nine K's and loses. Here was our no-hit hero of 2007 cruising along entering the 8th with just a single hit surrendered and only a couple of walks. As if that weren't enough, he was making a single run by the Sox stand up as if it were a dozen. Then: disaster! A Rays batter--a pinch hitter, no less--gets a single sandwiched in between two easy outs.

I'm thinking, "Please don't give up another hit and let the lead slip away." I should have known better. These are, after all, the Red Sox. Growing up (forget about that line at the top of the overall blog about being tormented since 1978{that's just Jenn's Sox history}--for me it's been since 1947, the year I first saw a Sox game at Fenway when I was four years old) those of us who regularly followed the Sox through thick and thin, and lots more of the latter than the former, had an expression. It was, "Good luck to you and the Red Sox." Anyone who followed the Sox through the 50's, 60's, etc. knows exactly whereof I speak.

Anyway, Buchholz is doing fine; it's two out and he's facing Iwamura, the Rays' second sacker, who is not only batting just .220 for the year, he's only gotten a total of seven HR's in his career. As if those stats aren't comforting enough, he's 0 for 3 this evening entering the eighth. I mean on the Rays you worry about Crawford or maybe Gomes or definitely Pena (a product of this writer's home town near Boston--Haverhill). You definitely do NOT worry about Iwamura. So what happens? On a 1-1 pitch, Buchholz makes probably his only mistake of the evening and leaves a curve hanging right over the middle of the plate. Iwamura does what any batter in that situation would do--he deposits it in the cheap seats--2-1, Rays. After Buchholz finishes the inning, the Sox hitters go meekly in the ninth and it's loss number four in a row. This is getting serious, guys.

On the good side, Varitek is apparently recovered and started and played the entire game. Other than that, not much. Papi had the day off after last night's 0-6 showing, and with the exception of Jacoby, 2-4, no-one on the team showed much. Not even a single extra base hit.

Let's hope we can recover and end this crap with a win tomorrow. I mean these are the Rays--aren't they?