Why Can't the Red Sox Hold onto a Lead? - Jenn

For the third night in row the Sox had a three run lead in the first inning and squandered it. But worse than that, tonight's loss was the 6th loss of this 10 game road trip. And even worse than that, the Sox had the lead in five of those six losses.

So, I have to ask: What is it that's keeping the "nation" from a win?

A) the starting pitchers
B) the relief pitchers
C) the number of men left on base
D) all of the above

If you answered "D" you're right on. I can't fault any one area because unfortunately it's all areas. Our starters weren't good this trip. Even our "ace", Josh Beckett couldn't hold it together. He gave up the winning runs in last night's game taking his record to 4-3. Remember last year when he was 9-0 and had 20 wins? What do you think the odds are that's gonna happen this year? We won't talk about Dice-K. I still don't know how you walk 8 and get the win, it sounds like a bad math problem.

As for the relief team, let's see... Tavarez's ERA is 6.39. Timlin's ERA may be 9.00 now, but a month ago it was 81.00. Craig Hansen's ERA is 8.44. Manny Delcarmen's is 6.14. Those are our center relief guys. Those are the guys we look to when our starters need to leave the game sooner than expected. These are the guys we shouldn't have to worry about. But just because we shouldn't doesn't mean we don't. Only four relief pitchers on the Red Sox staff have an ERA below 4.00. Only 4. That's a problem.

As for the number of guys the Sox leave on base, well, that's been a problem for as long as I can remember. They may even be known for it. Every year the Sox lead the league in number of men left on base and based on this road trip, that's not going to change any time soon. Tonight the Sox got 12 hits, yet only three men crossed home plate. Last night they had 20 men on base. But again only four of them came home. And as Dad pointed out, if you don't come home, you don't score. And if you don't score, you don't win.

If the Sox can fix at least one of these problems I'm willing to bet those losses will become wins. But if they can't fix them, the Sox may not see the post season, let alone the championship.

Well, tomorrow's a new day; one which the Sox have off. Then Friday it's back to Fenway for a seven game home stand and the beginning of interleague play. Hopefully this will be the beginning of new kind of streak - one where the Sox win.

On a side note, Manny's amazing play in the 4th not only made the highlights in tonight's Baseball Tonight, and was the #4 Web Gem (why it wasn't #1 I have no idea), it inspired a Manny Being Manny clip reel. Boy he's got some doozies. Included in the reel were his disappearing act into the green monster in the middle of an inning, and acting as the cutoff guy for a Johnny Damon throw. Keep in mind, he was maybe ten feet away from Damon when he decided to cut off the throw. There have been some great moments for the left fielder, but tonight's high five to the fan then the throw to get the double play at first, is definitely my number one.