It's All Bad - Jenn

Last night Wake was on the cusp of getting another game in the win column. He'd done everything he needed to through seven innings and while the Red Sox bats weren't loud enough to slam the door on the O's, they'd done enough damage to give the Sox a lead. So Wake left the game with Okie scheduled for the 8th and Papelbon for the 9th. But Papelbon would never see the 9th, thanks to his set-up man.

There's no question this year's Okajima isn't the same pitcher we saw last year. While his ERA has somehow stayed well-below 1, his performances tell another story. Of the 24 games in which he's pitched this season, he's allowed at least one man to reach base in 17 of them. That's not a good ratio. But in all those previous games Okie's only allowed at most three men to reach base. Evidently three wasn't good enough.

Last night he topped all his outings so far by allowing a whopping six men to reach base. Of those six, four turned into runs, all of them earned. Those four runs would give the O's back their lead and finally allow them to snap their losing streak. Okie may have had an ERA of .72 when he started last night's 8th inning, but by the time he left, that ERA had ballooned to 2.10. It's a sad thing when not one member of your bullpen has an ERA below 2. Unfortunately that wasn't the worst news of the night.

No, the worst news came after the game when Red Sox Nation heard that our beloved designated hitter, David Ortiz, has a partially torn ECU tendon sheath which will place him on the DL indefinitely. Ortiz's wrist will be immobilized by a soft cast in hopes that the tear will heal on its own. While Francona said that he believes surgery to be "very unlikely", they won't know anything definitive for at least a few weeks.

It's a blow to the Sox clubhouse and Nation alike. After a tough start to the season, Papi's batting average had finally climbed to a respectable .252 with 13 homers and 43 RBIs. It's tough to lose that stat in your lineup, but with the pressure of reaching 500 off his shoulders, Manny's heating up again, and Lowell, Youkilis, and Ellsbury are all producing as well. The fact of the matter is, we don't know how this will effect the Red Sox. Hopefully Francona's words hold true and we'll see Papi swinging the bat in a month or so. Until then, I guess the rest of the line-up will have to step up starting tonight with their first game against the AL-East leading Rays.