For Some Reason the Red Sox Can't Win

Dad --

That's all that needs to be said about the last four games. At the beginning of the weekend our magic number to win the Wild Card was three. You'd think the Red Sox could get at least a couple wins against the Yankees and Blue Jays, but no such luck.

Friday it was Joba Chamberlain vs. Jon Lester. It should've been an easy win since Lester's been great and Chamberlain has been sucking. But I guess they decided to swith places on Friday because Chamberlain was lights out through six and Lester didn't make it out of the 3 inning. Lester's early departure was due to the line drive off his knee causing every Red Sox fan to hold their breath. But he wasn't doing that great before he left anyway. Thankfully Lester only has a contusion on his quad and is expected to make his next start on Thursday.

Saturday as you said was more of the same, but Dice-K's definitely back on track.

Sunday there was a glimmer of hope when the Red Sox actually led going into the sixth inning. But Byrd fell apart giving up three runs to put the Yanks ahead and then Bard allowed the men in stripes to tack on an insurance run in the 9th.

But it wasn't just the pitching that was at fault this weekend in the Bronx, our bats were no where to be found. They made a little noise on Friday, but then slept through the rest of the weekend.

I thought the bats would wake up when the Sox came back to the Fens, but no such luck. More quiet bats coupled with Bowden, a rookie pitcher who was put in at the last minute because Beckett was having back spasms in his left shoulder, equaled the Blue Jays scoring 7 runs in the first three innings.

It looked like there might be hope in the seventh, when the Sox had men on second and third with one run already in and only one out but I guess mother nature was sick of the game and decided it would be a good time for a torrential down pour. They pulled the tarp and Red Sox Nation hoped the rains would disappear as quickly as they showed up so we could finish the game and get the win. Unfortunately our hopes were dashed when after 90 minutes the rain was still teeming and the game was called, which means the Jays won 11-5.

There was one small ray of light in last night's game though. The Rangers were slaughtered yesterday by the Angels which as I said means - the Red Sox magic number is down to one. Hopefully we can win tonight and stop worrying about whether or not we're going to make the post season.

Jenn