Infuriating

The Red Sox let another win get away, a really infuriating 4-3 loss to the lowly Seattle Mariners last night. Once again, David Wells pitched another gem over seven innings, and came away without a win. The bullpen continues to be the ruination of this team. Mike Timlin gave up 2 runs in the eighth, blowing a 3-2 lead, and now the Seattle Mariners have won the series. The Sox will attempt to avoid the sweep this afternoon, with Kyle Snyder going for the Sox.

The anger is just compounded by the fact the Yankees have dropped four of five so far on their West Coast trip. A golden opportunity to make up for last weekend is being totally wasted. This was a trip that the Red Sox needed to win at least 6 of the 9 games they are playing out there. Now they need to win today, and sweep the first-place Oakland A's this week to do that.

As bad as the sweep at the hands of the Yankees was last weekend, it doesn't bother me as much as the series losses over the last month to Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Seattle twice (remember they lost two of three in Seattle in late July). You have to beat up on the AL bottom feeders, and the Red Sox have not done that. The press will harp over the Yankees series, but the lousy losses against the crappy teams hurt worse.

And it now appears that Mike Timlin's great career may be at an end. Since he came off the DL in June, he's been nearly useless. In the last nine days, Timlin’s gone 4.1 innings, given up 7 earned runs, blown 2 saves, and picked up 2 losses. It's more sad than anything to watch Timlin fail so miserably. I have a lot of great respect for him and the way he plays the game. He's earned the nickname "Sarge" from the Red Sox faithful for his gung-ho approach to pitching.

Timlin will have my everlasting respect for his vital role on the 2004 World Champions. I will also never forget his almost flawless 2003 postseason, and the way he stepped into the closer role and did an admirable job helping the Red Sox get to the 2005 postseason. He proved to be a money reliever, but now it appears to be over for him. I would hope he would announce his retirement by season's end so he can go out with some respect and dignity, and not try to hang on too long, like so many have done.