Another One of Those Nights

Another night at Fenway with the Colorado Rockies, another pathetic effort by the home team.

Josh Beckett had nothing from the get-go, and the Red Sox left an absolutely staggering 14 men on base while scoring just a single run, in another absymal game played by the Red Sox, a 7-1 loss to the mediocre Colorado Rockies.

Their lead is now down to 7 1/2 games. (Doesn't it seem like months ago they were up by 14 1/2 over New York?) Their play right now is incredibly uninspired. The Red Sox have the look of a team going through the motions, like it's late September and they are 20 games out. I know they were due for a slump, as they weren't going to click on all cylinders the entire year. All they did by slumping now is give the Yankees and their fans hope, and let them back in the race.

The numbers from this series are truly ugly.

They lost the last two games by a combined score of 19-3, to a team that trotted out starters with a combined record of 6-10. They could score only five runs in losing this series at home. (They were truly fortunate that Tim Wakefield pitched such a gem on Tuesday.) These are the kind of pitchers the Red Sox should feast on. The boo-birds were out in full force tonight for Coco Crisp, Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew. No longer can these guys hide behind the Red Sox fast start. The Red Sox continue to leave runners everywhere, and simply can't get a clutch hit from anyone.

Josh Beckett took his first loss of the year, after a tremendous 9-0 start. He couldn't get his curve ball over, and gave up a grand slam to Garrett Atkins (who had been struggling most of the year, figures). The score was 5-0 after three innings, after the Sox left two on in the first and the bases loaded in the second. When they left them loaded then, I turned to one of my friends and said, "it's going to be another one of those nights."

It sure was.

The only good part of the night was author Seth Mnookin's appearance at Professor Thom's, talking about his terrific book, "Feeding The Monster." Seth talked about the book and the Sox to the fans gathered, and autographed copies of the book (including mine). He's a really nice guy and it was nice chatting with him. I only wish we could have a better game to enjoy together.