Monday, September 26, 2011

Lester & Beckett: A September Disgrace

The AL Wild Card race is now officially a tie after 160 games.

A complete and utter disgrace.

The two so-called "aces" of the Red Sox staff, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, are a big reason why the Red Sox are in the dire straits they are right now.

They are an absolutely putrid 1-5 combined with an ERA of 8.18 since September 11th.

And again tonight against a team the Red Sox should (and absolutely needed to) beat, Beckett spit the bit again. He allowed four runs in the sixth inning, six in total in those six innings. His walks killed the Red Sox, and it led to Robert Andino's inside-the-park home run, a ball that Jacoby Ellsbury made a terrific grab of, but lost it when he hit the wall. It was not Ellsbury's fault. It would have been a fabulous catch had he made it.

The offense doesn't get off in all this. The Sox wasted opportunities early, and after the score became 6-2, they rolled over like beaten dogs. They even loaded the bases in the 8th with one out, but naturally did nothing.

So much for the optimism after last night's emotional 14-inning win. Before this game, I thought that this game would tell us all we needed to know about this team. This was a MUST WIN, pure and simple.

Where's the guts? Where's the heart? And where's the pride?

I don't see it.

The Red Sox are now under a .250 winning percentage for the entire month of September (6-19). It is their worst September since 1962.

Last time they had a below .250 winning percentage for a month: April of 1966 (3-10).

Simply shameful.

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