Sunday, August 16, 2009

SOX GO DOWN IN THE HEAT OF TEXAS


The Sox have lost 8 of their last 9 road games. And when visiting teams that are .500+, the Sox are 1-12 since the All-Star break. In the playoffs, you face good teams, and you face them on the road. The Red Sox, right now, do not look like a playoff team.

Junichi Tazawa was decent for 5 innings, and second-guessers will argue that he shouldn't have been out there for the 6th. But the Sox bullpen has been so depleted, so worn down, and hasn't exactly been lights out either. I have no problems with trying to get a few more outs from Tazawa.

This is do or die time for the Sox. They had a chance to knock Tampa Bay out of contention last week and failed. They had a chance to regain the AL East lead in New York, and instead dug themselves into a hole. They had a chance to build a Wild Card cushion with the Rangers, but now they're on the outside looking in. The Sox have been doing considerably more dying than doing the past few days.

Things don't get too much better. The Sox travel up to Toronto, which has been a house of horrors for them in 2009. Tuesday night Josh Beckett faces Ricky Romero, who the Sox have knocked around quite a bit.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/LM Otero