Monday, July 26, 2010

SOX FIND MORE WAYS TO LOSE

The Sox now find themselves 8 games behind New York, and 5 behind Tampa Bay, thanks in no small part to an unfortunate weekend in Seattle. The Mariners are more than 20 games below .500, yet they looked the better team, splitting a 4 game set with the Sox.

There was good starting pitching, but no offense, and an atrocious bullpen. Jerry Remy described Okajima's appearance in Sunday's loss as a "trainwreck," and that's extremely accurate. He allowed 2 runs off 5 hits, getting only 2 men out. This swelled his ERA to 5.81.

Matsuzaka was an accomplice to the crime. He had a nice 6 inning start, but in vintage Daisuke style, needed 110 pitches to get that far. He walked 5 and allowed 4 hits.

The Sox have an awful record against awful teams this season. They're 6-6 against Baltimore, 2-2 against Cleveland, 4-3 against the Royals, and 2-2 against the Mariners. That's a 14-13 record against the 4 worst teams in the AL. Inexcusable.

Thankfully, the Sox take on a good team down in Anaheim. They're 4-0 against the Angels so far. Buchholz opposes Joel Pineiro at 10 tonight.