The Red Sox lost again and were swept as the Rays pitchers once again held the Sox batters in check. Some thoughts on the game:
Josh Beckett made his start after missing his last because of a strained neck. He was incredibly effective, throwing his best game since the playoffs. His 13 strikeouts were the most for any one game in his career. Beckett did exactly what the Sox will need from him this year: seven innings, scatter the hits and limit the walks. Although the Sox got swept, the Sox starters for the series pitched six, eight, and seven innings, while giving up only six earned runs. If the Sox can continue to look forward to these kinds of performances, there will not be too many sweeps against the Sox this year.
Someone remarked after yesterday’s recap that I did not give the Rays any credit for pitching such a good game yesterday and limiting the Sox to just one run, and that I was implying that the Sox should win every game. That was not my intent, and I should have given just credit where it is deserved. The Rays are easily my second favorite team after the Sox, and they have some great young players, and played their hearts out this series. The Rays combination of surprisingly great starting pitching and a healthy mix of small-ball offense and power has gotten the Rays off to a great start. Everyone acknowledged that the Rays have enough offensive talent to keep pace with the best offenses in the A.L., but the Rays were written off because of their lack of pitching talent. The Rays have a serious chance at finishing above .500 this year, which is no mean feat given the other circumstances surrounding the A.L. East. They will be a serious problem for the other East teams that have playoff aspirations.
Although the Sox were out-pitched this series, the offense has to be a serious concern. The Rays got great starts out Matt Garza and James Shields, but the Sox will be facing tougher competition once the season continues to role on. When the offense was sputtering earlier on in the year, it was because of the top of the lineup. Now, it is the power guys in the lineup who are not producing in the clutch. Manny Ramirez had a good series, and continued to raise his average, but he is not getting timely hits and extra base hits. Hopefully, with Mike Lowell on the mend, the Sox can start to drive in runs again. To have the top three batting averages in the A.L. is nice, but the batting averages do not mean much if nobody is hitting with runners on base.
The Sox get their first off-day in three weeks tomorrow, so look for this recap on Tuesday as the Sox open up a home series against the Blue Jays. (To view all previous recaps, follow this link.)
Keep the Faith.