Red Sox Record for the Week of August 3: 0-6
The Boston Red Sox could not have picked a worse time to be knee deep in its worst collective slump of the season, having lost all four games to the New York Yankees and before that, two to Tampa Bay last week. The fact that they scored just two runs in its last 34 innings against the Yankees says everything you need to know about how poorly the Sox offense has been lately. The Sox are also in the middle of a 13-straight game stretch without a day off, going 0-6 thus far, and its only four home games in this lengthy period starts Monday night.
By contrast, the Yankees are peaking at the right time, having won seven in a row after Sunday night’s 5-2 comeback victory over Boston at the new Yankee Stadium, and owning the best record in the majors at 69-42. And that’s bad news not just for the Red Sox but for everyone else in the AL East.
Going into Monday’s games, the Yankees have a season-high six-and-a-half game lead over their arch rivals, and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Bronx Bombers have never lost an American League lead of more than six games in its history. Therefore, the Sox (and by extension Tampa Bay) can all but say goodbye to the AL East division title and focus its attention to the Wild Card standings, where they are tied for first-place with Texas through Sunday’s games.
This time a week ago, the Sox were one-half game out of first-place. So, what the hell happened? Last Tuesday in Tampa Bay, Jon Lester threw 110 pitches over six innings and allowed one run. But Sox manager Terry Francona had to turn the game over to the bullpen for the final nine outs after Lester started the seventh by beaning Carlos Pena. Tito’s first mistake was leaving rookie Daniel Bard in too long, as he walked two and gave up two hits, including the game-tying solo homer to Evan Longoria to start off the eighth, but Bard got away with not being responsible for any more damage as Manny Delcarmen inherited Bard’s bases load jam and got out of it unscathed.
Tito’s other mistake (but not according to him) was pitching to and not walking Longoria in the 13th inning, as he went on to hit a two-run shot off Takashi Saito to win the game 4-2. For what it’s worth, I thought Saito should have intentionally walked Longoria and pitched to a struggling Ben Zobrist, who went 0-4 that night. But even if the Sox survived that inning, the way the offense was hitting (only seven hits in 13 innings), they were going to lose anyway because the bullpen was all used up – Clay Buchholz would’ve made a rare relief appearance, starting in the 14th inning had the game gone that far.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
They say that the Red Sox don't want to trade Smoltz to a contender, and I have to ask: WTF? If I'm the Sox, I'd WANT to trade him to, say, the Yankees, based on how well he's pitched.
2 - Charlie
Yeah, I see your point (hah!) but I've lived long enough to see how ex-Sox players in opposing uniforms come back from mediocrity to haunt them (i.e. Tony Pena's GW-HR for Cleveland in the '95 Playoffs, John Flaherty breaking up a Pedro no-no, etc.). In other words, I don't want to chance it.
Smoltz just cleared waivers, so I think he's gonna end up with the Dodgers (probably in the bullpen). It's very unlikely he will report to Pawtucket and take a bullpen role here with the Sox unless he wants to be the long man. But I don't think he sees himself doing that. We'll see.
3 - Tony
Tainted supplements. That's really funny. Yeah, the guys making the andro accidently let a batch of their illegal steroids get "mixed in" with the legal, cheaper, over-the-counter stuff (and considering the difference between the two is essentially a molecule that would tough). It would be kind of like Red Bull saying opps, we accidently threw some blow into a batch of our energy drinks, so you if you piss dirty just tell your probation officer that it was the dirty Red Bull. And as far as him not saying what he tested positive for, I'm sure if it was some greenies or hightened creatine levels, he would have been more than forthcoming. if it was anything but steroids it would have served his interests to reveal the info.
4 - Charlie
Tony, thanks for the comments. First, andro was a legal supplement for a long time, even in 2003. I don't know - only he does - if Ortiz took that but if he did, that's fine because it was a legal performance enhancer and not a hardcore injectable steroid (like Winstrol,Deca Durabolin or whatever it's called that Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzales allegedly took).
Second, creatine is not a steroid or drug of any kind. It is actually found in your body (in addition to meat and fish) and as creatine monohydrate is a dietary supplement.
Athletes legally take it for energy while building up muscles but I took it for a long while (and still do from time to time) because it is a proven energy and strength booster for people like me who live with neurological/mitochondrial disorders. You can get creatine in any health store over the counter. So if Ortiz took creatine then or now, he would have no reason to hide that from the public.
5 - Tony
- First, I know quite a bit about andro because I took it at one time. I know it was legal. What David said was that he bought tainted andro that actually had real steroids in it which is bullshit.
- I also took various forms of creatine for a very long time, including suppliments containing creatine like NOEXPLOAD. I also know that is legal but I'm pretty sure its on the mlb banned list. But since it is legal, my point was that if he had only taken something like creatine (if that is infact banned by the mlb) than he would come out and saying it. Him not admitting to what he took -- or lieing about tainted andro -- proves him a liar.
6 - chucko
Wrong Tony! David NEVER said he bought andro. And no, creatine is not banned in ANY major sport, including MLB. Try again. (use the google machine at your peril)
And as far as Ortiz being a liar because he hasn't admitted to what he took in 2003, that doesn't make any sense and you have to know that. Yes, I have a hard time believing he has no clue what made him test positive in 2003, but to call him a LIAR is wrong.
Once he finds out the test result and drug that made him test positive, THEN he's obligated to figure out and tell us what supplements tested him positive.
Apparently the way it works is that Ortiz has to count on the MLBPA getting that test result from the feds - not an easy task. And whenever Ortiz learns the name of the drug that the feds say he took, assuming he doesn't fight the test results and thinks it's legit, he needs to get a list of all supplements out there in the Dominican that contained such drug.
And if after all that Ortiz can't remember which supplement he took that was tainted with illegal PEDS, only THEN will I call BULLSHIT and agree with you. But to do this now is way too premature.
7 - Tony
Oh my bad, it was the other Red Sox Bronson Arroyo who said he is probably on the list because of tainted andro. Ortiz just took "careless suppliments." ha ha ha
Nice to see Creatine isn't on the list. I never stated it was, I said I figured it probably would be, makinng that guess based on the leagues usual knowledge of suppliments.