Red Sox News & Notes – 9/12

Tampa Bay Rays' B.J. Upton(notes) celebrates with teammates after hitting a grand slam during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

I’m guessing that any store in the Boston area that carries buttons will sell out of them today,. Especially with what Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz said after Sunday’s 9-1 drubbing by the Tampa Bay Rays.

“Hell yeah, you’ve got to panic at this point, but you’re not going to do anything panicking but playing better,” said Ortiz. “Of course you’re freaked out, you go on this road trip, 1-6, it’s not good. We’ve got these guys breathing down our necks and we’re not in first place, either.”

Jon Lester, probably the most consistent pitcher this season besides Josh Beckett for the Red Sox, was anything but that on Sunday. While he only allowed four runs, the problem was that he only lasted four innings due to a pitch count of 111. 43 of those pitches came in the first inning when he allowed three runs that put the team in a hole they wouldn’t recover from against Rays starter James Shields.

Part of the problem with Lester’s high pitch count was issuing three walks. The other part of the problem was that wasn’t entirely in his control as the Rays were fouling off pitches left and right.

But at a time where the Red Sox needed their ace, he failed them. However, I wouldn’t expect a repeat of this going forward from him.

You really have to wonder if there’s anyone in the Red Sox bullpen right now that Terry Francona trusts besides Jonathan Papelbon. You could throw Daniel Bard into that mix too but he’s struggled lately.

Michael Bowden couldn’t get out of the 5th, leaving the bases loaded for Matt Albers. Unfortunately, Bowden would be charged with three runs when Albers served up a grand salami to B.J. Upton.

Yes the Red Sox are free falling through the standings right now. They now trail the New York Yankees by 3.5 games in the AL East standings. Their lead in the AL Wild Card is down to 3.5 games with the Rays. And with four games coming up against the Rays this weekend in Beantown, the Red Sox need to figure out how to beat their starting pitching.

If not, it’s going to be a LONG offseason.

With the local nine off today, we’ll be back in a bit with the pitching matchups. But for now, enjoy the overnight links below by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

Anatomy of a swoon: Why the Red Sox are reeling [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Malaise sweeps Sox [Boston Globe]

Words needed to avoid utter disaster? [Boston Globe]

Beckett to throw off mound [Boston Globe]

Rays close in on wild card lead [Boston Herald]

Adrian Gonzalez draws on pennant races past [Boston Herald]

Good news on hurting hurlers [Boston Herald]

Little things adding up for sloppy Red Sox [Boston Herald]

Rough trip ends in 9-1 loss to Rays [CSN New England]

Sox: ‘We’ve overcome a lot worse than this’ [CSN New England]

In big situation, Lester comes up small [CSN New England]