After Clay Buchholz gave the Boston Red Sox a serviceable outing last night, the bullpen, which had been perfect since the All-Star break, decided to do a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impression last night.
While the total blame can’t fall on Jonathan Papelbon and Nick Green, it was Papelbon’s control issues and Green’s throwing errors that allowed the Oakland A’s to come back in the first place. For whatever reason, Papelbon rarely has a 1-2-3 save opportunity any more. It didn’t help he walked the first batter he faced and then it was downhill from there.
What gets me is that when Terry Francona uses Papelbon in a non-save situation to get some work in, Papelbon is usually lights out. Now this is a guy who thrives on a pressure and feeds off of it but this year he’s probably caused more heart attacks in New England than we even know about.
Buchholz, who’s been the subject of trade rumors all week, was just okay. He had a little case of Brad Penny-itis last night with his pitch count but was able to get through 6 innings and kept the Red Sox out front. Unfortunately for him, the bullpen wasn’t cooperative.
The hitting slump for the local nine seems to be a thing of the past as they had 14 hits last night. It’s just too bad the pitching staff combined to give up 21 hits.
With the Yankees losing yesterday, this was a prime opportunity for the Red Sox to get back to within 1.5 games. With a big road trip looming this Friday against the Orioles, Rays and Yanks, this win would have been nice. The upcoming road trip could determine whether the Red Sox contend for the division or play for the wild card.
As we get closer to Friday, expect the trade rumors to heat up. I’ll do my best to pass on what I see but you can always check out MLB Trade Rumors for the latest rumors involving the Red Sox and the 29 other teams.
Sox are up and down [Boston Globe]
Sharp replies issued [Boston Globe]
This is getting dicey [Boston Globe]
Learning curve for Buchholz [Boston Globe]
Bullpen thrown for a tough loss [Boston Globe]
Red Sox Bullpen Melts Down In 11-inning Loss To A’s [Hartford Courant]
Red Sox-Roy Halladay Trade Rumors Continue [Hartford Courant]
Red Sox, Matsuzaka At Odds Over Training [Hartford Courant]
Jonathan Papelbon, bullpen fail Red Sox [Boston Herald]
Daisuke Matsuzaka airs dirty laundry in media [Boston Herald]
Red Sox in on Roy Halladay sweepstakes [Boston Herald]
Red Sox unveil No. 14 among Fenway elite [Boston Herald]
Clay Buchholz has nothing to show for his work [Boston Herald]
Daisuke Matszuaka wants to do it his Way [Boston Herald]
Rice opens up: It can’t get any better than that [Full Count]
Wednesday Quickie: Lots of Hits. No HR. [Nuggetpalooza]
Sox get no relief, let one slip away vs. Oakland [Providence Journal]
Dice-K story has Sox officials seeing red [Providence Journal]
Number-retiring ceremony for Rice a Fenway lovefest [Providence Journal]
Buchholz’s solid start lost in the shuffle of defeat [Providence Journal]
Green’s ninth-inning miscues prove costly [Providence Journal]
A rare meltdown for the bullpen [Providence Journal]
Five Things We Learned: The Sox Have Plenty of Chips for a Deal – But Will They Choose To Use Them? [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if you want to see what the enemy papers are saying, head over to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times websites.
