Apparently, the season is over for the Boston Red Sox. And with the way things have been going, it looks like it’s been over for a long while now.
They’ve had the perfect chance to play spoiler over the final three weeks of the season. But they haven’t done diddly squat in that department.
Using what amounts to a spring training lineup against one of the most powerful offenses in the league in the New York Yankees, the Red Sox were spanked 10-2. The Yankees win coupled with the Baltimore Orioles loss to the Tampa Bay Rays allowed the Yanks to pull ahead of the O’s by a game in the AL East race with two games to play.
Even with the win, the Rays were eliminated from the AL Wild Card race as the Oakland A’s won. And with that A’s all five teams in the AL Playoffs have been determined (Yankees, Orioles, Tigers, A’s, Rangers). But seeding is still left to be determined.
As I stated above, the Yanks lead the Orioles by one game with two to play. The same goes for the Texas Rangers who lead the A’s by a game with two to play in the AL West. The A’s do control their own destiny as they are playing the Rangers and two more wins gives the A’s the AL West crown. And to complicate matters more, the Orioles and A’s are tied atop the Wild Card standings for home field advantage in the one game playoff slated for Friday.
Clay Buchholz was hoping to finish off his 2012 season with a strong start. It was far from that. By the time all was said and done, Buchholz lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing eight runs on six hits and two walks. Three of the six hits allowed were home runs.
All of the runs allowed and charged to Buchholz came in the second inning when the Yankees sent 13 batters to the plate.
Robinson Cano started it off with a solo home run. Buchholz then struck out Mark Teixeira that was followed by a Nick Swisher single. Curtis Granderson made it 3-0 with a two-run homer and Russell Martin made it 4-0 as he went back-to-back with the Grandyman. Walks to Eric Chavez and Derek Jeter plus a single by Ichiro Suzuki loaded the sacks full Alex Rodriguez who made the second out of the inning with a sac fly.
Cano chased Buchholz from the game with a two-run double to make it 7-0. Then Teixeira greeted an Alfredo Aceves 87 MPH pitch by whacking it out of the park to make it 9-0.
And given the spring training lineup that Bobby Valentine put out there, this one was over. You can’t fault Valentine for the lineup though.
Dustin Pedroia likely broke his finger when he slid into second on Sunday and Jacoby Ellsbury has been bothered a by a lat strain the past few weeks. So right there, you’re taking out two of your better hitters and guys who can get on base.
Che-Husan Lin led the Sox with two hits. Daniel Nava‘s one hit was good for a solo home run. The other run for the visiting nine came on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia sac fly in the seventh.
Hopefully the Red Sox can put forth a little better effort tonight. It’d be nice to see them play spoiler.
And oh by the way, one more loss for the Red Sox clinches last place in the AL East.
We’ll be back later with today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let’s take a look at the overnight links from the media.
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Buchholz, Sox stink [boston herald]
Grand finale a bad joke [boston herald]
Yanks control their own fate [boston herald]
Pedey’s season comes to close [boston herald]
Thumbs-up on Bailey for next year [boston herald]
X-rays reveal Pedroia’s finger broken [rob bradford – weei.com]
David Ortiz insists this offseason won’t resemble his last one [rob bradford – weei.com]
Yanks get 9 in 2nd, blow out Sox, 10-2 [csn new england]
Not the ending Buchholz, or Red Sox, wanted [csn new england]
Pedroia has fractured finger, won’t play final 2 games [csn new england]
Ortiz: 2012 ‘disaster all the way around’ [espn boston]
Rapid Reaction: Yankees 10, Red Sox 2 [espn boston]
Pedroia confirms broken finger [espn boston]
Boston Red Sox need David Ortiz now more than ever [espn boston]
Was this the worst Red Sox rotation ever? [full count]
Ryan Lavarnway Improved ‘An Awful Lot’ Defensively, Looks to Regain Stride at Plate [nesn.com]
Will Middlebrooks Takes Batting Practice For First Time Since Suffering Broken Wrist [nesn.com]
Red Sox Simply Playing Out Their Hand as Depleted Lineup Inches Closer to Season’s End [nesn.com]
Red Sox Cautious With Wrist Injuries to Will Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava After Carl Crawford Woes [nesn.com]
Eddie Bane’s Hiring Shows Red Sox Are Tweaking New-School Approach to Talent Evaluation [nesn.com]
Strapped by injuries, Valentine’s lineup not viable [redsox.com]
Pedroia has fractured finger; season likely over [redsox.com]
Lavarnway struggling to find groove at plate [redsox.com]
Hand healing, Sweeney expects normal offseason [redsox.com]
Red Sox’s belly flop spoils mood for Orioles, baseball fans hungry for thrilling finale [yahoo! sports]
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New England, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over to the ESPN New York, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times and The Journal News websites. You can also check out our Bloguin brother, NYY Stadium Insider.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
