The last time the Boston Red Sox were in Oakland, David Ortiz hit his 400th homer but his team couldn’t put up any offense against the Oakland Athletics. And even without Big Papi in the lineup last night, it was more of the same.
In fact, it was the A’s who showed the offense as they put up 19 hits in a 20-2 win over the visiting nine.
Now if manager Bobby Valentine thought the Red Sox had hit rock bottom in April when the bullpen blew that big lead against the New York Yankees, I wouldn’t even know what to call what happened last night. One word that comes to mind is embarrassing.
It was the worst loss the Red Sox have suffered this year. They did lose 18-3 to the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park. At least this one came on the road.
If you want to look at the bright spots last night, the only pitcher to not give up a run was Junichi Tazawa. And Dustin Pedroia had two hits for the offense while Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 23rd home run of the season.
The Red Sox were done in by their former players last night.
Josh Reddick went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, those coming on a grand slam in a nine-run 7th inning. Brandon Moss had four straight hits and finished the night 4-for-5 with four RBIs including two on a home run off of Alfredo Aceves in the 5th inning. Even George Kottaras got in on the action with three hits, including two home runs. He knocked in five runs on the night.
The only former member of the Red Sox not to do any damage against them was Coco Crisp, who went 0-for-5 with a walk and a run scored.
Yes the Red Sox threw in the towel when they made that big deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. But I’m pretty sure that no one thought they would fall this far so quickly.
There’s still some talent on this team with some being the key word. I understand getting the young guys some time as they’ll be counted on in the future. But last night was just plain old ugly.
I know those guys are out there fighting as hard as they can as some of them are playing for jobs next season, whether it be with the Red Sox or another club.
The one thing we can only hope that happens is that they put the loss behind them and try to do the same thing the A’s did to them tonight. Otherwise, the only people watching this team, at least on television, will be folks at NESN.
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.
To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click
Sox are thoroughly thumped [boston globe]
Taking ownership [boston globe]
Don’t count on the numbers [boston globe]
Healthy again, Hill is set to make his return [boston globe]
Sox annihilated by slugging A’s [boston herald]
Ross carries on in solid season and wants more [boston herald]
Sox seeking right stuff [boston herald]
Bard relieved to be back [boston herald]
Kalish inspired by Reddick rise [boston herald]
Former friends humiliate Red Sox, 20-2 [csn new england]
Bard happy to be back with Boston [csn new england]
Rapid Reaction: Athletics 20, Red Sox 2 [espn boston]
Sox seem to be cratering in California [espn boston]
Former Red Sox Farmhands Have Fun Night Beating Down Boston’s Bullpen [nesn.com]
Red Sox Commitment to ‘Discipline’ Won’t Keep Ben Cherington From Being Aggressive in Offseason [nesn.com]
Red Sox will hold off on September callups [redsox.com]
Hill to rejoin Red Sox bullpen as roster expands [redsox.com]
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, be sure to head over to the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle websites.
Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.
photo credit: ap photo
