Red Sox News & Notes – 4/13

J.D. Drew(notes) #7 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after he struck out in the bottom of the ninth inning as Kelly Shoppach(notes) #10 of the Tampa Bay Rays catches on April 12, 2011 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2.

Guess who has the worst record in all of Major League Baseball right now? Give up?? Well it’s the beloved Boston Red Sox who fell to a MLB-worst 2-9 last night in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. By the way, the Rays have the second worst record at 3-8 along with the Houston Astros.

Last night was a matchup of two of the best lefties in the game in Jon Lester and David Price. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, it was one bad inning from Lester in an otherwise great night for him that cost them the game. Well that and the fact that the clutch hit just didn’t come again when they needed it.

The bad inning came in the fifth when Lester had retired seven of the last eight batters he had faced and had former Red Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach down 0-2 in the count with one out. He hung a curveball to Shoppach who laced a single. Singles by Dan Johnson and Elliot Johnson loaded the bases up for New Hampshire native Sam Fuld.

Fuld brought in a run on a fielder’s choice when first baseman Adrian Gonzalez saw his throw home be just a split-second late. Johnny Damon followed that up with a 2-run single and just like that the Red Sox were behind 3-1. They had taken the lead in the third when Darnell McDonald hit a no-doubter home run to left.

Jed Lowrie got them back to within 3-2 with a RBI double in the 6th inning but after that the Red Sox failed to push another run across the plate. He did get another chance to tie the game but flew out with Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis on base in the 8th.

If it weren’t for that one bad inning who knows what could have happened.

Lester’s stuff was pretty good as he worked both sides of the plate with all of his pitches. He took the loss after going seven innings, allowing the three runs on seven hits and two walks. Lester did strikeout eight Rays. Daniel Bard and Bobby Jenks kept the Red Sox in the game with scoreless innings.

Lowrie had two of the five Red Sox hits on the night and both were doubles. Pedroia also added a double with Youk’s single off the wall in the 4th and DMac’s home run in the third accounting for the other hit.

This team is too good to be this bad right now. The baseball is just not falling for them right now. There’s way too much talent on this team and you know they’re not going to stand for losing like this every night. When everything comes together for them, they really could get on a roll.

Let’s just hope that it’s not too late when things finally decide to come together.

We’ll be back later today with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day but enjoy the overnight links by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

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When does it stop being early for Red Sox? [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Down cycle [Boston Globe]

It’s a roll of the dice [Boston Globe]

Youkilis takes a turn at DH [Boston Globe]

Red Sox just not good enough [Boston Herald]

Club can only roll Dice with Matsuzaka [Boston Herald]

Johnny Damon won’t wear Sox if Cooperstown calls [Boston Herald]

Darnell McDonald shows off his April powers [Boston Herald]

Jed Lowrie makes case [Boston Herald]

Hesitation from Adrian Gonzalez costly [Boston Herald]

This has got to stop at some point, right? [Clubhouse Insider]