Some would say that Jon Lester stunk as bad as a certain rest stop leaving New York as you get on the New Jersey Turnpike on Saturday afternoon against the New York Yankees. After the game, the Boston Red Sox pitcher said “I stink”.
And by stink he didn’t mean from the sweat that he built up but rather another craptastic pitching performance that lead to the a 9-1 whooping by the Yanks.
The loss hurts because the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland A’s were no help like they were on Friday night. With their win over the Jays, the Tampa Bay Rays are now 1.5 games behind the Red Sox. The magic number for the Red Sox to make the playoffs remains at four. And with their win over the A’s, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are just 2.5 games back. The magic number to eliminate the Halos also remains at three games.
I’m not sure if total blame should fall on Lester though.
Had Mike Aviles covered third on Andruw Jones grounder to Marco Scutaro at short in the 2nd inning, Scutaro might have been able to get a force out for the second out of the inning. But Aviles inexperience at the position showed and it hurt the Red Sox.
We’ve seen Carl Crawford make some great catches against us when he was a member of the Rays. With the Red Sox though, we’ve seen maybe a glimpse but nothing more.
The next batter in that same inning, Yanks phenom Jesus Montero, hit a sinking liner to left. Crawford slid to make the catch but was unable to catch it allowing the first runner of the game to score. After Russell Martin singled in two more runs, Derek Jeter put the exclamation point on the rout with a three-run blast.
So you see, those two plays contributed to the desmise of Lester whether you want to believe it or not.
Either way, the Red Sox are not playing very good baseball. They’ve gone from a solid defensive club to one that looks like it belongs in little league at times. The offense is streaky and right now they are in one of those funks.
I always remember the saying, “baseball can be a funny game”. You can take it so many ways.
How many times have we seen everything click or not click between the offense, defense and pitching? You rarely ever see all three things not working at the same time but that’s exactly what’s going on right now.
It’s quite conceivable that end of the day today, the Red Sox could find themselves in a tie for the AL Wild Card with the Rays. All that needs to happen is the Red Sox lose the doubleheader to the Yanks and the Rays win. And just like that, what was once a comfortable lead will have vanished.
We certainly hope it doesn’t come to that.
We’ll be back later with this afternoon’s lineups for game one of the doubleheader, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now, enjoy the overnight links by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
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What happened to Carl Crawford’s defense? [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]
Lineup shuffled, team decked [Boston Globe]
Is Fenway affordable for the faithful? [Boston Globe]
In conditioning area, Sox need to shape up [Boston Globe]
Ace on his slump: ‘I stink’ [Boston Globe]
Moving and shaken [Boston Globe]
A September swoon to forget [Boston Globe]
Red Sox losing their grasp [Boston Herald]
Same old offense for new lineup [Boston Herald]
Jon Lester only adds to club’s pain [Boston Herald]
Carl Crawford moves up [Boston Herald]
Something ‘stinks’ [Boston Herald]
Unraveling continues as Yanks drub Sox, 9-1 [CSN New England]
Sox not panicking despite troubles [CSN New England]
Rapid Reaction: Yankees 9, Red Sox 1 [ESPN Boston]
Video: Kurkjian on Lester’s struggles [ESPN Boston]
Video: Lester and Ortiz after loss [ESPN Boston]
Video: Edes and Matthews on Sox-Yankees [ESPN Boston]
Sox slide continues [ESPN Boston]
Closing Time: Yankees beat up Lester, Sox in Bronx [Full Count]
Lester: ‘It’s not a good time to have this stretch’ [Full Count]
Red Sox Trapped In Psyche Of Collapse [Hartford Courant]
Jon Lester Suffers Third Straight Loss, Continuing Troubling Slide for Red Sox Lefty [NESN.com]
Red Sox Still Well-Suited for Playoffs, as Long as They Get There [NESN.com]
How Do You Feel About the Red Sox? [NESN.com]
In latest indignity, Lester KO’d early in Bronx [Providence Journal]
Few have rebounded from a season like Lackey’s [Providence Journal]
Yankees, Rangers, Phillies the teams to beat [Providence Journal]
Red Sox Journal: Crawford misses chance to stop bleeding in second inning [Providence Journal]
Red Sox need rotation to click [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, head over to the 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.
