Not Even Ace Josh Beckett Can Right Red Sox Sinking Ship
Not even a good outing from Red Sox ace Josh Beckett could stall the free fall of the Red Sox club. The Red Sox dropped their 4th straight game with the 4-2 loss to the Rangers in Arlington and have won only once since the start of the 2nd half of the 2009 MLB schedule. The Red Sox are now 55-38 and they trail the red-hot Yankees by one game in the AL East race – the Yankees are a solid 5-0 since the All-Star Break.
The Red Sox pitching has been mediocre at best, and the Red Sox hitting has been downright awful. Since June 17th, the Red Sox are hitting a collective .236. The Red Sox have scored only 12 total runs in the 5 games played after the All-Star Break. 4 of those 12 runs came in the Red Sox 4-1 over the Blue Jays on Friday night – since then, they have scored 2, 1, 3 and 2 runs in 4 straight losses.
Beckett pitched well on Tuesday night after giving up a 2-run single to Hank Blalock in the 1st inning. Beckett notched the 8-inning complete game, giving up 4 ER on 7 hits and 1 walk. He had 7 strikeouts and needed just 104 pitches to finish out the loss.
The Red Sox bats managed only 5 total hits against 23-year old Tommy Hunter and 3 Rangers relievers. It was only Hunter’s 8th career start and it marked the 2nd time in 4 days that the Red Sox were stymied by a pitcher that had made less than 8 career MLB starts (Marc Rzepczynski did so on Saturday in Toronto in only his 3rd MLB start). No Red Sox batter had more than 1 hit and the Red Sox scored their only runs on RBI singles by Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell.
Something’s gotta give for this Red Sox club. A team that is 17 games over .500 can’t be held down for long, so the team needs to try to stay patient and keep in mind that this is a long MLB season. Let’s hope Clay Buchholz can make a 2nd straight good start for the Red Sox tonight in Arlington. We’ll keep you posted with the game and the latest trade news right here at MyRedSoxToday.com!
