I’m still finding it hard to believe that the Red Sox are out of the playoffs.  The way it ended on Sunday afternoon was just shocking.  The Angels rallied for 5 runs in the final innings, including 3 runs off of closer Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th to pull off the improbably 7-6 win at Fenway Park.  The Angels swept the Red Sox out of the playoffs in the ALDS after beating the Red Sox only once in the 10 previous post-season meetings since 2004. What the hell happened?

After jumping out to early 3-0 and 5-1 leads, Clay Buchholz did a solid job of keeping the Red Sox in the lead.  Making his 1st ever career post-season appearance, Buchholz pitched into the 6th inning, giving up just 2 ER on 6 hits and 1 walk.  Daniel Bard relieved Buchholz with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the 6th inning, and managed to get the Red Sox out of the game with just 1 more run scoring on a Juan Rivera double play ball.  Bard ended up pitching 2 scoreless innings withoout giving up a hit or a walk in his 1st ever career post-season appearance.  At least the future still looks bright for these Red Sox.

The veteran relievers struggled however.  Billy Wagner only recorded 2 outs in the 8th inning, giving up 2 ER on 1 hit and 1 walk.  Manager Terry Francona called on Jonathan Papelbon to get the Red Sox out of a 2nd and 3rd 2 out jam, but he promptly served up a single to Juan Rivera that cut the Red Sox lead to 5-4.  And despite adding an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th inning to increase the lead back to 2 runs, Papelbon couldn’t finish off the Angels after getting the 1st 2 outs of the 9th inning.  Papelbon gave up a single and a walk and then Bobby Abreu’s double scored Erick Aybar to cut the lead to 6-5.  Papelbon had Vladmir Guerrero down to his final strike, but Guerrero came through a clutch single that scored both Chone Figgins and Abreu to give the Red Sox the 7-6 lead.

The Red Sox went quietly against Brian Fuentes in the 9th inning, and just like that the season was over.  I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the team and the players over the next few weeks once it all sinks in, but I am still pretty shocked by what happened at Fenway on Sunday.  Going into the game, Papelbon had never given up a single run in the post-season – a streak spanning 27 innings over 17 appearances.  He went from being “perfect” to being downright awful – accounting for all 5 Angels runs at the end of the game even though only 3 runs were charged to him.  He’s gotta be feeling awful right now, but this could be a blessing in disguise, making the Red Sox want it even more in 2010.

At least the offense showed up in Game 3.  After being held to just 7 total hits and 1 run in the 1st 2 games, the Red Sox got a 2-run double from Dustin Pedroia and an RBI single from Victor Martinez in the 3rd inning.  After the Angels cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the 4th inning on a Kendry Morales HR, J.D. Drew increased the Red Sox lead to 5-1 with his 2-run shot to deep center field in the bottom of the inning.  And even though the Red Sox only had 7 total hits, they worked out 4 walks and came through with the clutch hits when they needed it.

It’s a sad day for Red Sox nation – I was so looking forward to seeing Jon Lester force a Game 5 with a dominating performance at Fenway tonight, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be…

The end product was great – 4 straight wins over the Indians to close out the season – but there are still a few areas of concern.  The Red Sox clubbed 5 home runs in Sunday’s 12-7 win – 2 from J.D. Drew and 1 each from Dustin Pedroia, Jed Lowrie and Alex Gonzalez.  But Clay Buchholz struggled in his final tuneup before the ALDS against the Angels later this week.  Buchholz lasted just 3 innings, giving up 6 ER on 5 hits and 2 walks.  It was his 2nd bad outing in his last 3 starts.

Manager Terry Francona will definitely have a starting pitching decision to make after Jon Lester and Josh Beckett pitch in Games 1 and 2 of the series.  Will he go with Buchholz who has pitched more consistently during 2009 in Game 3, or Daisuke Matsuzaka who has had a humbling 2009, but has proven himself before in October.  It won’t be easy for Francona, but if anyone has a good beat on his players and their ability to pitch effectively in October, it is Francona.

In Saturday’s 11-6 win, Josh Beckett had a rough start giving up 4 ER in the game’s 1st 2 innings.  But he battled through it to pitch 5 innings and notch his 17th win of the season.  Beckett’s back is fine and he will be ready to go in Game 2 against the Angels in Anaheim.

All in all it was a good season for the Red Sox.  Anytime you’re still playing in October, it’s a good thing…

Things looked to be going so well for the Red Sox, and then another awful trip to the Bronx turned things south.  The Red Sox dropped a tough one to the Blue Jays 8-7 and have now lost 5 games in a row.  Not the way you want to be playing as you approach October post-season baseball.

Clay Buchholz had been the epitome of consistency – giving up just a total of 6 ER in his last 6 starts spanning 41 innings.  In the start just before that string, Buchholz did not bring his “A” game against the White Sox and they lit him up for 7 ER on 6 hits.  And that’s just what happened last night.  Buchholz gave up 5 home runs to the Blue Jays, lasting just 5 innings after giving up 7 ER.  Not good.

And although the Red Sox bats were hot – 14 hits, the team failed to come through with clutch hits early in the game.  Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew each had 3 hits in the loss.  Drew hit his 22nd home run of the 2009 MLB schedule, a 3-run shot in the 8th inning.  Drew now has 66 RBI’s.

Let’s hope Tim Wakefield and his teammates can get back  on track in the series finale against the Blue Jays at Fenway Park tonight.  It’s not looking so hot right now – Wakefield is done after 3 innings giving up 5 ER on 7 hits (2 home runs) and 2 walks.  Meanwhile, Roy Halladay has a no-no working and has retired 9 of the 1st 10 batters he has faced…

The Red Sox turned a back-and-forth close game into a blow out with 8 total runs in the 7th and 8th innings.

At 88-59, the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 6 games in the AL East, but lead the Rangers by 7 games in the AL Wild Card race.

Wah, wah, wah… That’s the noise you heard coming from the Angels dugout after the Red Sox rallied for a 3rd time to win 9-8 in the 9th inning at Fenway Park.  Gimme a break – don’t put your team in a position to lose, and then you don’t have to bitch about “bad umpiring”.

The Red Sox won for the 7th straight game and for the 10th straight time at Fenway Park.  The Red Sox now lead the AL Wild Card race by 6.5 games over the Texas Rangers and they close out the series with the Angels on Thursday night at Fenway.

The Red Sox trailed the Angels by 3-0, 7-5 and 8-7.  The final rally came when closer Brian Fuentes got into trouble with 2 outs in the 9th inning.  Fuentes walked David Ortiz, and then gave up infield singles to J.D. Drew and Jed Lowrie to load the bases.  Then came the drama.  Fuentes got 2 quick strikes on Nick Green.  Green then offered at the 3rd pitch, but 1st base umpire ruled it was not a swing, so the count went to 1-2.  Green fouled off the next 3 pitches to keep the inning alive, and then Fuented threw 3 straight balls to walk Green and allow the tying run to score.  Then Alex Gonzalez followed that up with a bloop single down the left field line that Juan Rivera decided not to dive for – Drew scored with the winning run and we were left to listen to the Angels bitch about the bad umpiring during Green’s at-bat.

Hey Scioscia, Fuentes – if you didn’t walk Ortiz with 2 outs, if Rivera dove for the ball in left, or if you didn’t give up the lead 2 times before the 9th inning – you wouldn’t need to bitch about things “not going your way” in the 9th inning.

In any event, it really wasn’t a pretty win for the Red Sox.  Paul Byrd had another mediocre outing – 3ER on 9 hits and 1 walk in 5+ innings.  Ramon Ramirez lost his cool in the 7th inning after he struck out Kendry Morales for the 3rd out in the inning, but he reached base because of Jason Varitek’s passed ball error.  Instead of buckling down with 1 on and 2 outs, Ramirez imploded, giving up a single and 2 straight doubles to allow the Angels to re-take the lead at 7-5.  And while the Red Sox did pound out 13 hits and were patient enough to earn 7 walks, the Red Sox scored “only” 9 runs and left way too many men on base – 18.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Bay and Alex Gonzalez each had 2 hits, but they never seem to have that clutch hit to blow an inning wide open.

But a win is a win, and the good news is that the Red Sox are in the heads of the entire Angels organization.  The Angels have never beaten the Red Sox in 4 playoff series and they have lost 12 of 13 games to the Red Sox dating back to 1986.  With the 2 teams likely meeting in the 1st round of the playoffs, that is a HUGE advantage for the Red Sox, even if the Angels have home field advantage.  The Red Sox have won in Anaheim/Los Angeles before, and they will likely do so again in October…

I didn’t see this one coming – 6 scoreless innings from Dasiuke Matsuzaka as he pitched into the 7th inning – - unbelievable!!!  If Matsuzaka is truly healthy and really has his stuff figured out, the Red Sox could be ready to roll right into the Fall Classic in October.  I am giddy!

Loved the strikes, loved the low pitch count, loved seeing Daisuke pitching into the 7th inning. And although it didn’t start pretty – leadoff walk to Chone Figgins who then immediately stole 2nd base – Dice-K buckled down to retire the next 3 batters to end the threat.

Manager Terry Francona pulled Daisuke after a lead-off walk in the 7th inning, but I’ll take 6 scoreless innings from Matsuzaka any day, especially with only 93 pitches (52 for strikes).  He still has an ERA over 7 and a WHIP over 2, but let’s throw the 1st 2 months out the door at this point.  Start #2 will come Sunday afternoon against the Orioles in Baltimore, so let’s hope we see another solid outing from Daisuke to give us a little more confidence.

The bullpen did the rest – Ramon Ramirez, Billy Wagner and Daniel Bard held the Angels scoreless in the 7th and 8th innings, while Jonathan Papelbon pitched the 9th inning in a non-save situation, giving up a run on a 2-out double by Erick Aybar.

The Red Sox pounded out 9 hits and 3 walks against John Lackey and Jose Arredondo, and Lackey actually worked out of trouble until the 6th inning.  With 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Dustin Pedroia reached base on a throwing error by Lackey which allowed Alex Gonzalez to score.  Lackey then retired J.D. Drew and Jason Bay, but Big Papi David Ortiz came through with a clutch 2-out single that drove in Jacoby Ellsbury to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.  The Red Sox then tacked on 2 insurance runs in the 8th inning on a Bay RBI single and an Ortiz solo home run – his 24th of the season.

With the Rangers continued collapse, the Red Sox have now opened up an AL Wild Card race of 5.5 games.  The Yankees have even lost 3 of 5 games, so the Red Sox trail the Yankees by 6.5 games.  With 3 games against the Yankees still to be played in New York, a shot at the division title is still not out of the question…

Ouch… Looks like the Rays have officially given up.  The Red Sox swept the Rays on Sunday (3-1; 4-0), sending the Rays to their 11th straight defeat.  The Rays now trail the Yankees by 19.5 games in the AL East race and the Red Sox by 12.5 games in the AL Wild Card race.  This is your Rays team that won the AL pennant just last year.

Clay Buchholz got the Red Sox off on the right track with 7 innings of 1-run ball in the opener.  Buchholz limited the Rays to just 5 hits and 3 walks and a lone run on Jason Bartlett’s single that tied the game at 1 in the 7th inning.  The Rays Matt Garza was equally as good through 7 innings, but he got into trouble in the 8th inning.  After a David Ortiz pinch-hit double and a Jacoby Ellsbury sacrifice, Dustin Pedroia won the game with a clutch 2-run home run to deep right field.

Hideki Okajima won his 6th game without suffering a loss with a perfect 8th inning, and Jonathan Papelbon picked up his 36th save of the season by striking out the side in the 9th inning.

In the night cap, Jon Lester continued the Red Sox pitching dominance over the Rays in the weekend series. Lester allowed just 2 hits and 3 walks over 8 scoreless innings, while racking up 7 K’s.  Lester is 13-7 on the season, with a sparkling 3.29 ERA. The Red Sox managed just 7 hits, but they seemed to make them count.  After Mike Lowell’s RBI groundout gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, Jason Varitek’s 2-run single in the 6th inning increased the lead to 3-0.  Jason Bay tacked on the game’s final run with his 32nd home run of the season, a solo shot in the 8th inning.

The Rangers split their Sunday double-header with the Mariners in Texas, so the Red Sox opened up a 4-game lead in the AL Wild Card race.  The Red Sox are also in the driver’s seat with an easy schedule down the stretch.  After 3 games against the Angels this week at Fenway Park and 3 games against the Yankees in New York next weekend, the Red Sox play their other 14 games against 4 teams with losing records – the Kansas City Royals, the Cleveland Indians, the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays.  Pretty sweet…

The Red Sox sure love playing at Fenway Park!  With their 10-0 win over the Orioles on Tuesday night, the Red Sox are now 46-21 at home.  Only the New York Yankees (48-20) have a better home record during the 2009 MLB season than the Red Sox.

Clay Buchholz didn’t have trouble holding onto this big lead against the Orioles this time (he pitched only 4 innings and did not qualify for a win afer the Red Sox staked him to a 14-6 lead in Baltimore on August 2nd).  Buchholz worked 7 scoreless innings, giving up just 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5.  Buchholz is now 5-3 on the season.

The bats finally woke up as well after they looked dazed against the White Sox in Chicago over the weekend.  The Red Sox hit 5 home runs in the game’s 1st 3 innings.  Dustin Pedroia hit home runs in the 1st and 3rd innings.  Kevin Youkilis hit a solo shot in the 1st inning; Alex Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the 2nd inning; and Jason Bay crushed a 3-run bomb in the 3rd inning.  By that point, the Red Sox had opened up an 8-0 lead.  David Ortiz rounded out the 6-homer attack with a solo shot to deep center in the 7th innning.  The Red Sox punded out 11 hits and 5 walks en route to the 10-0 shutout.

Despite the dominant win, the Red Sox actually lost ground to the Rangers who swept the Indians in a double-header.  The Red Sox now lead the Rangers by just 2 games in the AL Wild Card race.

As it good as it gets in Tampa for the Red Sox – - the Red Sox defeated the Rays 6-3 on Thursday’s get away day, and took 2 of 3 from the Rays in Tampa.  It was a total team effort.

Clay Buchholz toughed out a rough 1st inning in which he allowed 2 ER on 3 hits and a walk.  Buchholz buckled down and struck out Greg Zaun with runners on 2nd and 3rd to prevent any further damage.  The rest of the way, Buchholz scattered 3 more hits over 5 more innings, and left the game with the Red Sox leading 4-3.  6 innings, 91 pitches, only 3 ER allowed in Tampa Bay?  We’ll take that any day from any of our starters.  Buchholz has quietly put together a nice string of starts.  Save for a 7 ER hiccup against the White Sox on August 24th and a 7ER hiccup against the Orioles on August 2nd, Buchholz has not allowed more than 3 ER in any of his 10 starts since July 17th.  And in 4 of those starts, he only allowed 1 ER.  His WHIP at 1.50 is a little high, but his 4 wins is deceiving.

The Red Sox bullpen did the rest to preserve the lead.  Billy Wagner, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon did not allow a single Rays hit from the 7th inning on.  Wagner and Bard each walked 1 batter, but that was it.  Wagner and Papelbon each had 2 K’s and Bard added another K in the 8th.  This combo is starting to look like a lottery winner for Manager Terry Francona and Red Sox Nation.

As for the offense, the Red Sox slugged out 12 hits and drew 3 walks, scoring 6 runs along the way.  Kevin Youkilis went 3 for 5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.  Victor Martinez and Jason Bay each had 2 hits in the win.  Jacoby Ellsbury had 1 hit and 1 walk and stole 2 bases, bringing his season total to 58!

The Red Sox complete their 7 game road trip with a 4-game set against the White Sox in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend.  With the band box that is US Cellular Field, and the sunny, 80 degree weather predicted for the Chicago area all weekend, look for some high offensive outburst from the Red Sox this weekend.  The Red Sox lead the Rangers by 3 games and the Rays by 6 games in the AL Wild Card race…

For the 2nd straight night, the Red Sox bullpen got into trouble, and this time, Jonathan Papelbon couldn’t do anything to clean up the mess.  Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen failed miserably in the bottom of the 8th inning on Wednesday night, combining to retire only 1 of the 5 batters that they faced.  Ramirez gave up a double and RBI single that gave the Rays a 6-5 lead, and then Delcarmen came in and promptly served up a 2-run bomb to Evan Longoria to give the Rays an 8-5 lead.  Not good.

This after the Red Sox clawed their way back from a 5-1 deficit, as Josh Beckett struggled again in another start. Beckett labored through 104 pitches in 6 innings, giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits (including 2 home runs).  Beckett did have 9 strikeouts, however.  Trailing 5-1 at the end of 3 inninigs, the Red Sox got 2 runs back on a David Ortiz RBI groundout and a J.D. Drew RBI single in the 4th inning.  The Red Sox drew within 1 run on Victor Martinez’s run-scoring single in the 7th inning.  And the Red Sox finally tied the game at 5 in the top of the 8th inning by being patient at the plate.  The Red Sox never even put the ball in play the entire inning – 3 walks and a wild pitch plated Joey Gaithright with the tying run and the other 3 outs recorded were strikeout victims.

But then disaster struck in the bottom of the inning and the Red Sox took another “L” in Tampa.

The Red Sox now trail the Yankees by 7.5 games in the AL East, so the Red Sox only have eyes for the AL Wild Card now.  They still lead the Rangers by 2.5 games and the Rays by 5 games.  Let’s hope Clay Buchholz can hold the Rays in check tonight to finish off the series win in Tampa…