Five Was An Unlucky Number For The Red Sox Last Night

The number 5 proved unlucky not once but three times for the Boston Red Sox last night, as the Baltimore Orioles defeated them 6-3 Friday night at Fenway. The first 5 was the number five starter, Julian Tavarez. He was shaky at best and gave up 10 hits and 5 runs, 4 earned (more on that later) in 5 innings. We expect 5 innings from him, no more and no less, but for him to be an effective member of the rotation, he'll have to limit the run production to 3 or less. He's gone soon anyways.
The second and third times 5 proved to be the kiss of death, at least Friday night, was Wily Mo Pena's outfield play in the 5th inning. Read this, from the Courant, and then I'll be back with a few harsh comments.......

"Tavarez, who will move to the bullpen as soon as Jon Lester returns, was victimized by right fielder Pena's fifth-inning follies. Markakis started the inning with a single, his third hit off Tavarez, and went to third when Tejada hit a grounder inside third base. Markakis scored the go-ahead run on a grounder by Ramon Hernandez. Two batters later, Mora hit a fly to right that carried over Pena's head. He took a bad route to the ball as it landed on the warning track for a double that made it 4-2.
Pena did a better job tracking a fly ball by Jay Gibbons, only to drop it for an error that allowed Mora to score the third run of the inning. Pena said he lost it in the lights.
Pena was mocked by the crowd in each of the next two innings. Corey Patterson led off the sixth with a single to right. As Pena picked up the ball and threw it in, the fans cheered. He received an even louder ovation in the seventh as he caught a fly by Tejada.
"I'm used to that because they do that all the time when somebody drops a ball here," Pena said."

Peter here. And Wily Mo, the Fenway crowd knows what it's doing. They know you can't catch the ball unless it's hit right at you. They know that you are a defensive liability who has NO BUSINESS PLAYING IN A MAJOR LEAGUE OUTFIELD. So when they mock cheered you, they knew what they were doing and they will continue to do it until you make a career change and become a DH for some other team.
OK, I feel better now. I knew WMP was going to cost us some games with his clumsy misplays in the outfield. But that doesn't make it any easier to watch this oaf in rightfield.
The Red Sox will get back on track today with Curt Schilling set to face the O's Steve Traschel. The O's are in 2nd place and only 6 games back. Let's make that 7. 1pm basball with perfect weather.....nirvana ala Fenway.
Click on the title for more on last night's rightfielder, Wily Mo Pena. And from there, you can read the entire Globe coverage. And don't worry. We'll get 'em today. I know it!