Red Sox Shut Out By A's And DiNardo. DiNardo??

April and May were so much more fun to write about than June has been. SO FAR. I fully expect the Red Sox to emerge from this mini-June swoon. SOON. Last night Lenny DiNardo went six strong and outpitched Daisuke Matsuzaka, although he did so with a ton of walks. It was a peculiar night all around for the Boston club. Read this, from the Globe........

"The Sox hit into more double plays (5) than they had hits (3), which offset the six walks DiNardo issued in six innings. All three Sox hits were singles, by Julio Lugo in the first, David Ortiz in the sixth, and Mike Lowell (off reliever Kiki Calero) in the seventh.
The last double play was the weirdest. Rookie Dustin Pedroia, who had been hit by a pitch, dropped to the ground to avoid a hunk of Ortiz's bat that went airborne when the Sox DH lined softly to third baseman Eric Chavez in the eighth. Pedroia was still prone when Chavez flipped to first baseman Nick Swisher to double him up.
"He took a step, the bat came flying by," manager Terry Francona said. "He lost the ball and fell. That's the kind of night it was."

Peter here, and that WAS the kind of night it was. But it was the 6th inning that frustrated me and the Sox the most, because they should have come out of that inning with a couple runs, at least. Peds, Papi and Manny filled the bases with Youk at the plate. With the count 3-1, DiNardo threw a pitch that was clearly out of the strike zone, and plate umpire Paul Emmel just plain missed it, calling a ball. Youk was displeased, but not as much as he was when he hit the next pitch to third base for yet another double play. It was at that exact point I switched off the TV and turned on the radio to listen to the balance of the game in bed. I thought it might change the Sox luck. Nope. It didn't work. Not last night, a night of voodoo mayhem.

So the Sox have lost 5 of 6 and are now 17 games over .500 with a single digit league over the Jays. And it's no fun! Timmy will try to right the ship tonight against the A's starter Kennedy. Time to start a winning streak? Oh yes!

Click on the title of this post for more on the game, from the Globe. DiNardo? I just don't get it. He was throwing puff pastry stuff for us last year! Little League hittable stuff. The Sox still have some kind of weakness, and I think it's all in their heads, when a lefty is on the hill for the opposition. But DiNardo? Jeez! I DO NOT GET IT.