Winless In Seattle

Sometimes I have to think really hard to remember the last time the Boston Red Sox emerged victorious from a game at Seattle's Safeco Field. They've lost their last seven games there. Last night was more of the same as Kason Gabbard was wild at first and rocked later. In only 3 1/3 innings he gave up 6 (!!) walks and 4 runs on 6 hits. Back to the minors? We have to hope that will be the case, but until Schill is ALLOWED to return, we might be in store for another one or two Gabbard starts. Last night, the Sox never gave up, coming back from deficits of 4-1 and 6-4 to tie each time. But Javy Lopez, pitching in the 6th inning, gave up a two run home run to Richie Sexon, and those were the winning runs. It was the first tater given up this year by the Sox leftie. He picked a bad time for it. Way bad!

So the Red Sox will try one more time to beat the Mariners on their own field, sending out Daisuke Matsuzaka to face Ryan Feierabend. A win will make the long flight back home much more bearable, and the day off tomorrow that much better. For ALL of us. I'll be glad when we're out of this left coast town, because winning is so tough here. Today, it's 4:30pm baseball on a Wednesday afternoon, heat and high jungle-type humidity soaking and washing over everyone in the northeastern part of Red Sox Nation. So turn on those air conditioners, if they're not already humming, and enjoy the upcoming Sox win. I might be going out on a limb, but after last night's frustration, with all the scrambling just to tie the score two times, our team is hungry for one more victory on this good and bad road journey. A journey that's almost over. But I think the Mariner's manager, Mike Hargrove, put it best. This is what he said, and Tito's response, as written and put so well by the Herald's Tony Massarotti......

"Somewhat incredibly, next Monday, the Sox will play their 81st game of the season, officially reaching the midpoint of their schedule. They are guaranteed of being in first place.
Yet the season can always turn on an injury or unexpected slump, and so baseball lifers, like (Mariner's manager Tony) Hargrove, always know the first rule of the game: You take nothing for granted.
“Your job as a manager is to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” Hargrove said. (AMEN!)
Added Sox manager Terry Francona, when informed of Hargrove’s comments last night before batting practice, “He’s right.”
Francona, after all, lost his hair a long, long time ago."

Peter here, and I have all my hair, but any lead, be it 4 games or 14, means nothing. Ya have to keep winning! And I have to say this...well said, Tony Hargrove. Oh, click on the title of this post for more on the trade that's not going to happen. I'm talking about the White Sox lefthander Mark Buehrle, a would-be 4 month rental. It would have been nice, but the other Sox wanted too much young talent. And without a contract extention, it wouldn't have happened anyways. And when Jon Lester's name popped up in the brief discussions, well, that was it. That was all she wrote! Check out Tony Massarotti's piece...well-written and informative. He writes for the Boston Herald. And I write for you! And I hope that never changes.