A Daisuke Disaster...St. Louis 9 Boston 3

What can I say about Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park? Maybe I'd say I'm glad I wasn't there. Nothing else comes to mind. Daisuke Matsuzaka was making his triumphant return to the rotation, and it was a complete bust, all one inning and three batters of it. In that one inning plus he allowed seven earned runs and six hits while walking three. The final score was 9-3 Cardinals, and that was because of good bullpen work (except for the second inning grand slam). Here is what his manager and the man himself said after the fiasco...

“When he came out, there were not complaints about soreness, fatigue, anything, so that’s a good sign,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “I’m hopeful we’ll just chalk it up to a bad outing.”
“I just hope that I can get back to a good spot,” Matsuzaka said through a translator. “The good, I can’t really think of anything that was good. Things were mostly bad today.”

Peter here, and I can't think of anything that was good, either. His ERA ballooned to 3.46. We all have to hope he'll come out on Thursday or Friday and be his old self. He is needed to round out a pretty darn good rotation. And I have complete faith he will do EXACTLY that...his 8-1 record says it all. The Red Sox have now lost two straight to the Cardinals, and that's two straight AT Fenway, a place where they do not lose often, at least in 2008. If ever a call to "turn the page" was appropriate, it is right now. Consider it done.

In other Sox news, Mike Timlin, whose 7.06 ERA was the highest among any of the league’s relievers with at least 20 innings of work, was placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to yesterday’s 9-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals with left knee tendinitis. He said this when approached by members of the media...

“I can’t say one way or another,” a very curt Timlin said of whether the leg affected his performance. “It hurts sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Peter here, and it had to affect him, somehow. His last appearance was awful, and his ERA tells the whole story. Good luck, Mikey. You've been an invaluable member of the sometimes ridiculed, sometimes brilliant Boston bullpen. It won't be the same without you, and I know you'll be back before the All Star break.

Click on the title to be linked to the Boston Globe Boston Red Sox homepage. It's easy. And have yourselves a merry little Chri...oops, Sunday, and as always, be well. We'll get 'em today with Jon Lester, who will face old friend (??) Joel Pineiro. If we can't score some crooked numbers off JP, then, well, there's something not right. But the Sox can't score five plus runs every game. Today, though, would be nice. So let us all say, OUTLOUD and in this order, it's Sunday...GO SOX.....SOX WIN!