Road Woes Continue For Red Sox...Angels 11, Red Sox 3

Friday night in Anaheim, California was not a good night for the Boston Red Sox. They were beaten soundly by the LA Angels by a score of 11-3, and the (Devil) Rays and Yankees both won their games. That means Boston is in second place, 1/2 game back of Tampa Bay. But it's only ONE game, folks. We'll get 'em today.

Clay Buchholz was flat out ineffective - there's no other way to put it, my friends. After the top of the fourth, the score was knotted at four, but it was all Halos from there. Clay was only able to go 4 2/3 innings, and in that span he gave up eight (!!) runs, four of them unearned on Alex Cora's error on Torii Hunter's ground ball. Manny's clumsiness out in leftfield did not help one bit. He made a costly fielding mistake, turning a soft single that he had absolutely zero chance of catching into a comedy of tumbling mayhem. He ended up falling and rolling on the ground with the baseball underneath him. By the time he was able to throw it into the infield, the batter was on third and the bases were cleared. He broke into a huge grin after his toss, but it was clearly evident that manager Tito Francona was not amused in any way. Here's what Sir Manny had to say after the game...

“It’s not an error, but I think I made the bloopers for life,” Ramirez said. “I had a bad jump, but I still went for it. I missed the ball and that was it. I felt like I was swimming in a swamp right there.”

I'm sure John Henry, the owner of the team and the keeper of the doghouse where Manny lives between games, was not at all happy either. And that's quite the understatement, I'd wager. Manny Ramirez and the almost always hot Kevin Youkilis hit home runs, but this game was out of reach at the halfway point because of Clay Buchholz, the starting pitcher. He is 0-3 with a huge ERA of 10.00 since he returned to the club, and it's not because he's been working too hard. The last time he had pitched was a full seven days earlier. We all know he has great stuff, so I guess he just has to learn by doing. The losses will come just as the wins will. Jon Lester comes to mind, in fact. He is now a consistant mainstay of the Boston rotation. That same consistancy will eventually come to Buchholz...getting there is the hard part for ALL of us.

That's enough about that, OK? In other Red Sox news, Big Papi David Ortiz slugged his second home run for Pawtucket in as many games, this one a three run shot. We can't see him soon enough. He'll bat in his familiar number three spot, and the rest of the lineup, one through nine, will benefit immensely. Having JD Drew batting seventh shows how strong this bunch of hitters could be, with 'Tek or Cash batting eighth and the shortstop, most likely Alex Cora, hitting ninth. C'mon down, Big Papi! We need you...BIGTIME.

If you'd like to read more about Friday night's stumbling and bumbling from the left coast, simply click on the title of this post. I hope your Saturday is especially great, and as always, BE WELL. Beckett and Saunders go this afternoon. (Thanks Ian. He writes Sox and Dawgs. Find it on my link list. A must daily read if there ever was one). Let's see if "Josh Baseball" can once again be our true stopper.

Hey, talk back to me about anything by leaving a comment. I'll talk back to you, too...promise.