Red Still Listless On Left Coast. Another Loss To The A's

The Boston Red Sox remained in Oakland and lost yet another game to the lowly A's by a score of 6-4. Clay Buchholz started the contest but could only go four plus innings, allowing five runs on six hits. He gave up 2 long balls and, in a word, looked rusty. Here is the Sox manager, Terry Francona, on exactly that subject...

“I thought he looked like he had a little rust,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He left a couple of fastballs over (the plate) that really did a lot of damage. We got him up to (87) pitches, which is good, because hopefully we can build off of that."

I agree completely. He looked uncomfortable on the mound and it seemed like his mechanics were a tad off. He'll get it together soon. He'd better. Boston cannot afford to lose any more ground in the AL East. Having Josh Beckett going Friday will be a tremendous shot in the arm for the team. Soon, all five starters will again get used to working every five days, Their rhythm will return and they will win. Just ask Bill Hall...

“It’s pretty frustrating,’’ Hall said. “It’s frustrating for the team. It’s frustrating for me. We all know we can play better than this. We’re just not catching a lot of breaks right now. It’s just another point in the season where things aren’t going well for us. Hopefully it turns around soon. We don’t want to start pressing like we did earlier in the season. We’re still playing pretty good baseball, we’re just not catching a lot of breaks. Hopefully it turns around. Hopefully we can make it turn around pretty fast.’’

Today at 4:10pm EDT, Fister will face Matsuzaka, who was quite good in his last start, as the Sox open a four game stand at the cavernous Safeco Field against the Seattle Mariners. The ballpark is NOT conducive to hitting the long ball with its huge outfield expanses. This is close to a "must win" game for the Sox. They have to start to make a run and do it soon. It'll take a couple of starts for Buchholz and Beckett to get the stuff together but that's only natural.

I hope your Thursday will be a good one. You can click on this post's title for more great stuff on the Boston Red Sox and as always and forever, BE WELL. Make a point of it. Thanks for stopping in.