Rangers Beat Listless Red Sox 10-9

The Boston Red Sox scored nine runs Friday night in Texas but poor pitching by Josh Beckett and the assembled relievers powered the Texas Rangers to a 10-9 victory. There's no excuse for an effort like this. The 2010 season is slipping by right in front of our disbelieving and disappointed eyes. Even five home runs were not enough to help them. What's most concerning to me is Josh Beckett's continued poor outings of late. He doesn't have control of his fastball, not the way he used to and IS used to. Here he is...

“I get into counts, and I try to do too much and the balls flies out and goes to the middle of the plate. It’s frustrating. I tried to work on it between starts. It obviously didn’t do any good. It’s a shame that we lose a game like that because we scored a lot of runs. I couldn’t hold it.

At one point Boston had an 8-2 lead. That was after three and a half innings and it all started to fall apart in the bottom of the fourth, slowly but surely. Watching Boston's effort was NO way to spend a Friday evening. I should have watched MAN VS. FOOD on the Travel Channel. I highly recommend it to every reader along with BERT THE CONQUERER, also on the Travel Channel. PAWN STARS on the History Channel is another summer favorite, as is AMERICAN PICKERS. Oops, back to baseball and this awful 2010 season.

Jacoby Ellsbury still isn't right and will receive another MRI at Mass General. It doesn't look good that he will be able to continue his 2010 play. He collided with Rangers pitcher Tommy Hunter, crumpling to the ground in pain. Tito Francona had to yank him from the game shortly after that. The new injury is in the same spot as his previous one. Here's the skipper...

“It’s very concerning. The exam that trainer Mike Reinold gave him is very concerning."

Very concerning. More bad news just when we needed it. Jon Lester will try to "right the ship" tonight at 8:05pm EDT. He'll face Colby Lewis in steamy Texas. Truthfully, it might be too late for the Sox to rescue this season. That's how I really feel. The only Boston pitcher who has excelled beyond expectations this year has been Clay Buchholz. What can you do? I have no idea.

Click on this post's title for more Sox news from the Boston Herald. Have a great weekend and as always, BE WELL. Thank you for stopping in. I mean that.