Down Bound Train

This could have been the worst Boston Red Sox loss of 2010. Jonathon Papelbon was called upon to get the last five outs. The Sox were ahead by a run, 4-3. He had a scoreless eighth and Boston tacked on a run in the bottom of the eighth to go up 5-3. One, two three, right? Right?? NOOOOOO. Papelbon simply could not finish the ninth inning and the White Sox ended up plating four runs to win the game 7-5. In case you didn't notice, Chicago swept Boston IN Boston, quite likely ending the Red Sox season. Here's our catcher, Victor Martinez...

“Pap came out in the eighth with one out, and it’s tough, he did all he could do out there. I think he wound up throwing 50 pitches. If you want to know how he felt, you got to go ask him, but the ball was coming out of his hand great in the eighth and I think he got a little tired obviously. I don’t think he’s used to throwing over 40 pitches.’

The ninth was downright ugly and for the sake of my sanity, I will not go into any of the details. Papelbon now leads the league with seven (!) blown saves. He most surely deserved this one. Beckett was good into the seventh. But it didn't matter.

The Sox start a three game series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway tonight. Their season might be over by Wednesday. I hope not but Boston is now in third place in the race for the wild card playoff spot behind Tampa Bay and Chicago. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...flat on their face. Here are the pitching match-ups...

Mon. 6 *TB 7:10 PM ET SUN/NESN** Lester (15-8) vs. Niemann (10-5)
Tue. 7 *TB 7:10 PM ET SUN/NESN** Matsuzaka (9-4) vs. Price (16-6)
Wed. 8 *TB 7:10 PM ET ESPN/NESN** Buchholz (15-6) vs. Garza (14-7) Buchholz on three days rest.

This Boston Red Sox free fall reminds me SO much of a dark and bleak 1984 song by none other than Bruce Springsteen. It was on his album BORN IN THE USA, which set the whole world on fire. Here's a stanza of his lyrics, lyrics of hopelessness and despair...

"I had a job.
I had a girl.
I had something going, mister, in this world.
I got laid off down at the lumber yard.
Our love went bad, times got hard.
Now I work down at the car wash
Where all it ever does is rain.
Don't you feel like you are riding
on a down bound train."

Red Sox Nation. All aboard! Next stop...Fort Myers. Arrival will be in February.

Click on this post's title to hear Downbound Train. Have a terrific Labor Day and as always, BE WELL. Click away if you wish. You'll like it. Sound on, please. Loud. Thanks for stopping by. Be safe.