Red Sox Lose Second Straight To Orioles

The Boston Red Sox have now lost two in a row to the lowly Baltimore Orioles (sorry Faithy). Josh Beckett started and went six innings. He gave up four big runs. But the Sox tied it in the eighth on the strength of a Kevin Youkilis tater. It was 4-4 with Bard to come in and pitch the bottom of the eighth. He wasn't sharp and he misread one of catcher Jason Varitek's sign and the tie breaking run scored. It was ugly and the game was over after the ninth 5-4. What happened to Bard? Here he is...

“I was probably moving a little too fast. I probably needed to take my breath between pitches. I was yanking balls. All three hits were really bad missed locations. Physically, I was very ready to go. I just got ready as quick as I could. It took me a couple of minutes to relax, but it wasn’t quite enough.’’

I think you hit the nail on the head, Danny. Don't rush when you're on the mound. Keep your pace. Keep your rhythm and your arm action consistent. That's vital when you pitch a baseball for a living. Here's Boston manager Terry Francona...

“It turned in a hurry for us. We had been scrambling, not doing much offensively, not stringing anything together. Youkilis hits the home run and we get to Bard and it’s ‘Let’s go. It’s a tough loss. It hurts.”

Jon Lester goes for the Red Sox and he'll face Bergesen (0-3) in another 7:10am EDT start. We have to salvage one. Look at the AL East standings and you'll know what I mean.

I thank you once again for stopping into my little corner of baseball blogdom. I don't even know if that's a word! Click on this post's title for more on our Sox who will be home at Fenway tomorrow. As always, be careful out there and BE SAFE. Thanks.