A Long Evening's Journey Into Morning...Sox Lose To Royals 3-1 In 14

If last night's Fenway Park game with the KC Royals was a book, it'd be a mighty big one. But let me get ahead of myself, back to the future. Marco Scutaro couldn't believe what he was seeing when Josh Reddick started sprinting home after Scutaro took a pitch inside. The problem was: Scutaro knew right away what a mistake he had made. Scutaro missed a suicide squeeze sign with Reddick on third base and one out in the 12th inning, and the Kansas City Royals scored twice two innings later to beat the Red Sox 3-1 in a rain-delayed game that ended early Tuesday morning. Here's Marco himself...

"I just didn't see the sign. My fault. It's my fault. I made sure I double-checked with third base coach Tim Bogar. I made sure I double-checked with him again so I didn't look like a fool out there. I messed up. We had a lot of opportunities to win the game and we didn't make the plays."

But there was a ton more to this game than a botched suicide squeeze play. Now we go back in time. Jon Lester's first start after being out almost two weeks was what was on everyone's minds yesterday. AND HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits, one earned run, two free passes and six strikeouts. I think that says it all. Jon's fine but for once, the Boston offense was stymied by the opponent's pitching. You can't do everything, Jon. Long story short, KC broke the Boston Red Sox winning streak and won the ballgame. Let's do the same to them tonight. We have a chance to do exactly that with three more games coming up with the team from KC, a land of great steak houses and beef. But Sunday night was a rough night for the Boston Red Sox. Simply put, we'll just turn the page. I've already done it. You can, too. It's easy once the "initial burn" of a loss dissipates.

Here are the pitching match ups for the rest of this series...

Tue. 26 KC** 7:10 PM ET FxKC/NESN** A. Miller (4-1) vs. D. Duffy (2-4)
Wed. 27 KC** 7:10 PM ET FxKC/NESN** J. Lackey (8-8) vs. B. Chen (5-3)
Thu. 28 KC** 1:35 PM ET FxKC/NESN** J. Beckett (9-3) vs. L. Hochevar (6-8)

I have one last item. Kevin Youkilis, our cleanup hitter/third baseman, injured (slightly, I hope) his heel. Here's the Red Sox skipper, Terry "Tito" Francona..

"The exam was really good. He (Youk) hit the bag, and I think his heel sort of gave way a little bit. I think we'll stay away from him tomorrow, but hopefully, it won't be anything more than that. Who knows."

We need Kevin Youkilis in the lineup and in the field like a baby needs his bottle and her teething ring. So I'm sure we all hope he wakes up and feels fine. Tonight, we will rely on Andrew Miller, who's impressed me so far. I like our chances. If you'd like, click on this post's title to see the botched suicide squeeze play and much more. Remember, to find the 2 1/2 minute tape of the game highlights, look for a circle with the two team's emblems on it. Thanks.

We'll get 'em tonight. Until then and as always, BE WELL. Have a great Tuesday. GO SOX.