29 August 2006: Well, That Was Painful

Gazing into the Abyss: Michael Rawdon's Journal

Well, That Was Painful

Two days, two more Red Sox/A's games. That makes four this year. Unfortunately, this round wasn't as much fun as the last round.

To show you what I mean, here's the Sox' starting line-up for Monday's game:

CF Coco Crisp
SS Alex Cora (regular shortstop Alex Gonzalez is on the DL)
DH Mark Loretta (David Ortiz was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and is out for an unknown length of time)
LF Kevin Youkilis (Manny Ramirez is day-to-day with a strained hammy)
RF Eric Hinske (Trot Nixon is on the DL, and Wily Mo Pena is day-to-day)
3B Mike Lowell
C Javy Lopez (Jason Varitek has been out for weeks following surgery)
1B Carlos Pena (since Youkilis is in left field)
2B Dustin Pedroia (since Loertta is at DH)

And with projected starter (and rookie) John Lester having back problems, less-highly-touted rookie Kason Gabbard started the game.

The A's, meanwhile, threw their usual line-up and starter Esteban Loaiza, who's been on a roll of late.

Well, you can't really replace Gonzalez, Ortiz, Ramirez, Varitek and Nixon with Cora, Pena, Lopez, Hinske and Pedroia without taking a big, big hit, and to make a long story short, the Sox got shut out 9-0. Ow.

One aside, though: We were sitting in front of a couple of fans, one of whom was a smart-alec Red Sox fan. When Javy Lopez came to the plate, he asked his friend "How do you say 'declining skills' in Spanish?" I turned around and said, "I think it's pronounced 'Oriole'." (The Orioles traded Lopez to the Sox a few weeks ago.)

The next night featured basically the same Sox line-up, but at least they had a real pitcher going: Josh Beckett, opposed by decent fill-in Kirk Saarloos. This one was a heart-breaker, with the Sox leaving all kinds of runners on base going down 2-1. When your team can only score 1 run in 13+ innings against Loaiza and Saarloos, then you've got real problems.

This was nearly as painful as sitting through the Sox losing to the A's in the 2003 ALDS. Ow.

The 2006 Red Sox' season is about over, as the team is on a brutal losing jag and they're about as injured as I've ever seen a team. Part-way through the second game I thought, "This must be what it feels like to be a Royals fan." Okay, at least the Sox have money and talent and plenty of recent success. But still, this is not a good month to be a Red Sox fan. It's time to wait for next year.