This morning’s Boston Globe reported that the Red Sox were tied for the major-league lead in a dubious category: blowing two-run leads late in the game.
Not content with merely sharing that distinction, they managed to do the same thing this afternoon. For the 12th time this year, the Sox blew a two-run lead and lost.
photo credit: Focal Intent
Things have tended to blow up late in Red Sox games this season.
It had been a deceptive game all along. Through six innings, it was a superficial pitchers’ duel at 2-1 Boston, but both Josh Beckett and Mark Buehrle repeatedly escaped jams to keep the score that low. After falling behind 3-2 in the top of the seventh, the Sox went ahead 4-3 on Victor Martinez’s home run. ChiSox manager Ozzie Guillen stayed with Buehrle a bit too long under the circumstances, but then again his bullpen has been unpredictable.
Not as unpredictable as the Red Sox, though. Daniel Bard again laid claim as heir apparent to the closer role, getting Beckett out of trouble in the seventh. Jon Papelbon was well rested after not seeing action in yesterday’s doubleheader, but he was awful regardless. Or maybe I should say he was only half-bad, as he faced eight batters and allowed four of them to reach, ultimately getting credited with four earned runs in a 7-5 loss.
If there’s any consolation here, it’s that the Sox are dead in the water with a little under a month to go. Maybe it’s time to give Bard some experience in the closer role while the team mulls whether to move the pricey Papelbon during the offseason or hang onto him in the hope that he will rediscover his magic.
To be fair, it’s been several weeks since Papelbon has had a stinker like this one. He has not been terrible by any means. But he has not been the lights-out closer of years past, and he certainly hasn’t picked up the slack with many injuries on the team.
Now we’ll just have to see if the Red Sox can blow their lead in the category of blowing leads.
