Sox suffer frustrating, pain-filled loss to Rays

Tampa Bay 2, Sox 1
WP: Jackson (4-12)
LP: Matsuzaka (13-10)
SV: Reyes (19)
HRs: TB-Upton (18)

SUMMARY
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched well enough to win but got no help from the offense, and Rays CF B.J. Upton decided the game with an assist to nab a runner at the plate and a two-run home run.

#1 STUNNER Upton 1-4, R, 2BI
The 23-year-old celebrated his birthday a day late as his two-way heroics single-handedly won the game for the Rays.

In the 5th he nailed a lumbering Big Papi trying to score from second on a single by Lowell, and in the 6th he smacked a 2-run shot of Matsuzaka for the winning margin in the game.

PAN's FAUN Cap'n Tek 0-5, 2K, 8LOB
I hate to pick on one guy because the offense as a whole was horrid, but the Captain was anything but clutch in this one.

Not only did he pull an o-fer , but he ended three straight innings with two men on base, including the final out of the game.

RECAP
For the third time this season the Rays defeated the Red Sox.

And the loser in all three contests? Daisuke Matsuzaka.

In what has become a familiar refrain when the Diceman pitcheth, Boston mustered little or no run support for the rookie and failed to come up with a timely hit despite numerous opportunities, and instead of a 3-game sweep the Sox limp into the Windy City on the fumes of this frustrating loss.

In Matsuzaka's 10 losses this season Boston has scored just 21 runs, and it doesn't take Steven Hawking to figure that averages to a smidge over 2 RPG.

In those 10 losses the Sox have been shutout twice, scored one run three times including tonight, and managed only two runs in two other contests.

A lesser, more anger-prone man might take the lack of support a personally, or wonder why the team wasn't scoring for him, but to his credit the humble Japanese hurler quietly states that if his offense is having trouble scoring it is his job to shut the other team out.

Which, like the last time he started at the Trop, he was doing for most of the game.

In fact Matsuzaka (6IP, 2H, 2ER, 4BB, 8K) was so dominant this evening that he only allowed four base runners (1 hit, 3 walks) through the first five innings.

Boston batters, meanwhile, were peppering the base paths all night, something that should be expected from the best team in the game facing a pitcher with a 3-12 record and an ERA over 5.00.

But has been the case so many times in this perplexing season, the Sox couldn't drive the big run home,and it's been this inability to put the early nail in the coffin of a lesser pitcher and team that has cost Boston too many would-be victories.

The Sox had base runners in every inning in this game, yet managed to score 1 measly run. They left 15 men stranded, including multiple runners in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th innings.

Their best chance at a big inning that could've driven improving young righty Edwin Jackson (6IP, 5H, 1ER, 5BB, 3K) out of the game came in the third, when the first three batters reached base but Boston could only muster one run from the gift-wrapped situation,

Dustin Pedroia led off the frame the hard way, taking a Jackson pitch off the elbow, a blow that would lead to Pedroia's departure from the game between innings. test results are negative, but don't be surprised if he gets a day or two off to rest the injury.

Kevin Youkilis followed that with a deep drive to right that bounced near the top of the padded outfield wall and landed him on second base and Pedroia on third,
and five pitches later David Ortiz was unintentionally intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs.

Time to lay waste to this guy, right?

Well if laying waste means a sac fly by Mike Lowell, who was hitting in Manny's spot as Ramirez had the night off, then yes, they certainly laid waste to Jackson.

After Lowell's team-leading 86th RBI made the score 1-0 Boston, it looked as if the Sox were headed to another easy win at the Trop.

Then Jackson got Drew to pop out and Varitek to ground out, and the promising inning dissipated in the blink of an eye.

And on and on it went.

In the 4th Eric Hinske drew a 1-out walk, made it all the way to third on a stolen base and an error, and was left stranded when Alex Cora, who replaced Pedroia, flied out to end the inning.

Adding injury to injury, Hinske also had to leave the game when he pulled a muscle on his trip 3/4 of the way around the bases.

In the 5th Boston would get another golden scoring chance when Papi (2-2, 3BB) smoked a 1-out drive to deep left, another shot that nearly went for a homer but just missed and wound up a double.

A few pitches later Lowell spanked a hard grounder up the middle and into center, and as Papi got the "go" sign from Demarlo Hale, B.J. Upton scooped the ball in his glove and came up firing, throwing a perfect strike to catcher Josh Paul to nail Papi at the plate and kill any momentum the Sox might have gained from the play.

Instead it was Tampa Bay that gained the assistance of Uncle Mo, and it would be the same man who provided the defensive highlight who would supply all the offense the rays needed on the night.

Dice-K quickly retired Carl Crawford on strikes to being the bottom of the 6th, then issued a free pass to ex-Sox and current Sox killer Carlos Pena. Two pitches later Upton drove a Matsuzaka offering the opposite way and into the seats in right for a game-changing 2-run homer, and suddenly the team that looked like it was poised for a sweep had some ground to make up, with time running out.

Except the final three frames would contain more of the same for Boston: get men on, fail to get them home.

In the 7th, with Jackson done and the shaky Rays pen on to hold the slim lead, Papi reached on a shift-busting single and Drew (2-4) on a sliced single to left, but Tek struck out swinging to end the threat.

After Mike Timlin worked into and out of a bases loaded situation of his own in the bottom of the 7th, Julio Lugo delivered a 2-out ground rule double to right against Gary Glover, but the much-maligned Glover got Cora to strike out swinging to squelch that chance.

And finally in the 9th Boston mounted one more rally when Ortiz walked and drew singled to put two on with two outs against Rays closer Al Reyes.

I think you know the rest.

So on a night when offenses ran amok--the Texas Rangers scored a league-record 30 runs against the Baltimore Orioles, and 10 teams, including the Stanks, scored at least 7 runs--the best team in baseball managed just a solo score against one of the wort teams, and pitchers, in the sport.

And that fact hurts the most.

NOTES:

-Trop trap: the last time Dice-K pitched down here he took a shutout into the 7th, only to see that lead and win disappear on a Dioner Navarro homer

-Are you K-idding? Not only have the Rays earned all three wins vs. the Sox this year off Dice-K, but they have not beaten any other pitcher in the game more than one time

-Bobby Kielty replaced Hinske, who reportedly suffered from a cramp in his calf, and went 1-2 with a single. he's now batting .300 (3-10) since being called up

-Boston held the Rays to 4 hits in all three games

-Papi continues to swing a hot stick; he's hit in six straight games (11-22), and in five of those contests he's had multiple hits. Meanwhile Youk (1-5) continues to slump, in the midst of a 5-41 (.122) funk over his last 10 games

QUOTES:

"It just hit me in the right spot. I really couldn't bend my arm much...I don't think I've ever been hit that hard before."--Pedroia on the nasty HBP that sounded like it hit his bat

"We just didn't score any runs. Those missed opportunities I'll take on my shoulders, because I left a lot of guys on base."--Tek, being the stand-up captain he always is and validating my goat selection of him

RECORD: 76-51
AL EAST: Up 5 on NYY
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Thu @ CHI 800EST