Bullpen woes continue as Sox fall to Jays again

Toronto 10, Sox 2
WP: Litsch (1-0)
LP: Buchholz (0-1)
SV: None
HRs: Tor-Thomas (1)

Superstar: Jesse Litsch 5IP, 5H, 2ER, 3BB, 2K
He wasn't spectacular, but the former D-Rays bat boy from down here in Pinellas County pitched well enough to earn the win.

The Biggest Loser(s): the Boston bullpen 3IP, 5H, 3BB, 0K, 6ER, HR
For the second straight game the supposed strong suit of the Boston pitching staff shit the bed like an old timer at Sunny Acres nursing home. While starter Clay Buchholz kept the damage to a minimum, the duo of Kyle Snyder and Bryan Corey dumped a can of butane on the game and tossed a match to it.

You know it's pretty bad when Julie Tavarez (2.1IP, 1H) is the lone bright spot.

RECAP:
Thankfully I didn't have the misfortune of catching this game today.

Stop me if you've heard this before. Because it was the same opening I used for my last game recap, and the sorry thing is it is just as appropriate today as it was yesterday.

I did miss the game today, thanks to the f-ing FOX blackout that trumps the Extra Innings package, and I am glad I did because it appeared, from trying to follow it on GameCast, to be the type of game that many expletives would have been flung around, possibly along with some small, tossable objects (like my clickers need any more tape on them.)

This loss was especially painful because unlike the night before Boston actually held a lead today, albeit a slim and short-lived one. But when Manny (1-3, BB, BI) doubled Papi in for a 1-0 lead in the first, and then Mayor Casey, making his first start of the season, singled in JD Drew for a 2-1 lead in the top of the 4th, it looked as if the offense was going to get on track and Clay Buchholz (5IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 7K) was going to be able to put his horrible spring behind him and get the club back on the winning track.

In the words of coach Corso, not so fast my friends.

The high-fiving for Casey's first Red Sox ribbie barely subsided before the team would soon be lamenting his first Boston error, and it proved to be a costly one, too. In the bottom of the 4th Lyle Overbay (2-4, R, BI) singled with one out, Aaron Hill reached on a bunt single, and after Marco Scutaro walked to load the bases, 9th place hitter Ger Zahn hit a routine grounder to first that should have been an inning-ending double play.

Except the man who just set the consecutive game errorless streak for a first baseman, Kevin Youkilis, wasn't on the bag today, and his replacement, Casey, booted the ball for a 2-run, 2 base error that gave the Jays a 3-2 lead, and when David Eckstein (2-5, R, 3BI) followed with an RBI single it was just about over.

Not that a 2-run deficit would be impossible to overcome, but the Sox batters have been unable to muster any substantial offense against the Jays pitchers, and once again the bully was abysmal when called on to hold the game to a manageable deficit.

Kyle Snyder continued his rapid descent to being a has-been reliever when he gave up two walks, a sacrifice and a wild pitch to the three batters he faced, and Bryan Corey continues to make the Nation wonder why the fuck Theo ever picked him up last year when he immediately allowed RBI hits to Eckstein, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and then a 2-run blast by Frank Thomas to cap a 6-run sixth inning and turn a close contest into a rout.

For his efforts this season Snyder (1.2IP, 2H, 2BB, 4ER, 21.60ERA) was shown the door after the game, given his outright release, but the question remains what to do about the hemorrhaging pitching staff. None of the starters have turned in a dominant performance so far this season, and not only has the bully not been a strength, but it has appeared to be more unstable than Britney Spears on crank.

What's that, the ace, savior and shoulda-been Cy Young winner Josh Beckett comes off the DL to start the nationally televised contest against the Jays' Roy Halladay tomorrow afternoon?

Well in that case, never mind.

Thankfully I will be able to catch that one.

RECORD: 3-2
AL EAST: 1 GB
UP NEXT: Sun @ TOR, 1:00EST, TBS HD