From streaking to skidding - Sox lose third straight

Tampa Bay 5, Sox 4 (11)
WP: Dohman (1-0)
LP: Timlin (2-2)
SV: None
HRs: None

SUMMARY:
The revamped Rays took the game right to the big, bad Bosox tonight at the Trop. They refused to give up after trailing 3-1 early and not only did they manage to tie the game, but wound up winning it in extra innings on the strength of solid defense and terrific bullpen work.

SUPERSTAR: Carl Crawford 3-6, 3R, BI, 2-3Bs
The speedster known as C.C. got the Rays on the board early when he scored following his first inning triple; he tied the score at three when his 2nd triple drove in Aki Iwamura in the 4th; and he scored the winning run after leading off the 11th with a solid 2-strike single to the opposite field off loser Mike Timlin.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Timlin 2/3IP, 2H, BB, ER
It's gotten to the point that as soon as he enters the game a chill runs down my spine and I mutter to myself "game over." And not in the Mariano Rivera way, either.

RECAP:
I missed most of this game live because I was at my son's Little League tournament (we won Game 1, 14-1), and I was certainly surprised when I got home at 10:30 and the game was still on.

And then I saw the score (4-4) and the inning (10th) and my surprise turned to dismay.

Not because of the score but because I knew Boston would have to be deep into their bullpen, and this season that prospect is a grim one to say the least.

Sure enough the Rays, who all of a sudden own one of the best pens in the league, patched together a few solid innings, thanks to a pair of slick double plays turned in the 10th and 11th, while the Sox pen fizzled once again as tired arm Timlin couldn't get three outs in the 11th, costing the team a chance at a win and extending the Sox losing streak to three games.

Needless to say after witnessing my son's game and then the outcome of this one I was in no mood to watch the whole game on the DVR recording, but in order to have the proper perspective on what happened I had to see for myself.

Plus I could always fast forward through the rough parts.

To say neither the Red Sox nor the Tampa Bay starter was effective early would be putting it very mildly.

Tim Wakefield (6IP, 6H, 3ER, 5BB, K), who normally treats the Trop like his own backyard, was all over the place tonight, surrendering 11 base runners in 6 innings, including a brutal stretch of 3 walks and a wild pitch in a four batter span in the 2nd, although he did settle down enough to keep the game close.

Fortunately Rays starter Matt Garza (5IP, 5H, 3ER, 3BB, K), who was making his first start after coming off the DL, had a 2nd inning to forget as well. He gave up a leadoff single to Manny (3-5) and then walked three straight batters, the last to Julio Lugo with the bases loaded to force in a run, and then allowed a sac fly by Kevin Cash and RBI single by Jacoby Ellsbury before getting Pedroia to foul out to end the inning.

After the field turf dust settled, somehow the Sox had a 3-1 lead.

But Wake coughed it right up as the Rays scored one in the 3rd on a single by BJ Upton, a HBP and RBI single by rookie Evan Longoria, and then they took the lead in the 4th when Carl Crawford tripled in Aki Iwamura and then came in on an error by Lugo, his league leading 7th of the year.

The damage could have been worse, and extra innings avoided, but the Sox got a favorable call on a play at third base in which Upton appeared to be safe on a double steal but was called out just before Longoria's hit.

As it turned out, all that blown call did was prolong the agony.

Boston tied the game at four in the 6th on back-to-back singles by JD Drew and Jed Lowrie and an RBI groundout by Lugo, amidst alternating chants of "Let's Go Red Sox" and resounding boos by the home team's fans, like a Tampa Bay take on the "taste's great/less filling" chant, and the game stayed quiet for the next few innings until an eventful 9th.

(ah the joy of using that 'fast forward' button has no end.)

In the top of the 9th the Sox got two men on against Dan Wheeler thanks to an an odd play. Cash (3-3) reached on single to third and one out later Pedroia hit a tapper to second, but Iwamura couldn't tag Cash, who stopped running, and threw to first too late to get Pedroia, and miraculously both runners were safe.

With a break like that, the big boppers coming up, and Papelbon warming in the pen, you'd think the win was in the bag, right?

Think again.

Wheeler got Ortiz (0-6) to fly out to shallow center and then fanned Manny on four pitches to preserve the tie, and then it got worse from there.

After Tampa bay left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th when Javier Lopez got ex-Sox Eric Hinske to fly out to end the threat, Boston squandered two opportunities to score when a pair of twin killings erased base runners and ended the 10th & 11th.

In the bottom of the 11th it was all up to Timlin to get the team to the next inning, but as soon as Crawford lined a leadoff single to left you knew it wasn't going to get to another inning.

Sure enough Crawford stole second and after Upton drew a walk, seldom-used utility man Nathan Haynes (yes, THE Nathan Haynes...wha, who???) sliced a single to right that easily scored the speedy C.C., and the Rays had a hard-fought win in the books, the kind that could resonate for a franchise in what could be a turnaround season.

Meanwhile the Sox are backsliding so badly that the Orioles are now just a 1/2 game back in the East, and lo and behold these very Rays are in third place, at 12-11, just 2 games back.

It's a new day in Tampa Bay indeed.

RECORD: 15-10
STREAK: L3
LST 10: 6-4
AL EAST: Up 1/2 gm
UP NEXT: Sat @ TB 705 Buchholz vs. Jackson