Game 2 not quite as festive as Opening Day

Detroit 7, Sox 2
WP: Bonderman (1-1)
LP: Lester (1-2)
SV: None
HRs: Bos-None; DET: Thames (1)

SUMMARY:
The Sox pitching was pitiful and the hitting wasn't that much better as the Tigers finally broke their season-opening 7-game losing streak, scoring half as many runs in this game as they had in the previous seven. Throw in the fact that Mike Lowell left the game with a sprained thumb and it all added up to a bad loss for the roller coaster Sox.

Superstar: Edgar Rentanerror 3-4, 2R, 2BI, 2-2Bs, BB,
The 1-year blunder at shortstop was a thorn in Boston's side all night, ripping three hits and opening the floodgates on the Tigers scoring with a key 2-run double in the 4th despite constant harassment from the fans.

Doesn't it figure that a day after the Faithful welcomed back a former goat that a more recent object of the fans' derision would come back to haunt us?

The Biggest Loser(s): Sox pitchers 9IP, 10H, 7ER, 8BB, WP, HBP
From starter Jon Lester (4R, 4H, 4BB in 5.1IP) and middle man Bryan Corey (2R, 2H, BB in 1/3IP) all the way to Javier Lopez, who surrendered a homer and two other base runners in the 9th, the Boston pitching was piss poor again tonight.

RECAP:
Can you say "letdown"?

Coming of the high of yesterday's festive, fun-filled Opening Day display, you had to know that there would be some sort of letdown factor tonight. Kind of like a Tangueray hangover after one of my wife's Christmas parties.

Especially with shaky Jon Lester taking the hill to face a Tiger team so hungry for a win Jim Leyland might even resort to doing something drastic, like threaten quit smoking, if the team didn't get off the schneid soon.

But after jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning thanks to a bases loaded walk to Jacoby Ellsbury and an RBI single by Julio Lugo (a.k.a. Rentanerror 2.0), it looked as if the team might ride the emotional wave of Opening day to another victory over the toothless Tigers.

Unfortunately the wave came crashing down on the Sox in a hurry, starting with an injury to a key player and ending with a miserable loss to the formerly winless Tigers.

It was in that second inning that we learned that Mike Lowell apparently sprained his thumb when he made a diving stop of Miguel Cabrera's grounder in the first inning. Though his replacement, Sean Casey, did have a hit in his first at bat in Lowell's spot to start the rally and later doubled, the 2007 team MVP's absence was a somber reminder that this team is a couple of key injuries away from turning into the D-Rays.

And it was shortly after the Sox took that 2-0 lead in the second that the the game fell apart, too.

Lester retired the floundering Magglio Ordonez to start the 4th, then proceeded to walk Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen to bring the hated former Sox shortstop to the plate with a chance to tie the game.

But this is the same guy who never got a big hit the entire year he was in a Boston uniform, right? Surely he would bounce into a DP or strike out to squelch the threat. Right? Right?!

Instead Rentanerror sliced a double to the wall in left center that sent both runner home and tied the game at two, and if you squinted a bit it was almost as if you could see him standing at 2nd base with a finger to his lips telling the unruly Fenway masses to hush their foul mouths.

It only got worse from there when Lester hung a lazy breaking ball to the next batter, which happened to be Detroit's musclular left fielder Marcus Thames, who turned on the fat pitch and drove it halfway to his namesake river in England to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish.

That's because Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman (5IP, 5H, 1ER, 4BB, K) and 4 Tiger relievers shut the Sox down the rest of the way, while Boston's bully continued doing their best Eric Gagme imitations as a quartet of hurlers couldn't keep the score where it was and give the offense a chance to get back in the game.

It all added up to a disappointing night at the yard, and now with Lowell's status uncertain, Papi's continued hitting woes (0-4, .091 for the year) and the instability of the pitchers, suddenly the promise of the preseason has turned into the despressing reality that this team could be in last place in the eat when the Stanks come to town tomorrow night.

But at least they've lost two straight to the Royals.

So we got that going for us.

RECORD: 4-5
AL EAST: 3 GB
STREAK: L 1
UP NEXT: Thu vs DET, 715 Robertson v Wakefield