All Tied Up With Two Games Left
Here we are on Tuesday, September 27 with only two games left in the regular season and the Boston Red Sox have managed to put their postseason hopes in jeopardy thanks to another lifeless effort in a 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
Over three weeks ago the Red Sox held a 9 game lead in the Wild Card. Fast forward 25 days and after 160 games into the year the Red Sox are tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for the final postseason spot in the AL. And it doesn’t look good with two games to go.
Josh Beckett took the mound last night with the hopes of Red Sox Nation that he would be the guy to put a stop to the September slide. He’s developed a reputation as a big game pitcher so to see him give up six runs for the second straight game in September, it’s only fitting to go with the rest of this club’s performance. He bombed another start and with it quite possibly sealed his club’s fate and any chance of playing in October. Beckett went six innings, giving up seven hits and six earned runs while walking four and fanning five. It wasn’t Beckett-like at all.
But number 19 isn’t the only one to blame. The offense once again had ample opportunities to win this game at the plate. Twice they left the bases loaded without even making a threat to score a run. In the ninth inning, with the tying run at the plate, Marco Scutaro barely got wood on the ball, hitting a soft grounder to short to end the game. It’s been that kind of month for this club and even April wasn’t this bad. They aren’t getting the big hits when they need them the most. All that’s left is a blank stare on all the faces of the players at the end of the game. No emotion, no life, no October.
It’s the worst September in over 80 years for the Boston Red Sox and now they are on the verge of completing one of the biggest collapses in baseball history.
Over the past three-plus weeks we’ve heard every excuse from Tito and Epstein not getting along to some of the players being out of shape. Excuses and side headlines aside, this is a team full of all-stars and they’re just not getting it done. Jarrod Saltalmacchia couldn’t throw out a senior citizen in Vladimir Guerrero when he stole second. It is just plain ugly.
They have two games to try and show up and put in a full nine inning effort. They have to win both games to most likely just get into a one game playoff with Tampa. We’ve seen how hard the Yankees aren’t playing and Joe Girardi has already said the game on Wednesday is a scrub type lineup. No regulars will be used as he whining about only having one off day between the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason. Boo’frickin’hoo Joe!
Unless I’m playing with house money, I’m not betting on the Red Sox to make it.
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