Projo Sox Blog

The Red Sox kicked off this long road trip with a 6-5 win against the Minnesota Twins. It was only six days ago, but that offensive outburst is quickly fading into a distant memory; the offense has been quiet since, and has not scored more than three runs in any of the last four games.

Some days, that's been enough. Today, it wasn't, and the Sox fell 5-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays.

"We'll have to find a way to score runs, because we're not winning many games. It's not early anymore. We've played 50 games, so we need to start doing some things offensively," second baseman Dustin Pedroia said.

Starter Brad Penny has been nothing if not consistent all season, and he didn't deviate from that today. After a shaky first few innings he delivered his classic performance, giving up three runs -- two earned -- and lasting through six innings before giving way to the bullpen. He gave up a long blast to Adam Lind in the sixth, and left with the game tied 3-3.

"I left too many fastballs running back over the plate. It wasn't a bad outing, but it just seemed like every mistake I made, they hit," Penny said.

Penny has six quality starts on the year. Most days, his dependable pitching has given Boston enough breathing room to win.

Today, the bullpen faltered, with the heretofore unhittable Ramon Ramirez giving up two runs and taking the loss.

"it just isn't going to work every day," Ramirez said. "I'm going to throw the ball the best I can... I can't be perfect every time,"

Ramirez came on to relieve Penny at the start of the seventh inning, and promptly gave up an infield hit to Toronto's Marco Scutaro. The play, however, could easily have been ruled an error, as Nick Green's high throw pulled first baseman Kevin Youkilis off the bag. The Jays followed up with two hits later in the inning, bringing in Scutaro and later right fielder Alex Rios for a 5-3 lead.

The appearance actually doubled Ramirez' ERA this year, the two runs bringing him from 0.74 to 1.44.

"That's one of the first tough innings we've seen. He just looked like he was having a hard time -- his body language. He just looked like he was out of sync," manager Terry Francona said.

The Red Sox seemed like they were going to knock Toronto starter Brian Tallet out of the game in the first few innings -- the Toronto bullpen was active in the second -- but Tallet settled down and lasted seven, earning the win.

"He's done this year, all but probably one or two games. There's been baserunners, there's been walks, and you look up -- it's kind of like we're talking about [Wakefield] -- you look up in the sixth or seventh, and he's giving them a chance to win," Francona said of Tallet.

The lineup made good contact all game, catcher Jason Varitek said, but the balls just weren't falling. That will change, he said.

"Our big fellas are swinging the bats well, and not having a whole lot of results. But when you're lining out and hitting balls like [they are] a couple times a game, those things will eventually fall. I think that's a matter of time," Varitek said.

Rocco Baldelli had an up-and-down game. He bobbled a first-inning ball in right field, allowing Aaron Hill to reach second on what would have likely been a single. Hill scored one batter later, when Alex Rios drove him in, tying the game at one.

Baldelli came up second in the next inning, and quickly put the error in the past. With Jason Varitek on first base, Baldelli hit a home run to left, giving the Sox a 3-1 lead. He was later pulled when he crashed his left knee into the right field wall fielding a fly ball in foul territory. He was taken for x-rays, but the results were negative. He should be available within a few days.

"I hit it with some pretty good force, and I just wanted to make sure there was nothing going on there. It's probably something when I'll know a lot more when I wake up," Baldelli said.

The Red Sox play the finale of this three game series tomorrow afternoon, before heading to Detroit to conclude this three-city road trip.

 Tags  Brad Penny Dan Barbarisi Jason Varitek Rocco Baldelli

---