White Sox sweep the Red Sox at Fenway Park

For the life of me I can't figure out why, since they're not particularly good, but you can't dispute the ironclad fact that the Chicago White Sox own Fenway Park right now.

After polishing the Boston Red Sox off yesterday afternoon 7-4 for a three-game series sweep, Chicago (27-31) won its seventh straight at Fenway. They're 13-2 against Boston (30-26) in their last 15 games and 9-1 since the start of last season. What do you want me to do, call the White Sox my daddy? (Pedro Martinez reference).

A 3-0 lead for the home team didn't mean much as Tim Wakefield (6 innings, 4 earned runs, 7 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts) and the Boston bullpen melted down in a rare midweek afternoon game.

Gavin Floyd (6-5) was shaky at first but he settled down and got the win. He went 6.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with a walk and a strikeout.

The Red Sox put up three in the second inning as Jed Lowrie drove in David Ortiz with a ground-rule double and Jarrod Saltalamacchia knocked in two with a single.

Brent Lillibridge got an RBI double in the fourth to pull Chicago within 3-1 before the White Sox tied it in the fifth. Alexei Ramirez (3 hits, 3 run) drove in a run with a ground out before Carlos Quentin hit an RBI double. Wakefield could have got out of the inning on a clear out on the basepaths by Juan Pierre but that's not how the goober umpire saw it. Instead, Quentin got the hit and Boston spiraled out of control.

Lillibridge hit a solo homer in the sixth but Ortiz answered with his 13th of the season in the bottom of the frame to tie it at four.

It was the Paul Konerko show from there as he had an RBI double in the seventh which scored Ramirez and then a two-run bomb (scoring Ramirez) in the ninth off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.

White Sox closer Sergio Santos got a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout for his ninth save of the season.

Matt Albers (1-3) was charged with the loss after giving up three hits (including Konerko's double). He has come back to Earth after a great start in his Red Sox career.

Some scary stuff too as Rich Hill threw a pitch and then came out with an elbow injury. Dice-K is going to be out for the entire season with Tommy John surgery but nobody cares about that. Hill was a local guy that had found himself this season with Boston. Hope he's OK. Plus, he was the Red Sox' only lefty in the bullpen. Hideki Okajima is in Pawtucket but he has nothing left at this point. Theo Epstein is going to have to get some more reliable bullpen options.

The Red Sox are grateful to have a day off today after going for almost three straight weeks without one (and no, the last three days don't count). The Oakland A's come to town this weekend for a three-game set.

Should I tell the Red Sox that the White Sox are terrible?

The summer weather is finally here but with the Boston Bruins in their first Stanley Cup finals in 21 years, the Boston Red Sox have a few more weeks of anonymity before everybody starts paying more attention to their games.

It's a good thing that nobody cares right now since the Red Sox (30-25) aren't playing very well at the moment. Boston dropped its third straight game overall, 10-7 last night at Fenway Park to the Chicago White Sox (26-31).

As long as Ozzie Guillen has been manager of the White Sox, they've always had lineups that could put up big numbers since they hit bombs. The lack of starting pitching and shaky bullpens has made them an afterthought in the crappy American League Central, making them miss the playoffs the last few seasons.

I don't expect Chicago to do much this season either but they look like they're about to sweep the Red Sox at Fenway which would be pretty embarrassing.

Alfredo Aceves (2-1) for Boston last night and he didn't have it after excelling in his first two spot starts. In five innings, he was knocked around for eight runs (six earned) on eight hits with three walks and a strikeout.

Journeyman Phil Humber (4-3) started for Chicago and he continued his surprisingly good season. He went 7.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

For the second straight, the White Sox got out to a quick start and never looked back from there. They put up four runs in the second and one in the third for an early 5-0 lead. Gordon Beckham (3 hits) had an RBI single in the second, Brett Morel followed with a fielder's choice, Alexei Ramirez (4 hits, 3 RBIs) had an RBI single and A.J. Pierzynski added a ground-rule double.

Jason Varitek got the Red Sox on the board with a solo homer in the second, his second of the season.

Ramirez had another RBI single in the fourth before the White Sox put up three in the sixth on an RBI single by Juan Pierre, RBI double by Carlos Quentin and sacrifice fly by Paul Konerko.

The Red Sox added some runs in garbage time to make it close but Chris Sale came on to strike out Adrian Gonzalez on three pitches for his second save of the season.

Drew Sutton had an RBI single in the eighth and David Ortiz hit a three-run homer (his 12th of the season). Josh Reddick added a sacrifice fly in the ninth and Sutton had an RBI double.

Scott Atchison gave up two earned runs on four hits in relief. Bobby Jenks made his first appearance since May 1 and threw a scoreless eighth despite giving up two hits. Dan Wheeler had a scoreless ninth where he worked around a walk and a hit.

Tim Wakefield starts this afternoon against Gavin Floyd in the series finale. The Red Sox need a win before they have tomorrow off. Gotta get back to the roll they were on for most of May now that June is here.

Red Sox honor the troops and veterans on Memorial Day by laying down to the White Sox

Boston (30-24) came home last night for the start of a homestand against the Chicago White Sox (25-31) at Fenway Park and they lost again, 7-3.

A two-game losing streak is hardly news in baseball, the streakiest of all sports, but more puzzling was Jon Lester's latest struggles. Lester (7-2) had an seven-game win streak snapped but that was deceiving since he hadn't pitched well in his last few starts but still picked up wins.

Last night, he threw a season-high 127 pitches but only went 5.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

The White Sox were bolstered by Jake Peavy (2-0) who many moons and shoulder surgeries ago used to be one of baseball's best pitchers. The hard drinking, dippin' good old boy went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

Chicago loaded the bases in the first inning and A.J. Pierzynski (2 hits) came through with a two-run single up the middle.

Boston got a run back in the first as Adrian Gonzalez (2 hits) crushed his tenth homer of the season, a solo shot into the Red Sox bullpen.

Providence, RI native Paul Konerko (2 hits) smacked a solo homer over the Monster in the third for a 3-1 White Sox lead.

Dustin Pedroia tied it up in the third with a two-run single of his own.

That's as close as the Red Sox would get through as Alexei Ramirez (2 hits) knocked Lester out of the game with a bloop two-run double in the sixth. The next batter, Carlos Quentin, added a two-run single off Dan Wheeler and that was it.

Alfredo Aceves goes for his third straight solid start tonight as he takes on Phil Humber.

Goodnight Red Sox, see you next spring

Going away on vacation for a week to the Cape allowed me to fully withdraw from the 2010 Boston Red Sox (even though I still paid attention to their games) and admit that this season is over, on to the next one (with apologies to Swiss Beatz).

I faithfully kept up with this ill-fated team from the beginning but from the start (even before all the injuries), you had the feeling that this edition couldn't go anywhere based on their shortcomings and the fact that they play with two of the best teams in baseball in their division (New York and Tampa Bay).

Most will remember this Red Sox season for the injuries but mostly it was about the failure of GM Theo Epstein and the owners to spend money on the right players or make the right moves befitting of such a big market, high spending team.

Their bullpen was a joke all season and that never really changed. They threw money at John Lackey and Mike Cameron and predictably both have been busts based on performance and getting injured respectively.

In a season full of bad losses, yesterday might have taken the cake. The Red Sox (76-51) took a 5-3 lead into the ninth and it looked like they might avoid the sweep at Fenway Park by the White Sox (76-60).

Not so fast my friend. After entering in the eighth, Jonathan Papelbon blew his seventh save of the year and threw a career-high (out of the bullpen) 48 pitches as Chicago won 7-5.

Josh Beckett (6.1 innings, 3 runs, 1 earned, 9 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts) was better than Mark Buehrle (7 innings, 4 earned runs, 10 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts) but Chicago's superior bullpen was the difference. Other than the fact that they're in the inferior AL Central, the White Sox are still alive thanks to a solid bullpen, Boston's biggest flaw.

Alexi Ramirez put Chicago up 1-0 in the second with an RBI single. David Ortiz made it 2-1 in the third with a two-run double.

In the seventh, two Chicago runners scored on Daniel Bard's throwing error. That appeared meaningless in the bottom of the seventh when Victor Martinez blasted a two-run homer over the Monster. Bill Hall added an RBI groundout in the eighth.

However, Carlos Quentin's (3 hits, 2 RBIs) two-out, two-strike bloop double cut it to 5-4 in the ninth and Ramon Castro's RBI single tied it at five. After Papelbon was pulled, PawSox bum Robert Manuel came on and walked two White Sox with the bases loaded. Thanks for playing, season's over.

Darnell McDonald and Adrian Beltre both had three hits in the loss. They've been two of the only brightspots this whole season.

Telling ourselves that the Red Sox had any chance to make the playoffs the last few weeks (months really) has been avoiding the obvious. With college football underway and the NFL kicking off for real on Thursday, now is a fitting time to bid adieu to the Red Sox.

Sure I'll still follow them for this last pitiful month but barring a crazy win-streak or choke job by the Yankees or Rays (both unlikely), the Red Sox will be done in less than a month. It's the first time since 2006 that they'll miss the playoffs.

I guess a sweep over the White Sox was wishful thinking

After beating the White Sox Friday and Saturday, the Red Sox went for the sweep yesterday afternoon at Fenway.

Chicago (77-59) grabbed the win, 4-2, as their offense finally woke up a little bit after being held to two runs over the first two games.

The Red Sox (79-57) had eight hits and five walks but they left 18 guys on base which is never a recipe for success.

Tim Wakefield (8-9) went six innings, giving up three runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Despite the loss, Wakefield looked much better in this start than in his first one back from the DL-earlier in the week against the Yankees.

Make no mistake about it, the White Sox are a quality team. They have a bunch of sluggers, a deep pitching rotation and a decent bullpen, highlighted by a top closer. However, their reliance on the long ball might be their undoing in the playoffs (should they hold off the Twins or take the Wild Card).

Gavin Floyd improved to 15-6 by scattering one run and seven hits over 6.2 innings. He walked two and struck out five.

Jim Thome (2 runs, 2 hits, 2 RBIs) hit a two-run homer in the first that wrapped around Pesky's Pole in right and scored Carlos Quentin.

Boston cut the lead in half in the fourth as Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits, RBI, walk, 2 steals) singled in Jeff Bailey.

Paul Konerko's RBI double in the sixth made it 3-1 Chicago before Joe Crede extended the lead to 4-1 in the ninth with an RBI double.

The Red Sox made some noise in the ninth, scoring a run off White Sox closer Bobby Jenks. With Ellsbury on third, David Ortiz walked, Coco Crisp pinch ran and stole second so Boston had red-hot Dustin Pedroia coming up with two outs, representing the winning run. Pedroia popped up to shallow left on a low slider and Jenks recorded his 27th save.

Taking two out of three was a fine result for the Red Sox who continue to shuffle pitchers and the lineup due to various injuries/illnesses. Pedroia went 4 for 4 in each of the first two games and he currently leads the AL in batting average (.326). It's time to start taking the guy seriously as a MVP candidate; the AL race seems pretty wide open between him, Quentin, Josh Hamilton, Kevin Youkilis, etc.

Baltimore comes to Fenway tonight for three games.

Bidding Adieu to the White Trash at U.S. Cellular Field

Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford is on the DL and might be out for the rest of the season. Evan Longoria broke his wrist and will also be out for the near future. The Yankees are 9 games back in the AL East and 5 in the Wild Card. The Bronx Bombers are on life support.

The AL playoff picture is slowly sorting itself out; it looks like the Rays and Sox will be duking it out for the AL East, the Angels have the AL West wrapped up and the White Sox and Twins will be in a dogfight in the AL Central. More than any other factor, the reason to have faith in the Red Sox at least making the playoffs is the fact that a top-3 of Beckett, Dice-K and Lester is pretty nice. When October rolls around, its all about pitching, defense and timely hitting as Joe Buck will tell you 1000 times during the first playoff game.

Your Boston Red Sox certainly have issues of their own: Tim Wakefield is on the DL, Clay Buchholz sucks, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and a host of others are banged up but the Sox have a chance to make a move in the AL East the next few weeks as the Rays (hopefully) come back to earth somewhat and the Yankees continue to plummet.

Boston (68-51) earned a split with the Chicago White Sox (65-52) last night with a 5-1 come-from-behind win.

White Sox starter John Danks (9-5) actually had a no-hitter up until one out in the seventh when Youkilis hit a broken bat single over shortstop Orlando Cabrera. After a Mike Lowell walk, J.D. Drew delivered with a two-run single.

The Red Sox added three runs in the ninth on Jed Lowrie's (how good is he?) two-run double and Jacoby Ellsbury's RBI single.

For the second straight time, Josh Beckett (11-8) looked like the 2007 Beckett that should have won the Cy Young. He lasted eight innings and could have closed it out in the ninth but Jonathan Papelbon needed to get out there after having only one other appearance on the road trip. Beckett allowed one run on seven hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Chicago scored its lone run in the third when scumbag A.J. Pierzynski knocked in hillbilly Nick Swisher with a sacrifice fly.

With one of the best home records (40-16) in all of baseball, the Red Sox have six at Fenway this week: three against the Texas Rangers and then three vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. Pawtucket knuckleballer Charlie Zink was called up for tonight's game.