Getting worse by the day

You can't win a pennant in April but you can lose one if you dig yourselves too deep of a hole.

The Boston Red Sox in 2011 are currently a case study to see how poorly they can start and still compete for the AL East title.

For the second time in a row, Jon Lester (0-1) pitched well enough to win but didn't since his teammates couldn't score him enough runs in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park last night.

Lester went seven innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Tampa Bay (3-8) ace David Price (1-2) was just a notch better going 7.1 innings and giving up five hits and two earned runs with two walks and three strikeouts.

Boston (2-9) has the worst record in MLB and they're living up to that billing by finding a million different ways to lose every game.

Daniel Bard pitched a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks threw a 1-2-3 ninth with a strikeout but the Red Sox couldn't get to Joel Paralta (1 out) or Kyle Farnsworth, who struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the season.

Terry Francona loaded his lineup with righthanded bats to face Price and it paid off when Darnell McDonald hit a solo homer in the third for a 1-0 Boston lead.

Granite State folk hero Sam Fuld tied it up in the fifth with a ground out and Johnny Damon (2 hits) had the game-winning hit, a two-run double following Fuld in the fifth.

Jed Lowrie (2 hits) cut it to 3-2 with an RBI double in the sixth but that's all Boston could muster.

The series finale is scheduled for tonight with John Lackey facing James Shields but I doubt it happens since it's been pouring all day.

Don't know which is better for the Red Sox right now: to sit around for a day and here how bad they are or try to get a game in with Lackey pitching. Either way, not good options.

Is it time for the All-Star break yet?

Yikes, this is getting ugly. With the Triple A lineups the Red Sox are forced to trot out each night, they have no chance against anyone, particularly a good team like the Rays. Boston's hand is forced too because they don't really have many trade chips and not to mention there have so many needs (middle of the lineup bat, relievers) to fill.

Last night, Tampa Bay (51-33) swept the Sox (49-36) 6-4 at Tropicana Field as David Price became the first 12-game winner in the AL (probably solidifying that he'll start the All-Star game next week).

Price (12-4) went 7.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts.

Tim Wakefield fell to 3-7, lasting 5.2 innings but allowing six earned runs on four hits with six walks and three strikeouts.

Mercifully the Red Sox have an off-day today and then a three-game series in Toronto before they can regroup and hopefully return somebody next week when they start back up.

This was actually a game that Boston deserved to win but unfortunately they got in way too big a hole early. The Rays went up 2-0 in the fourth on Evan Longoria's solo homer and B.J. Upton's infield single. Tampa added three more in the fifth: Kelly Shoppach scored on a passed ball, Carlos Pena had an RBI single and a run scored on Sean Rodriguez's groundout.

David Ortiz started the ill-fated Sox comeback with an RBI double in the sixth. Carl Crawford answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth which turned out to be the deciding run.

Mike Cameron (3 hits) hit a solo homer in the seventh then a sacrifice fly in the ninth. That wacky Joe Maddon even had Matt Garza close out the Sox (since Rafael Soriano had worked four games in a row) and he nearly gave it away as Darnell McDonald (3 hits) hit an RBI double and Ortiz walked before Kevin Youkilis flew out to center to end it.

Are we looking at 2006 all over again?

As the Red Sox lost 6-4 to the Rays last night at Tropicana Field, moving their record there to 2-13 since the start of last season, you had to wonder, is Boston (62-44) about to have an epic collapse?

That might seem like a stretch for a team that is in control of the AL wild card and 18 games over .500 but anyone that has watched closely realizes that this is a very flawed squad.

Nobody outside of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester has stepped up; Tim Wakefield might return at the end of next week and Dice-K possibly in September (not holding my breath on that). Clay Buchholz, Brad Penny and John Smoltz are each almost automatic losses.

Penny (7-6) went six innings last night but gave up five runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Tampa Bay (60-48) starter David Price (5-4) looked like the stud from last fall's playoffs. He went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Victor Martinez was a great addition but he can only do so much for a lineup that just doesn't have the juice it had in the first half of the season. Martinez was the only player from either team to have two hits, a double and a homer.

Jason Bay crushed a homer to left in the second to give the Red Sox an early 1-0 lead.

The Rays answered with Carlos Pena's two-run homer in the third and birthday boy Carl Crawford's (28) two-run blast in the third.

Martinez's solo shot in the sixth cut it to 4-2 but Penny gave up his third long ball of the night as bum Pat Burrell went deep for a 5-2 Tampa Bay advantage.

Every time the Sox scored, Tampa quickly responded. Jed Lowrie's groundout in the seventh made it 5-3 in the seventh but Jason Bartlett hit a solo homer off Manny Delcarmen.

Kevin Youkilis produced the last run with an RBI groundout in the eighth but Rays closer J.P. Howell struck out two in the ninth for his 12th save of the season.

The Sox travel to Yankee Stadium, the four-game series starts tonight and it should be a great barometer for where this team is going. New York has been the best team in baseball for months now, a far cry from their 0-8 early-season record against Boston.

New York is 2.5 games up on Boston and the Red Sox are just three games ahead of Tampa Bay. The Yankees are obviously going to win at least one game this series but the Red Sox need at least a split to show they're doing more than treading water.

John Smoltz pitches against Joba tonight, a complete mismatch if I've ever seen one. I think Boston's relievers are warming up as we speak.

It is the Rays' Year

The Tampa Bay Rays have been the best team in baseball all season (forget the Angels' impressive record, the AL West was a joke) so it seems only fitting that they're moving on to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The Rays clinched the trip with a nail-biting 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in game 7 of the ALCS at the Trop last night.

As a Sox fan, I'm obviously disappointed and went into the game thinking Boston would find a way to win since that's what they've done in recent big games but it wasn't to be. They lost to a better team, I don't hesitate to admit that. I'm sure a majority of simple-minded fanboys from New England and beyond won't be able to deal with this blow for a while but when you lose and there's nothing to gripe about, you have to let it go.

Matt Garza outdueled Jon Lester and Tampa Bays bullpen held the lead. Garza got off to a shaky start as he gave up a solo home run to Dustin Pedroia in the first but he settled down after that. In the biggest start of his career, Garza went seven innings, giving up just the one run on two hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon got all Tony LaRussa on everybody by using four relievers to get six outs but it worked. The headliner was stud David Price, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, who recorded the last four outs and the save. Price walked one and struck out three, leaving little doubt that the hard-throwing lefty will soon be one of the top pitchers in the AL and probably baseball.

In seven innings of work, Lester gave up three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Lester was good but he had to be perfect in this game since the Sox lineup couldn't give him anything.

The Rays tied it in the fourth when Evan Longoria knocked in Carlos Pena with an RBI double.

Tampa Bay would take the lead for good in the fifth as Rocco Baldelli singled home Willy Aybar.

Aybar provided the play of the game as he hit a solo homer in the seventh off Lester that gave Tampa a 3-1 lead.

Boston had five walks but they couldn't deliver the big hits as they left 18 men on base. Hideki Okajima gave the Sox another clean inning, a 1-2-3 eighth.

Price came into the game with two outs in the eighth and struck out J.D. Drew looking with the bases loaded. He walked Jason Bay to lead off the ninth but stuck out Mark Kotsay and Jason Varitek (no pinch hitter?). Jed Lowrie came up for Alex Cora and hit a hard grounder to second baseman Akinori Iwamura that took a sharp hop but Iwamura gloved it and stepped on second for the third and final out.

It's all too easy to be bummed out since the Red Sox fell short so close to another World Series appearance, where they would have had the chance to get two titles in a row. In all honesty, it shouldn't have gotten to that point. Tampa Bay dominated the first 4+ games in the series, the Sox had an amazing comeback then won game 6. Boston had too many injuries and guys in slumps to overcome a young, talented, hungry team like the Rays.

There's many questions to answer in the offseason but the Red Sox have nothing to hang their heads about. They went as far as this flawed team could take them.

World Series prediction: Rays in 6.