To go nowhere it's all about run prevention

It hasn't taken long to figure out why nobody was excited about the 2010 Red Sox season: by not adding a bit bat in the middle of the lineup (to replace Jason Bay), it was clear that this flawed team from last season would only take a step back.

The Sox brass talked all about run prevention which has already backfired as they make errors left and right and on top of that, they can't score any runs making defense rather pointless.

It's hard to remember a much more depressing result in April but yesterday has to be the front-runner as Tampa Bay won two games in one night at Fenway Park.

First, they wrapped up the suspended game from the night before with a 3-1 win in 12 innings. Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer off Manny Delcarmen in the 12th.

That was bad enough but it came after the laughable sequence of not being able to score one run (to win it in the 11th) with the bases loaded and nobody out. David Ortiz hit a groundball that forced J.D. Drew at the plate before Adrian Beltre grounded into a double play.

Tampa Bay (8-3) won their fifth straight (5-0 on the road) and sent Boston (4-7) to its third straight loss with a 6-5 victory late last night.

With the rain, miserable temperatures and delay from the first game, it was a rare scene at Fenway: empty seats everywhere. The only enjoyment in last night's game was listening to a couple hardy drunks yelling at the Red Sox. Yup, it's come to that already.

The Rays scored four runs in the first off Clay Buchholz. The first was solely Mike Cameron's fault as he dropped a routine fly ball by Carlos Pena. From there, Buchholz was rattled and gave up a three-run double to Burrell.

Marco Scutaro got the Red Sox on the board with a solo homer-his first with Boston-in the fifth inning. After a John Jaso RBI double and Evan Longoria's solo shot, Tampa Bay was up 6-1. James Shields (1-0) was cruising but ran into trouble in the seventh.

Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, the only Boston hitters you can count on at the moment, made it interesting with a pair of two-run homers over the Monster.

Ramon Ramirez finally did something positive, throwing two scoreless innings but Dan Wheeler (eighth) and Rafael Soriano (fourth save, second of the night) didn't allow the tying run from Boston.

Tampa Bay goes for the sweep this afternoon as Matt Garza takes on Jon Lester.

What is going on with Josh Beckett?

As sweet as the win Tuesday night was, last night left a bitter taste in Red Sox fans' mouths since Josh Beckett continued to scuffle (at the most important time of the season).

Tampa Bay won 8-5 last night at the Trop, evening the score in this vital series that the Rays (72-60) have to win.

Beckett was down 5-1 after three innings but he struck around long enough to go six respectable innings. He gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with nine strikeouts.

Rays starter Matt Garza has had a forgettable season but he always seems to pick it up a notch vs. the Red Sox. He lasted 6.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

One of the trademarks of Beckett not pitching well is the abundance of homers he gives up.

Carl Crawford hit a solo shot in the first. Jason Bay tied it with an RBI triple in the second. The Rays scored three times in the third: Pat Burrell (2 hits, 2 RBIs) hit a solo homer, Akinori Iwamura had an RBI single and Gregg Zaun (3 hits) scored on B.J. Upton's sacrifice.

Zaun's RBI double in the third made it 5-1 but the Red Sox slowly started to comeback. Two in the fourth on a David Ortiz groundout and a J.D. Drew RBI single cut it to 5-3.

Victor Martinez hit an RBI single in the seventh and pinch runner Joey Gathright (former Rays great) tied it in the eighth after J.P. Howell threw a wild pitch.

Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen blew it in the eighth as Burrell touched up Ramirez with a run scoring single and Evan Longoria blasted a two-run bomb on the first pitch from Delcarmen.

The rubber match tonight is between both team's promising young pitchers: Clay Buchholz vs. David Price. It's a meaningful one since a Boston win is up 2.5 games on the Rangers in the wild card and 5 on the Rays.

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.