Teach me how to dougie Dice-K

What do I always say about Dice-K? He is the single most unpredictable player in MLB and probably professional sports. Therefore after I bashed him and Ben Sheets going into last night's series opener in Oakland, they responded by turning in a classic pitcher's duel.

It figures that one of the most exciting games of the season was a 10:05 p.m. EST start so who knows how much of Red Sox nation actually saw it, especially considering how low their television ratings are this season.

The Red Sox (53-40) started off the pivotal 10-game West Coast trip with a 2-1 win at the Oakland Coliseum. Dice-K (7-3) went 6.2 innings and allowed one earned run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Most surprisingly, Dice-K worked quickly and efficiently and was only on 89 pitches when he got yanked in the seventh.

Ben Sheets (4-9) nearly matched him going 6.2 innings and giving up two earned runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Daniel Bard went 1.1 scoreless innings and Jonathan Papelbon got a 1-2-3 ninth for his 21st save of the season. Dice-K's fine work allowed Terry Francona to skip over all the bum relievers that have been omnipresent this season.

Rajai Davis gave Oakland (46-47) a 1-0 lead in the third with a solo home run.

David Ortiz tied it up in the fourth when his sacrifice fly knocked in former A's outfielder Eric Patterson, who had tripled. Adrian Beltre (3 hits) produced the winning run with a solo shot two batters later.

In his last start before Josh Beckett returns to the rotation, Tim Wakefield goes tonight against Dallas Braden, he of the perfect game on May 9. Braden has been on the DL and also has struggled since then, he hasn't won a game since then.

Where did it all go wrong?

I can't say I saw this one coming. The Boston Red Sox are completely falling apart and in any given game, either their pitching or hitting is terrible. They can't put both parts together in the same contest anymore. Or so it seems.

Once again, they lost to the Oakland A's, 8-6 last night at Fenway as the Yankees won their series in Tampa.

Brad Penny (7-5) gave up five runs in the first inning and though the Sox (58-42) made a decent comeback attempt, it fell short.

Adam Kennedy hit the first pitch of the game over the Monster as the A's (43-57) took a 1-0 lead. It got much worse as a run came home on Ryan Sweeney's groundout then Rajai Davis had a three-run double.

Mike Lowell (2 hits, 5 RBIs), one of Boston's only hot hitters, cut the Oakland lead to two when he hit a three-run bomb in the first.

Penny settled down for a couple innings but he later gave up a solo homer to Kurt Suzuki (2 runs, 2 hits) in the fifth. He threw 100 pitches in five plus innings, allowing seven earned runs on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Justin Masterson relieved Penny and gave up a two-run double to Eric Patterson in the sixth that put the game out of reach (8-3 Oakland).

The rotation which was one of the Red Sox's biggest strengths has now become woefully imbalanced. Josh Beckett and Jon Lester are aces but Penny, John Smoltz and Clay Buchholz are pretty useless. Dice-K is fighting with the Sox over training methods and Tim Wakefield is on the DL. Ugh.

Boston chipped away with single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Dustin Pedroia's (2 hits, RBI) groundout drove in Jacoby Ellsbury (3 runs, 2 hits, steal). Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly scored Jason Bay and finally, Lowell got an RBI single off A's closer Andrew Bailey.

For the second time in a month, A's starter Brett Anderson (6-8) won at Fenway. This outing wasn't nearly as dominant but it was still a win. He went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts.

Despite allowing a run on three hits, Bailey struck out two and recorded his 13th save.

I don't believe in must-win games in July but this afternoon's series finale is mighty close to that for the Red Sox. It's Gio Gonzalez vs. Jon Lester and Boston needs to win to gain some semblance of momentum. Losing three of four to the A's at home would be a real bad sign.

The one that got away

With the Yankees playing out of their minds for the last month, the chances for the Red Sox to gain ground on them (especially now that they're in second) have been few and far between.

Coupled with the fact that Boston (58-41) was playing a crappy team (the Oakland A's) at Fenway, last night's loss was one of the more disappointing setbacks of the season.

The Sox were up 7-4 going into the ninth but a meltdown by Nick Green (two errors) and the bullpen led to a 9-8 Oakland (42-57) win in 11 innings.

Before the game, Jim Rice's #14 was retired and put up on the right field awning with the other retired numbers.

Clay Buchholz (5.2 innings, 2 runs, 9 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts) left with a 5-2 lead but the Red Sox bullpen (which hadn't allowed a run in 24 innings) completely imploded against a terrible offense.

The Athletics banged out a season-high 21 hits. Adam Kennedy (5 hits, 3 RBIs), Mark Ellis (4 runs, 4 hits, RBI, steal), Orlando Cabrera (3 hits) and Rajai Davis (2 hits, 2 RBIs, run, steal) were the biggest stars for Oakland.

Another aspect that the loss overshadowed was the Red Sox' offense coming through with 14 hits of its own. J.D. Drew (3 hits, 2 runs, RBI), Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 RBIs, run), Mike Lowell (2 hits, 2 RBIs) and Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, run, RBI, steal) all had strong performances.

Brett Anderson takes on Brad Penny tonight.