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.
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