Game Story: Sox with a case of West Coast blues.

Not what we signed on for. That's probably how we all feel about the Red Sox' season to this point. A combination of poor hitting, some surprisingly bad starting pitching, and uninspired bullpen work could be used to describe today and most of our other losses to this point.

Lester was, as one well-educated expert put it, not good. He allowed HRs to Jack Cust and old friend Nomar. He didn't allow any walks, but that doesn't mean he had pinpoint control. It's certainly possible to be around the plate AND miss your spots, and Lester showed us that today. He's probably the individual Sox player I'm most concerned about, for a variety of reasons. At least we know his pickoff move is still sharp.

On the hitting side, Kevin Youkilis showed up today and pretty much no one else. He HR'd and 2B'd, and while the lineup was able to scratch across another run, it wasn't pretty. It'd be foolish to take all the credit for an anemic offense: Dallas Braden was good. Baldelli as the leadoff choice was interesting, though Tito seems to be filling out the lineup more or less by position. Just wait for the first game Chris Carter starts at 1b and we find Youks in the 7-hole. 

To end on a positive note, it is early in the season and the Sox don't generally rest on their laurels if things aren't working out. Sure, the Lowrie injury forces us into a Nick Green/Gil Velazquez pile of suck out of the 9-hole for awhile. But if Jon Lester continues to struggle, Daisuke, or if the pen has trouble finding reliable-ish arms that aren't named Ramon Ramirez, we'll trade (?) or bring someone up/in from the org. (Smoltz of course, plus don't forget Daniel Bard, Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, and even Junichi Tazawa as a 'pen arm if he continues the success he had in his first MiL start) We're 2-5, and it sounds bad, but it's a week worth of games. It's early. Fill in your own cliche. We didn't do well against the Rays who've been playing everyone else pretty well and we always suck eggs on the West Coast. I have no empirical evidence to back this up right now, but I recall bad trips to Seattle, Los Angeles, and Oakland for the last several years.

Later tonight, Daisuke takes on Dana Eveland. Be there or be square. I've gotta work, so I guess I'm the latter.