Jed Lowrie came to the plate in the ninth as the tying run. He took three swings and missed three times and with that, Boston red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays became tied for the American League Wild Card. Two regular season games remain. The Red Sox no longer control their own destiny. In the cruelest possible trick of fate, Sox fans must hope that the hated Yankees, playing a team of reserves, can help them reach the playoff.

Whatever fire the Red Sox brought to this game, it burnt out quick. The Sox took an early lead in the second when Marco Scutaro scored on a throwing bound for nowhere from Orioles left fielder Matt Angle. It didn’t last long. Beckett allowed a home run to Matt Wieters in the bottom half of the inning. Leading off the fourth, Jed Lowrie hit a home run to retake the lead. The Sox got just one more run, in the ninth care of Orioles pitcher Jim Johnson plunking Jacoby Ellsbury, balking then giving up a single to Dustin Pedroia. Another night of offensive futility gets added to the books.

To that point Beckett was looking pretty sharp, even in spite of the home run. He had allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out three. He lost the lead in the fifth, when an infield hit to Adam Jones and a tough walk to Mark Reynolds set up an RBI single for Chris Davis. Facing a base-loaded one out jam, he managed to dig deep and get a pop out and another K to end the threat. He would not be so fortunate in the sixth.  Once again, a hit this one to Vlad Guerrero, and another Mark Reynolds walk lead to another Chris Davis RBI single. Beckett should have gotten out the inning. The Red Sox should only trailed by a single run, but that isn’t the way things happen in September of 2011. Going back on a long fly ball, Ellsbury had the ball in his glove as hit the wall, but could hang on. Saltalamacchia couldn’t catch the relay throw and Robert Andino managed a three run inside-the-park home run. Fortunately, Ellsbury was not injured.

The Boston offense left twelve men on base in the game. They failed to score more than three runs against an Orioles team that allows almost six runs a game on average. The frustration that comes with lousy play and bad breaks and the growing fear of colossal failure is apparent. To further add to the suffering, in the eighth inning, Jarrod Saltalamacchia was injured after being hit with a foul tip. There is no word yet on the nature of the injury, but the catcher was obviously in serious pain as he left the field. 

All in all, it was another night where nothing at all went right for the Boston Red Sox. There are just two more games in the regular season and Boston now needs to win them both. Yes, this is what it has come to.

The Red Sox found themselves staring down the barrel off a loaded gun yesterday. Having lost the first game of their doubleheader despite facing A.J. Burnett, the Sox had to win a game started by John Lackey, or leave New Yankee Stadium in a tie for the wild card.

When John Lackey entered in the first inning and immediately gave up three runs to New York, you probably wouldn't have had a difficult time finding Sox fans who just favored ending the game then and there rather than bother playing it out. The next couple of innings were primarily spent coming to terms with the imminent culmination of the collapse and indulging in good old-fashioned self pity. 

Meanwhile, something strange was happening. Rather than crash and burn following a difficult start, John Lackey picked himself up and started firing off clean innings, and then the Sox started scoring. One run came across in the fifth after a leadoff triple from Jed Lowrie, another in the sixth off a pair of leadoff singles from Carl Crawford and Dustin Pedroia. When Lowrie again picked up an extra base hit in the seventh and came around to score on Marco Scutaro's double, the Sox suddenly found themselves tied, and even took a 4-3 lead on Jason Varitek's RBI ground ball up the middle.

Of course, these were, as always, the 2011 Red Sox playing in September, so it couldn't be as simple as all that. John Lackey came back out to start the seventh, gave up a leadoff single, and was quickly yanked for Alfredo Aceves, who would allow the inherited run to score on a sacrifice fly. The game was knotted up, and that's how it would stay for a long time. Daniel Bard recorded three outs, then gave way to Jonathan Papelbon after loading the bases in the ninth. Papelbon would come through with one of his all-time best performances, recording seven outs to keep the Sox alive into the twelfth, where Franklin Morales would take over and provide two more key innings, all to give the Sox a chance.

That chance would come off the woeful Scott Proctor in the 14th. Darnell McDonald singled to left field with one out, Marco Scutaro walked, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia flew out to deep center to bring Jacoby Ellsbury to the plate with two down and men on the corners. Ellsbury hadn't been having the best game to that point. 1-for-6 with a deflating GIDP, it was a far cry from the performance he'd had in the first half of the doubleheader, when he tried to single-handedly carry the Sox to victory. 

But this wasn't a situation for Jacoby Ellsbury to fail in. Here he was, an MVP candidate, up against Scott Proctor with a man on third base. This was not a situation in which outs are recorded. He would not, to put it simply, be denied. The 1-0 fastball was right where Ellsbury likes them--dead center and a little low--and the resounding crack of the bat on the ball left little doubt as to the outcome. The ball sailed far and deep to right-center, and dropped past the wall for a game-winning three-run shot--a perfect highlight to cap off an MVP-worthy season if ever there was one.

With Felix Doubront shutting the door in the bottom half of the inning, the Red Sox now only need to be as good as the Rays over the next three games. No, Beckett and Bedard didn't exactly work out too well against the O's last time around, and should Jon Lester be needed, he'll be pitching on short rest after a disaster. But let's not take for granted the luxury of that one-game lead that we came so very close to losing Sunday night.

One loss.

That's all that separates the Red Sox from the Rays in the wild card now, following another complete failure by the Red Sox--minus Jacoby Ellsbury.

First there was Tim Wakefield and his defensively challenged batterymate Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The first two New York batters of the game would reach on bunts as they pressured the duo early. Having failed that particular test, the two proceeded to put on an absolute circus act of stolen bases, passed balls, and wild pitches, allowing both to score without another hit in the inning.

The trouble just continued in the third as Jorge Posada hit a two-run shot, and in the fifth when the Yankees chased Wakefield from the game with a fifth run on a pair of singles and an error by Carl Crawford that turned one into, effectively, a double. Matt Albers allowed a sixth run in the sixth, but really none of that would matter past Posada's homer, because the Sox were busy making A.J. Burnett look like Cy Young.

Well, every one buy Mr. Ellsbury, who took him deep twice to join the 30-30 club. But with the Sox having sparse few baserunners the rest of the day--and with Gonzalez GIDPing whenever they seemed to pick up a hit--both shots were of the solo variety, leaving Boston with just two runs at the end of the day. Alas, individual achievements are cold comfort when a historic collapse is nearing completion.

I just watched the first two innings. After that, I checked in on line periodically until it was clear the Red Sox weren't going to mount any type of comeback.

With that as the backdrop, what is there to say about this team right now? That Tampa and Anaheim both lost last night increases the chances the Sox reach the post season, so there's that. But what a mess.

The Sox sent supposed ace Jon Lester to the mound and Lester had the team in a 6-0 hole inside two innings. Part of it wasn't his fault. Marco Scutaro fielded a grounder with men on second and third and after looking to third base tried to turn and throw the ball back to second base while his momentum carried him away. His throw was fine, but it was late. There was really no way he was going to be able to make that play. About the only play Scutaro had was third base. Mike Aviles, filling in for Kevin Youkilis, was farther off the bag than he should have been, and that may have influenced Scutaro's decision. But Aviles wasn't as far off third as was the runner coming from second, so the play was there. It should have been the second out of the inning. Instead, the bases were loaded with one out.

Then Lester fell behind Jesus Montero 3-0, then gave up a hard hit to left on the 3-1 offering. A run scored. Next up was Russell "I hate the Red Sox" Martin. Martin hit a weak flare to left field. Carl Crawford took a circuitous route to the ball and then slide, but the ball glanced off what looked to be the heal of his glove. Two runs scored. Next pitch Jeter homered. Ball game.

What is there to say about this except the Sox have five more games to right their ship. Today was straight up embarrassing, but there is still much opportunity left in this season. That's enough about this game. Double header tomorrow.

How do you fall asleep after that one? How do you wake up in the morning?

In what many are hailing as the worst loss of the season--personally, I'll still take the game where Bard blew Wakefield's 200th win against Toronto--the Red Sox saw a late lead evaporate as Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon combined for a loss and a blown save in the eighth inning.

But don't be so quick to blame our intrepid heroes in the back-end of the pen! Daniel Bard, after all, recorded four outs while allowing just one baserunner (at one point). Jonathan Papelbon...well, yes, he wasn't very good, but he also was out of his usual situation, and gave up his first run since July. That's two months, and thus firmly in "understandable" territory.

No, for this one, we go back to the third inning. I'm looking at you, Mr. Reddick.

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Who needs good pitching? Not the Red Sox if they can face Brian Matusz every night.

In a must-win game that offered the Sox only the consolation of not falling into a virtual tie in the wild card race, the Sox decided to give their fans something to be happy about for once.

That didn't come from the mound. To get this bit of unpleasantness over and done with, John Lackey was terrible. He allowed three straight baserunners to start the game, and almost dropped leads of 6-3 and 11-5 in his awfulness. That he reacted negatively when Terry Francona came out of the dugout (to the loudest cheers of the game, I might add) is just so...perfectly Lackey.

The good news is that, as they have been three other times during this terrible streak, the Sox were able to pick themselves up from the dirt and absolutely destroy anyone that Buck Showalter called to the mound. Brian Matusz gave four runs right back in the bottom of the first, capped off by the first big hit Jed Lowrie has had in recent memory: a three-run shot that cleared the Monster in its entirety.

Two more came in the second, knocking Matusz out of the game in a hurry, and then came one hell of a two-out rally in the third. Starting with Darnell McDonald and ending with David Ortiz, the Sox put together six straight hits to put five more runs on the board and give them that 11-5 lead that, at the time, seemed untouchable.

But as mentioned before, Lackey stayed in the game and so the Orioles did too. At least until the seventh. That's when things really got fun.

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The Sox are now 4-14, fresh off a loss to the Orioles.

Yes, the Orioles.

The blame for this can primarily be placed in three different places. In order:

1. Darnell McDonald -- Receiving the start for Carl Crawford, out with a stiff neck, Darnell McDonald ruined what had, to that point, been an impressive start for Kyle Weiland in the third. After misplaying one fly ball into a hit with one out, Darnell McDonald allowed the next batter's fly to bounce off his glove and into the dirt. Instead of having the inning over and done with, Weiland was facing two on and one out. Matt Angle knocked another one out towards McDonald--this one off the scoreboard and so at least justifiable--and the Sox were facing another early 2-0 deficit. That makes it two straight strong starts for Weiland derailed in the third by defensive issues (though it's still hard to blame Scutaro for that broken bat).

 

2. Kyle Weiland -- The pitcher himself then proceeded to implode in dramatic fashion in the fourth. Falling behind 3-1 to Robert Andino, Weiland served up an all-too-hittable fastball and saw it drop into the monster seats for a two-run shot. Five pitches later, and it was a hanging slider getting clobbered into the same seats by Nolan Reimold for a solo shot. If that weren't enough, J.J. Hardy led off the fifth frame by taking another bad slider out of the park. All-in-all, the Orioles scored six times before recording an out in the fifth. That the Sox won't have to live with many more starts from these backup pitchers is about the only consolation to be offered here.

 

3. The Umpires -- Even with three homers and two errors (though only one was scored that way) the Red Sox fought there way back into the game. Darnell atoned for half of his contributions to the Baltimore cause by leading off the third with a long ball, and a Jarrod Saltalamacchia triple brought another run in come the fourth. Then came the fifth, and a pair of two-out extra base hits from Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia gave the Sox two more. David Ortiz appeared to give the Sox another when he hit a line drive to right field, but despite replays showing the ball clearly hitting the wall in fair territory, the umpires (after a conference) upheld an initial ruling of foul. Ortiz flew out to deep center a few pitches later, and slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration. With the Sox scoring once more in the seventh, and the game ending with a 6-5 score, it's impossible to think of that as anything but a tying run.

The Sox received some good relief pitching from Felix Doubront and Alfredo Aceves, the latter of which worked some miracles to keep Baltimore off the board. But between bad calls, bad plays, and bad pitching, the Sox just couldn't put enough on the board.

They lead the Rays by just one in the loss column. To quote David Ortiz: "F### this s####"

A couple quick facts for you:

1. The Red Sox have a two game lead over the Rays in the Wild Card race. This is better than the reverse.
   
2. There are ten games left in the season for both teams. For good or ill that is not many.
   
3. The Rays have four in New York, three at home vs. Toronto, and three at home versus New York. The Red Sox have four at home versus Baltimore, three in New York, and three in Baltimore. The Rays have a few more at home, but face a more challenging schedule.
   

I present the above for perspective. Nothing is guaranteed either way.

As for the game... well, it was more of the same that we've seen from this team since the calendar kicked over to September. Lousy starting pitching, not quite enough hitting, and some ill-timed mistakes.

A few game notes:

• Tim Wakefield, Scott Atchison, Andrew Miller, Matt Albers, and Trevor Miller aren't exactly the pitchers you want to see on the mound in an important game. You could have attended a game in Fort Myers and seen a similar group of pitchers.
• Red Sox with runners in scoring position: 2-11.  That makes the Red Sox 7-40 for the series (.175). 
• As someone said on twitter (sorry, can't find who), Mike Aviles giveth, and Mike Aviles taketh away. Aviles made a couple throwing errors at third base, one of which led directly to a run. And yet Aviles made up for it with a double and a three run homer.
  
• In the eighth inning with Carl Crawford on second base Terry Francona inexplicably allowed Darnell McDonald to face a right handed pitcher when he had Josh Reddick sitting on the bench. As I said on twitter, McDonald has a .371 OPS against right handers this season. If that's too small a sample for you, he has a .595 OPS against righties in his career. We don't have to look anything up to know Reddick is a much better choice. OK, fine, I looked it up. Reddick has an .814 OPS. (I know OPS isn't the best measure of offensive output, but in this case it's an acceptable shorthand.)
• Red Sox catchers in the series: 0-13 with 2 walks. Almost all of that was Jarrod Saltalamacchia who had no hits in twelve at-bats with one walk. 

I could keep going but I'd rather not. The Red Sox have played bad baseball this entire month. The virtue of playing incredible baseball for three months prior is that despite that they have a two game lead in the Wild Card. Lead or not, a huge collapse is imminent unless they start to play better baseball. As Darnell McDonald told Brian MacPherson, ""It doesn't matter if we’re two behind or two games up. We've got to play good baseball." Ain't that the truth.