Swept Again: Red Sox Keep Finding Ways To Lose

Three of the Red Sox' minor league teams will open their seasons tonight.

How many of them could the major league team beat right now? I'm thinking maybe Portland, since Alex Wilson is starting, but quite frankly they'll make just about anyone look like Cy Young at the moment.

0-6. The last time the Red Sox started out this poorly was 1945, a year when they finished 71-83. Make no mistake, this bodes ill, if not necessarily because of that datum.

The Sox finally got some strong starting pitching today from Jon Lester, who went seven scoreless innings, striking out nine batters along the way. He gave the Red Sox everything they should have needed to win given the strength of their lineup.

Except, as per usual, their lineup was non-existent. This group that was supposed to top the league in runs has now reached a new low, being shut out, picking up four hits along the way--none from the two through six slots. That's three runs in the entire series against a group of starters whose lowest 2010 xFIP was 4.25.

Daniel Bard's inning was bad, yes. He had no control whatsoever, and allowed only the one run thanks to the Indians playing for, well, just the one run. He fell victim to a well-executed suicide squeeze, but could well have fallen victim to a bunch of walks had the Indians not gone bunting.

But come on. I think that's 14 runs in the season. That's barely two runs a game.

At thos point, it's just getting comical. The last out of the game today came on Darnell McDonald, pinch running for David Ortiz, actually overrunning second base and then falling down before he could retreat to safety. There are no words; there are no excuses.

There are no answers right now. I can cite BABIPs and RISP flukes, but plain and simple this team is playing like crap, and something needs to change. Dramatically.