Red Sox 3, Rays 4: Quick Reaction

0-0, 10-10, 11-11, 21-21, 22-22, 23-23.

If we follow the pattern, that means the Sox will play badly for a while and then only make their way back to .500 at 32-32.

So we've got that to look forward to.

The Sox have made an art form out of disappointing their fans in the most painful way possible since that terrible September. It's almost disappointing, frankly, that they've been harping on this .500 thing for so long. Have they run out of ideas? Or is that what the walkoff was about, raising hopes for the storybook turnaround (as evidenced by my reaction last night) before dropping another painful game?

At the very least, they're switching up their in-game method, hitting you where you don't expect it and throwing in the dramatic comeback for kicks. After Clay Buchholz put together by far his best game of the year today, throwing seven innings of two-run ball as he commanded his curveball and changeup, striking out six batters, walking one, and having one of his runs come across partially due to an errant throw from Adrian Gonzalez in right.

Adrian, for his part, made up for his defensive gaffe at the plate, taking the 2-0 deficit the Sox faced after Clay's night and turning it into a 3-2 lead, following up a leadoff walk and single in the seventh from David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis respectively with a home run into the Monster seats just to the right of the pole.

Franklin Morales and Vicente Padilla put together an impressive eighth inning, turning it over to Alfredo Aceves who had been completely dominant since that terrible meltdown against the Yankees. After three days off, though, he just didn't have it. Starting the inning with a walk to Ben Zobrist, Aceves would eventually give Sean Rodriguez a pitch to hit, and the shortstop sent it over everything in left to give the Rays the 4-3 lead they would not relinquish.

A depressing finish to what could have been another very energizing win. Clay Buchholz did well, but it's hard to really remember back to that after the ninth inning.

Also, just an addendum, Angel Hernandez is a terrible umpire. The loss is hardly his fault, since he had an awful strike zone for both teams, and for all I know was even worse for the Rays. But between that and his penchant for ejecting those who disagree with his terrible calls, he's kind of a disgrace.