Red Sox 1, Marlins 4: Another Bad Day

Another day, another pathetic performance from the Red Sox offense.

To be fair to them, it's a tough bunch they've come up against. Unfortunately, given that Josh Johnson is probably the least impressive of the four (not a very negative comment given the company), and given that tonight's was the worst offensive performance of the losing streak, it seems that they might be moving backwards.

We do have some things to be thankful for tonight:

After an unfortunate first inning, and a mediocre second, Josh Beckett bounced back, retiring 14 straight Marlins batters. If nothing else, it was an enjoyable performance after the first two, and when you're on a four game losing streak, you have to enjoy the small things.

Speaking of which:

Adrian Gonzalez drew a walk

and

Mark Melancon threw a 1-2-3 inning!

It's hard to believe, but both of these happened in the same game. Not only that, but Dustin Pedroia actually looked good offensively, suggesting that perhaps his thumb is not completely dead just yet.

Unfortunately, though, that's pretty much all there is to say in favor of this team today--a day when they fall to 29-32, 1-7 in their last eight. For the record, the last time they were three under .500 through 61 games was in 1997, when the team finished 78-84.