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Red Sox 1, Rays 2: Of bad calls and baserunning

Rain gave the Red Sox hope. Daniel Nava and Jerry Meals crushed it.

By Ben Buchanan
Jim Rogash

The Red Sox fell to the Rays 2-1 in a game with some pretty complex karmic math.

On the one hand, the Red Sox did not deserve to beat David Price tonight. Just like last week, when he held the Red Sox to one run in a complete game performance, Price was absolutely dominant. The only run the Red Sox would score against him came on a cheapo homer by Brandon Snyder--essentially a pop-up that bounced off the foul pole in right for a homer.

On the other hand, Felix Doubront and the bullpen had pitched well enough that, when the Red Sox caught a rain-induced break, they were just one run away from tying the game. And they did manage to bring a baserunner all the way around to touch home with two outs on the board having been neither tagged or put out. So when Jerry Meals decided that said baserunner--Daniel Nava--was out after a play at the plate despite having been in position to see a whole lot of Jose Molina's back and nothing else, Red Sox fans were rightly infuriated.

On the other hand, the play should never have been in Meals' hands. That's because Daniel Nava already should have scored. After pinch-running at second for Ryan Lavarnway, Nava held up on a long fly ball double by Stephen Drew, and ultimately failed to advance an extra base on an extra-base hit.

Awful on Nava's end, awful on Meals' end, awful on the league's end because they still haven't fixed their broken system or at least gotten their umpires to stand in the right spot to make the right call.

Had the Red Sox lost this game based on Felix Doubront allowing a couple of runs and David Price being absolutely fantastic, it would've been easy enough to shrug off. That's kind of what you expect to happen the way Price is pitching right now. But because this ended the way it did, we're left frustrated, angry, and with little to do except rage against a league that clearly doesn't care about what we or any of its other fans think.

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