Rays Rout Sox Again

This one was over before it started. Tim Wakefield, who probably shouldn't have been pitching at all, gave up two homers in the first as any thoughts of the Sox evening this series faded quickly.

Everyone was worried how the knuckleballer would fare against the suddenly potent Rays lineup and they predictably hammered him.

Like Mike Timlin, Wakefield was a good pitcher for a long time for the Sox, but those days are over. Neither one of them should be on the roster let alone pitching in a must-win game.

In hindsight, the Sox probably should have started Justin Masterson and hoped the bullpen could come through after five or six innings.

BOX SCORE: Rays 13, Red Sox 4

It probably didn't matter anyway because the offense is just pathetic right now. They had one chance to make a game out of it when Mark Kotsay singled in the 2nd inning putting runners on first and third with one out, but Coco Crisp, who for some reason was batting 7th in the order, hit into a double play and the game was basically over from there.

I was all for Coco playing for the slumping Jacoby Ellsbury, but he has to either bat leadoff or ninth. Why would he be batting 7th? You want a guy with some pop batting 7th. Even Kevin Cash, who led off the next inning with a home run, would have been a better choice, but it should have been Jed Lowrie.

Now the Sox have to come up with another miracle comeback. After 2004 and 2007, I never count them out, but this series just doesn't have the feel that the others did. Last year against the Indians you could feel the Sox getting the momentum and the Indains buckling under the pressure. I'm not sure the Rays will blow this one.

But, if Dice-K can pitch like he did in Game 1 and send the series back to Tampa, and Josh Beckett can be the Beckett of old, then all the pressure will be on the Rays and Jon Lester would be pitching in Game 7. That seems so far away though Let's just hope we are still playing baseball this weekend.